All-Ireland Semi Final March 2014
St. Mary’s College 1 -8
Pobal Scoil Roscrea 1-14
The great adventure came to an end for our senior hurlers at Whitegate on Saturday afternoon when they were defeated by an eager and skillful Tipperary team. Mary’s, playing in Galway colours for the day, started brightly with the wind, with Conor Noone bursting forward from midfield to chalk up the first score of the day after two minutes of play. Roscrea, however, showed that they were going to be a force to be reckoned with as they displayed great speed in opening up the Mary’s defence for the equaliser fairly soon afterwards. The Tipp forwards were causing a lot of problems for the Mary’s defence, and overall were gaining the upper hand in the early stages. Nevertheless, as the match progressed we started to come more into it and the unerring free-taking of Adam Mooney soon opened up a three point lead. Things were looking good. However, with the score at 6 – 2 in favour of Mary’s the Roscrea lads put in a sustained burst and for the last ten minutes of the half they dominated, pegging back the lead to a single point at half-time.
The second half started brightly for Mary’s, but soon turned pear-shaped! Roscrea gained a definite upper-hand and tacked on the next seven scores to open up a substantial, and eventual match-winning lead. Having saved a penalty the defence tried to generate a comeback, but it was not to be, and when the livewire Roscrea midfielder burst though for a goal the writing was on the wall. Much to our credit though the Mary’s lads never gave up, with a great point from Conor Noone, and an opportunist goal from Eanna Keleghan bringing us back into striking distance. The unfortunate dismissal of defender Paul Wynne for a second bookable offence put paid to any hopes we had, and Roscrea kept tight control of the game until the ref’s final whistle.
It was a great journey, and left a lot of good feeling throughout the College while it lasted! Credit to all the lads and their coaches for all they achieved.
Connacht Champions 2014!
Connacht Senior Championship
Connacht Semi-final replay:
St. Marys College, Galway 1-14
St. Cuans College, Castleblakeney 0-13
On a cold morning in Clarenbridge St. Marys College were victorious over St. Cuan’s College in Connacht Senior ‘B’ Semi-Final Replay. The game started well for both teams with the score level for the first twenty minutes of the first half at 0-6 a piece, the scores coming from Adam Mooney and Conor Noone for St. Mary’s. Cuan’s finished the half stronger gaining a two point lead. The scores going into the half time break was 0-8 to 0-6 in favour of the East Galway side.
Mary’s made changes at half time which were to turn the game in their favour. Two quick points on resumption from Noone and Healy levelled the game but Cuan’s responded well to go two points clear once more. With the score at 0-12 to 0-10 an opportunist score for Mary’s, a goal delivered when corner forward Ryan Fox expertly latched on to a speculative Paul Healy delivery, changed the direction of the match once and for all. Mary’s gained the momentum from this point and finished the half the stronger side, points from Kearney and Mooney contributing to the winning four point margin. There was little to separate these two teams over the two matches, with both sides having played some fine hurling in difficult conditions. Commiserations to St. Cuan’s College Castleblakeney, who showed great commitment and skill, and for whom a number of players will surely feature on the inter-county scene in years to come.
Best for Mary’s were; Ronan Higgins, Ryan Fox, Conor Noone, John Lalor, Paul Wynne, Eanna Keleghan(all Moycullen) Mark McDermott, (Barna Furbo) Cathal Ryan, Paul Healy, Adam Mooney, Máirtín Heneghan,(all of Castlegar), Padraic Kearney (Turloughmore), Cathal Foy, Aaron Vahey (Liam Mellows).
For St. Mary’s, Garbally College, Ballinasloe await in the final this Saturday at 3.30 in Gort. This is like a throw-back to the mid-eighties when both dominated the hurling scene at college level. No doubt the rivalry of yesteryear will be visited once again in this weekend’s Connacht final.
Next up is the Connacht final versus Garbally College Ballinasloe which will be held in Gort at 3pm on Saturday.
Connacht Semi-final:
St. Mary’s 1-11
St. Cuan’s Castleblakney 1 -11
A last gasp goal from St. Cuan’s means that this match must now go to a replay. Here is the team photo and a few scenes from the match
St. Mary’s 1-13
Bish 1-07
The College playing fields reverberated beautifully to the sound of clashing ash on Thursday afternoon as the St. Mary’s senior hurlers took the field in the final match of their Senior Championship group. Having beaten Calasanctious Oranmore in an earlier match they needed a win to secure a semi-final place and they duly produced the goods when overcoming their local rivals the Bish by a comprehensive six point margin. This was a fantastic result from a group of lads who have been very diligent in their training and tiger-like in their matches. The final scoreline of 1-13 to 1-07 in no way reflected the superiority of the Mary’s lads, and they should now enter the closing stages of the hurling championship with a fair degree of confidence.
Senior Hurling Team 2013-14
Senior Hurling Panel 2013
Back: Mr. Enda Mulrooney, Sean Colleran, John Lalor, Conor Harlowe, Tomás Griffin, Ronan Higgins, Conor Taggart, Cathal Ryan, Jason Costello, Dara Molloy, Mark McDermott, Adam Mooney, Mr. Daragh Kerrigan
Front: Cian McAndrew, Philip O’Connor, Eanna Keleghan, Aaron Vahey-Keaveney, Padraic Creaven, Conor Noone, Ryan Fox, Mairtin Heneghan, Paul Wynne, Rory Owens. Missing: Padraig Kearney
The senior Hurling team are having an exciting time of it at the moment. They have been training really well, and are now just one match away from qualifying for the business end of this season’s championship. Having overcome Calasanctious Oranmore they then traveled east to take on the might of St. Raphael’s Loughrea in their second group game. Unfortunately, despite a powerful performance they came up three points short, and now face local rivals the Bish in a winner take all scenario.
To help in their preparation they had a special training session with current Galway Senior hurling captain, and former Mary’s man, Fergal Moore. Fergal took the session, and passed on more than a few words of advice and encouragement to his young successors in the black and red.
Galway Senior Hurling captain Fergal Moore with some of the current senior players
St. Mary’s College 2nd annual Festival of Hurling
Well done to Carnmore U-10 team, who overcame Liam Mellows to retain the Centenary Cup following what was an excellently run competition on Saturday
As part of its Centenary Celebrations St Mary College played host to a number of local hurling clubs and ran an u-10 Hurling Blitz which proved to be a resounding success. Once again on Saturday 12th October its Festival of Hurling will take place on the College grounds commencing at 10.00am.
The teams participating this year are Liam Mellows, Salthill Knocknacarra, Moycullen, Rahoon /Newcastle, Castlegar, Carnmore, Micheal Breathnachs and Annaghdown. It promises to be a great day’s hurling, and parents and supporters of each club, along with past pupils, are encouraged to attend.
All-Ireland Minor 2013
Best of luck and congratulations to Mary’s student Conor Noone who is part of the Galway panel for this year’s All-Ireland Minor final V Waterford.
