Coláiste Choilm and Offaly Schools face step up in class
By Kevin Egan
Relative to the emphatic, free-scoring victories enjoyed by a much-heralded St Mel’s team and a quietly impressive St Pat’s, Navan) side this past week, Coláiste Choilm wouldn’t have got much by way of style points for their 2-6 to 1-5 win over Maynooth Education Campus at the Faithful Fields on Tuesday.
If form holds, Leinster champions Naas CBS will make up the fourth team in the semi-finals with a win over Knockbeg this afternoon (Friday) in Carlow, and by any stretch of the imagination, Coláiste Choilm will be the clear outsider of four at that stage of the Brother Bosco Cup.
However, every win in the Senior ‘A’ championship football has to be respected, and after years of ploughing away at ‘B’ level, the success of a group like this - unadorned with anything like the star power of other teams from the school in recent years – is a testament to how the school has developed very good habits.
Most of the stars were defenders. Patrick Kenna and John Colgan both looked very assured along the spine of the backline, and even though they only scored eight times, there were seven scorers in total.
Clearly this is a team that is greater than the sum of its parts, and that is high praise for any team and their coaching group, particularly at schools level.
The focus turns to hurling next Tuesday and a hugely daunting test for Offaly Schools against St Kieran’s College. Like Coláiste Choilm, Offaly Schools have been efficient this year, but by any measure, they aren’t at the same level as they were last year.
St Kieran’s, on the other hand, look very impressive. Eight of the 19 players that saw action in last year’s Croke Cup final remain on board, while they also have some of the brightest stars of last year’s minor team, including Ed McDermott and Conor Doyle, the two goalscorers from Kilkenny's 2-15 to 0-14 win over Offaly.
Offaly Schools, meanwhile, don’t have anything like the same level of depth that they did 12 months ago. This game on Tuesday is a fantastic contest to get, and it will no doubt stand to the Banagher and Birr players in particular as they prepare for their showdown in the Leinster ‘B’ championship, but getting a win could be a very different matter entirely.