Colaiste Muire Munster Champions 2010

Munster Champions 2010 Colaiste Muire

Munster Champions 2010

History was made in St. Colman’s Park last Tuesday, Feb 2nd, when Colaiste Muire’s U18s won the FAI Schools Munster Senior Cup for the first time when they overcame Limerick C.B.S. 5-4 in a sudden-death penalty shoot-out.

         The Final had originally been planned for Clonmel but a last minute hitch left the teams without a venue. The school owes a huge debt of gratitude to Cobh Ramblers Chairman, Barry Walsh, to Ned O’Donovan and the groundstaff of St. Colman’s Park for facilitating the game at a few hours notice.

         Limerick C.B.S.. were seeking a sixth consecutive Munster title and arrived with a strong team including four international players but our lads survived a nervy start and settled into the game with defenders Cian van Wijnen, Colm O’Sullivan, Derry O’Hanlon and Gavin Fitzgerald playing particularly well. Limerick, however, grabbed an (admittedly deserved) opener with a couple of minutes left in the first half leaving the Col with an uphill battle on their hands.

         But battle they did, settling at last and striking back three minutes into the second half with a sweet left-footed volley from captain, Shane Geasley. The home support really made their voices heard from then on. The rest of the game was evenly matched thanks to the hard work of our lads as a unit, including Pierce Donnachie, David Devlin, Cian Spriggs, Peter Nolan and Shane Geasley…without the ball for long spells, they had to dig in and cover for each other. The effectiveness with which they did this speaks volumes about their character.

         Limerick hit the crossbar and post twice in a five minute spell with Dave Devlin clearing a shot off the line, but we also had chances, particularly in extra-time after great build-up play by midfielders Pierce Donnachie and Peter Nolan. As the game wore on strikers Eoin O’Riordan and Alan O’Flynn continued to cause Limerick problems while the defending champions were always dangerous on the break.

         The dreaded penalty shoot-out duly arrived, with both teams scoring 4 of their first 5; Dave Devlin, Peter Nolan, Shane Geasley and Alan O’Flynn all held their nerve while Pierce Donnachie was very unlucky to see his effort hit the post. Alan Burns made a great save in sudden-death to enable Gavin Fitzgerald to bury the winner and claim the cup and title of Munster Champions, 2010.

         Thanks to all the lads for their commitment so far this year, they’ve all played their part…and who knows?, we may not be finished yet. Roll on the All-Ireland’s.

 Report by Kieran Walsh

Colaiste Muire Senior Football Squad: A.Burns, C.vanWijnen, D.O’Hanlon, C.O’Sullivan, G.Fitzgerald, C.Spriggs, D.Devlin, S.Geasley (c), P.Donnachie, P.Nolan, E.O’Riordan, A.O’Flynn, S.O’Sullivan, S.O’Neill, S.Hallahan, J.Moynihan, C.Gormley, K.Hastings, T.O’Donovan, B.Frahill, D.Keaney (injured).