Paddy Buggy Cup semi-final

Calasanctius College Oranmore 1-22 Enniscorthy CBS 2-15

at Rathdowney, Co Laois

CPC’s rivals in Saturday’s Paddy Buggy Cup final, Calasanctius College Oranmore, are formidable opponents who are backboned by the Oranmore-Maree club in Galway and in fact there were thirteen players from the club on the side that beat St Mary’s Enniscorthy in the semi-final two weeks ago.
The Wexord school pushed their Galway rivals hard for much of that semi-final in Rathdowney, but Oranmore showed great composure down the home straight to squeeze through a hard fought contest
Enniscorthy CBS were caught on a couple of occasions trying to play possession out of defence and were punished by the superb free-taking of Colm Burke, and the speed and accuracy of Gus Lohan (nephew of Clare manager, Brian).
At the other end of the field, Enniscorthy CBS weren’t making the same inroads with their inside line, thanks chiefly to the brilliant performance of Thomas Blake who gave a dominant display in his starting position of corner back, and later at centreback when he moved out to pivot the defence.
Enniscorthy CBS couldn’t get the ball to ‘stick’ in the final line, and while Páuric Doyle, Bobby Codd and Peter Wickham all delivered big moments at various stages in the half-forward line, they needed a back-up reserve to freshen things in the last quarter when Oranmore’s overall dominance began to tell
The Connacht side found the patches of space they needed in the home straight; and their efficiency was impressive when they did.
Enniscorthy CBS couldn’t have given any more, but they will be disappointed with a couple of their eight wides. The Wexford boys also dropped five shots short, where goalkeeper Harry Keady, son of the late Galway legend Tony Keady, was a dominant figure.
In terms of physicality, Oranmore held an advantage, and while the Enniscorthy CBS short game out of defence paid dividends on occasions, they tried it once too often, and the hits and tackles from their well-conditioned opponents led to turnovers that were converted into scores.

The pitch was in excellent condition for hurling, and from the opening whistle it became apparent that it was going to be a classic.
Enniscorthy were quick out of the traps and were 2-0 up after three minutes thanks to a Bobby Codd free and a Larry Cloke effort from play.
Oranmore then hit back with seven of the next nine points. Jake Keady was particularly effective during the first-half, with Colm Burke also a growing influence. The Enniscorthy CBS half-backs were under pressure, but were doing enough.
There was confusion when Peter Wickham’s goal was disallowed for an earlier infringement after nine minutes, and on 19 minutes, when Gus Lohan stroked home the sliotar, following a powerful run by Michael Leahy, Enniscorthy CBS had reason to be concerned that they were now five points down.
But a minute later, Peter Wickham’s defiance paved the way for Shane Reddy to net for the Leinster champions Jake Keady and Páuric Doyle exchanged a couple of fine points during this spell, with Doyle winning his battle on the ’40.
Trailing by three at the interval, Enniscorthy CBS hit 1-3 in the first ten minutes of the second-half to go 2-11 to 1-11 ahead.

There followed a couple of crucial plays, where a combination of Oranmore’s calmness and opportunism, and Enniscorthy CBS getting caught in possession in their own half, saw the Galway side regain the momentum.
Colm Burke pointed two frees from the forced errors, with Lohan and Leahy added terrific points from play.
It was already at a high level, but the match tempo went up another notch for the final quarter. Eoin Cloke and Shane Reddy were as busy as ever at midfield, and more excellent scores followed.
Among them was an exchange of points between Lohan and Hyland, the latter following great play in the last line of defence by Ivers.
When Codd made a driving run and pointed, with Hyland following up after a quick one-look and strike on 52 minutes, Enniscorthy CBS were back on top, leading by two with eight minutes to play and looked to be in a strong position.
But despite battling ferociously to the final whistle, that was to be Enniscorthy’s last score of the game as Oranmore hit the final six points, including three Burke frees, one from play from the centre-forward, with the skilful Lohan adding another two to his tally.
Overall Enniscorthy’s attitude and application on the day was tremendous, but Calasanctius College Oranmore just had a few more aces in their deck and deservedly got over the line to set up a final meeting with Ulster Champions Cross & Passion College, Ballycastle

Calasanctius College (Oranmore):

Harry Keady; Seán Martyn, Thomas Blake, Alan Connaughton; Tiernan Grealish, Fionn Fahy, Shay Rabbitt; Charlie Healy, Éanna Costello; Jake Keady (0-3), Colm Burke (0-12, 10 frees), Matthew Furey; Darragh King, Michael Leahy (0-2), Gus Lohan (1-5). Subs. – Stephen Ruane for King (HT), Liam Burke for Costello (59), Niall De Paor for Furey (63).

St. Mary’s CBS (Enniscorthy):

Eamon Asple (Ballyhogue); Brian Ivers (Marshalstown-Castledockrell), Kyle Curran (Oylegate-Glenbrien), Oisín Cloke-Rochford (Ballyhogue); Jamie Downey (Oylegate-Glenbrien), Jack Nolan (Oylegate-Glenbrien), Tadhg Doyle (Ballyhogue); Eoin Cloke (Davidstown-Courtnacuddy), Shane Reddy (Rathnure, 1-0); Bobby Codd (Monageer-Boolavogue, 0-8, 5 frees), Páuric Doyle (Davidstown-Courtnacuddy, 0-3), Peter Wickham (Oulart-The Ballagh, 0-1); Larry Cloke (Davidstown-Courtnacuddy, 0-1), Rhys Wickham (Oulart-The Ballagh, 1-0), Seán Hyland (Rapparees, 0-2).

Referee: Anthony Stapleton (Laois).