Dominant Ardscoil claim Bro Bosco Cup final spot
Ardscoil na Tríonóide after qualifying for the Bro Bosco Cup final Photo: Aisling Hyland
A dominant display from one to 15 delivered a first ever appearance in a Bro Bosco Cup Final for Ardscoil na Tríonóide as they had eight points to spare over Moate CS in the semi final at a sunny Coralstown/Kinnegad on Tuesday afternoon.
Built on a solid goalkeeper, sound defence, powerful midfield and an attack that worked hard for their points and on another day might have had a couple of goals the Athy school carried two much for Moate who could only manage one point in the second half.
Wing back, Calum Keaveny got the scoring underway for Ardscoil with a point in the third minute and although his opposite number, Conor Daly, drew the sides level in the 10th minute, the Athy school went on to outscore their opponents 0-6 to 0-2 for the remainder of the half to lead 0-7 to 0-3 at the break.
The ever-dangerous Ronan Kelly helped himself to three points, one from a free, and Robbie Murphy, Evan Doogue and Darragh Farrell added to the Athy school’s first half tally while two Dara Madden points, one from a free, were all that Moate CS could muster before the break.
Three early points from James Donnelly, Kelly (free) and Sam Lynch gave Ardscoil an unassailable seven points lead by the end of the third quarter. Although Moate did threaten briefly with a point from Adam Fox eight minutes from time the Athy school saw the game out with points from captain Eoin Johnson and Colm Moran to claim a famous victory.
Oisín Groarke (Castlemitchell); Daniel Henry (Athy), Mark Grufferty (St Laurence’s), Liam Byrne (Athy); Cameron Pedreschi (Athy); James Donnelly (St Laurence’s) 0-1, Calum Keaveny (Athy) 0-1; Eoin Johnson (St Joseph’s) 0-1, Robbie Murphy (St Joseph’s) 0-1; Ronan Kelly (Athy) 0-4 (2 frees), Colm Moran (Athy) 0-1, Sam Lynch (St Jospeh’s); 0-1, Evan Doogue (Castlemitchell) 0-1, Darragh Farrell (St Joseph’s) 0-1, Paidi Kelly (Castlemitchell). SUBS: Harry Grainger (Athy), Roán Brennan (St Joseph’s), Cian O’Rourke (Castlemitchell)
Jack Ryan; Jack Daly, Cormac Murphy, Tadhg Heavin; Adam Fox 0-1, Cian Whitney, Conor Daly 0-1; Seán Óg Foley, Enda McLoughlin; Dara Madden 0-2 (1 free), Darragh Delaney, Brian Doyle; James Mitchell, Ben Martin, Niall Hagan SUBS: Eoin McCormack, Cody Parker, Anthony King Carroll.
Eamonn O’Connor (Offaly)
