Rosses Community School advance to this season’s Tom Ticher National Cup decider following their victory over Castlebar side St. Gerald’s College in a windy Showgrounds yesterday.
Rosses Community School 2 St Gerald’s College, Castlebar 1
The game sparked to life ten minutes in when Captain Adam McCaffrey smashed in the opener to set them up with a one nil lead at the break.
Orrin Burgess then doubled their advantage with a brilliant strike from the edge of the box on 53 minutes.
St. Gerald’s to their credit responded almost immediately through a lovely strike from the industrious Paul Walsh to bring the contest to 2-1.
Eoghan Hughes saw his glancing header just miss the target with nine minutes remaining.
Although the Castlebar line-up enjoyed much of the possession, they couldn’t convert any clear cut chances as the Dungloe defence held firm and ran down the clock expertly.
Oran Groarke, Paul Walsh and Darragh Reilly were impressive throughout however Tom Byrne’s Cup campaign came to an abrupt end. Their focus will now switch to their Under 15 and First Year teams who are still in provincial Cup action.
Enda Walsh’s squad were a cohesive unit throughout the eighty minutes and will be in the mix for National honours in a fortnight’s time.
A confident display from goalkeeper Patrick McGarvey alongside Maurice McGee and the Burgess / McCaffrey combo were causing all sorts of problems for Robinson in the Castlebar goalmouth.
Rosses will await the winners of the other semi-final which will take place tomorrow (Thursday) in the RSC, Waterford when Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh, Bishopstown face Coláiste Phadraig, Lucan CBS with a 1pm kick off scheduled.
Rosses Community School: Patrick McGarvey, Jamie McGarvey, Jack Ward, Aaron Ward, Maurice McGee, Jay Doherty, Oran Fallon, Eoin Marlin, Orrin Burgess, Adam McCaffrey (Captain), Dominick Doherty. Subs: Ben Boyle (f0r Fallon, 80+2), Owen Boyle (for Burgess, 79), Ryan Brennan (for J Doherty, 52), Jordan Salle, Oisin McKelvey
St Gerald’s College, Castlebar: James Robinson, Jack Rochford, Cian McHale, Donnacha McHugh, Darragh Reilly, Mark Cunningham, Nathan Reilly Doyle, Paddy Heneghan, Eoghan Hughes (Captain), Oran Groarke, Paul Walsh
Referee: John Barry (Sligo)
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