Bourke goal decisive as Coláiste Choilm advance to last eight

Coláiste Choilm 1-8 Moate CS 0-10

By Eamon A. Donoghue

A very fortunate goal by Cillian Bourke gave Coláiste Choilm, Tullamore victory over Moate Community School in this Leinster Schools SF 'A' preliminary round knockout game on Thursday of last week.

The victory at the Moate CS grounds secures a quarter-final place for Coláiste Choilm as the home side bow out by the narrowest of margins.

There was confusion at the end as some members of the Moate CS contingent believed that Bourke's late effort was a point rather than a goal. Bourke kicked for a point from some 40 metres out and the ball ended up deceiving Moate CS keeper James Mitchell for a goal. It wasn’t obvious that the green flag was raised, but it was.

The Moate management seemed perplexed afterwards, as they tried to come to terms with their side's narrow defeat after they had been in control.

Judging by some of their play, it appeared that Moate thought they were 0-10 to 0-9 in the lead when actually they were 1-8 to 0-10 behind. In those tension filled moments, Moate CS seemed more inclined to hold possession rather than go looking for an equaliser. They did have two excellent chances of getting an equaliser, both from frees, but both were squandered.

The game turned in the 52nd minute. Moate CS were then in the ascendancy, leading 0-9 to 0-7. Tullamore hadn’t scored in the second half up to that point. Moate were on top, they were in control of the game and they had the stiff wind at their backs. But instead of pushing on and trying to add to their lead, instead they tried to hold on and see the game out.

With Tullamore struggling to find any accuracy in front of goal, Moate gave away a needless free to give the visitors an opportunity on the plate. Cian Bracken tapped over the free to cut the arrears to the minimum.

Then midfielder Bourke let fly from out the field, and his attempt for a point landed over the keeper's head and into the goal. Tullamore found themselves 1-8 to 0-9 in front with the clock about to go red. Moate did reduce Tullamore's lead to the minimum, substitute Tadhg Heavin the scorer. But then they held back again, and their play lacked the urgency required. They had two chances of scores, but Aaron Murphy was unable to judge the wind and his frees tailed wide.

Moate CS had the better of the first quarter. They were leading 0-4 to 0-2 by the 13th minute. But they didn’t score again for some 21 minutes. Tullamore took over and Ryan Kenny and, in particular, Niall Furlong kicked outstanding scores. Furlong kicked 0-4 in the first half, all from distance and wind assisted.

The Westmeath side had looked in trouble heading for the interval. But late scores from Tubber's Conor Fox and Murphy gave them a needed boost just before the break. The visitors went in at half-time one point ahead, 0-7 to 0-6.

After the turnaround, Moate CS continued where they had left off in the first half. They kicked three points without reply. Darragh Madden, Murphy and a free from Hagan Niall had put Moate 0-9 to 0-7 in the ascendancy. From 0-7 to 0-4 down in the 26th minute, they had scored the next five points without reply.

MCS had taken the initiative and they had the momentum, but from there to the end, they lost control of the game. They had lost Aodhan Curran to injury in the first ten minutes and they lost their his replacement, Adam Fox, to a black card in the 54th minute. It was when Fox was in the sin bin that everything went pear shaped for Moate CS.

Player of the match: Niall Furlong (Coláiste Choilm). Furlong was kept much quieter in the second half and he was shown a second yellow late on, but the Tullamore player had done a lot of the foundation work for the win. He kicked 0-4 from play in the first 27 minutes and was still quite involved in proceedings in the second half. Cillian Bourke and Ryan Kenny (first half) were also influential.

For Moate CS, Adam Keane had an outstanding game at full-back; he got to grips with Ryan Kenny in the second half and he was leading from the back also. Cian Whitney, Conor Fox, Aaron Murphy and Conaire Martin all played huge parts for Moate.

Scorers - Coláiste Choilm: N Furlong 0-4, K Bourke 1-0, R Kenny 0-2, C Bracken 0-2 (2f). Moate CS: A Murphy 0-4 (3f), C Fox 0-2, D Madden, C Murphy, C Martin and H Niall (f) 0-1 each.

Coláiste Choilm, Tullamore: Seán Kavanagh; Peter McKegney, John Colgan, Tadhg Kelly; David O’Rourke, Pa Kenna, Brian Guinan; Cillian Bourke, Eoin Dunne; Dara Bates, Niall Furlong, Davin Keegan; Stephen Doran, Ryan Kenny, Cian Bracken. Subs: Shane Horkan for Foran (51 mins), Eoin Rouse for Guinan (52), Aaron Rattigan for Dunne (54), Cormac Whittle for Bates (59).

Moate Community School: James Mitchell; Brian McCabe, Adam Keane, Cian Whitney; Cormac Murphy, Tom Gorman, Aodhan Curran; Conaire Martin, Hagan Niall; Padraig McLoughlin, Conor Fox, Darragh Madden; Darragh Delaney, Aaron Murphy, Tiarnán O’Donovan. Subs: Adam Fox for Curran (injured, 10 mins); Tadhg Heavin for McLoughlin (55).

Referee: Mark Glancy (Longford).