The lads from St. Mary’s Aghagallon with the Hogan Cup
Photos: Bert Trowlen
St. Ronan’s Lurgan 1-10 Rice College Westport 1-9
What a day it was for St. Ronan’s Lurgan as they collected their first Hogan Cup title after defeating Rice College, Westport in a nail biting finish at Croke Park on Saturday.
St Ronan’s became only the second Armagh school to do so and what a roller coaster hour of football their loyal band of followers had to endure as play swung from end to end with the result in the balance until the final whistle.
And what a day for St. Mary’s Aghagallon who had five players in the starting line-up and the boys from the Antrim-Armagh border certainly played their part in this memorable victory. Luke Mulholland pulled off a superb point blank save in the 5th minute but was wrong footed with the rest of his defence as Keith Joyce got his hand to the resulting ‘45’ to redirect it to the net.
The Mayo school led 1-5 to 0-6 at half-time but St. Ronan’s came back strongly in the second half and Tiernan Kelly’s goal put the Armagh team ahead.
Rice College had chances to force extra-time but again it was a case of Mayo disappointment at Croke Park.
St Ronan’s add All-Ireland honours to their first MacRory Cup title which they earned by beating St Mary’s Magherafelt on the 19 March.
The Lurgan school then defeated Kerry side Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne 2-10 to 1-10 in last week’s All-Ireland semi-final.
St Ronan’s, only founded three years ago, were forced to defend hard late on, as their opponents went in search of the winning score on three occasions, but failed to reap dividends.
A 52nd-minute score from Oisin Smyth proved to be the match-winner in a very tight and competitive affair.
A fisted effort from Keith Joyce provided the only goal of an opening half, where St Ronan’s had two goal chances, but Cian Kennedy denied Rioghan Meehan and Ruairi McConville on separate occasions.
On the re-start the sides traded early points, before Jack Lenehan had a goal miss – a rasping shot coming off the upright.
Slowly but surely St Ronan’s got on top, and found a vital goal in the 38th minute, when a Smyth effort was blocked, before Kelly’s ground shot crept through a crowded box and ended in the net.
There were wild scenes of celebration after and the large contingent who made their way from Aghagallon certainly played their part in the festivities and those celebrations went on into the early hours of the morning with standing room only at the Gate Inn in Aghagallon.