Cork Vocational Schools 3-17 Offaly Vocational Schools 3-7

[Lone Shark]

At any level, an All Ireland medal is a prized item, rarely won easily. This particular competition, with only four counties entering this year, represents one of the best chances a young hurler will have to become an All Ireland champion. This considered, Saturday’s semi final represents a missed opportunity for this Offaly team, as although the scoreline seems to reflect a dominant display from the Rebel county, in truth the winning margin was accumulated throughout the first half, where a sharp and cohesive Cork outfit made light of playing into the blustery conditions against an Offaly team that had spent very little time together, and quite frankly looked as such. The second half display from the Offaly boys illustrated their potential, something the players and management will have to reflect on in the aftermath of this game.

It was clear from the throw in that this Cork side were keen to perform to the full of their ability. Backboned by players from St. Brogan’s College in Bandon, who in recent weeks have had to deal with the disappointment of losing both the Vocation Schools All Ireland semi final in Football and the Munster Final in Hurling, their hunger was evident. Playing into a fresh breeze, they had five points on the board in first ten minutes, a Ross Cashman free from all of eighty metres in particular catching the eye. Offaly were struggling to get going, with a succession of wides and a booking for star man James Gorman all they had to show for this period. The next ten minutes was to give no reprieve, as points from Cork Minor Kevin Canty and another 65 from Cashman stretched the lead to seven. Offaly looked set to get off the mark on twenty minutes when they won a free 20m out, but Ciarán Flannery went for goal, only to see Ó’Cuinneagáin in the Cork goals bat away his attempt. Seán Martin did put over the resulting 65 to break the Offaly duck, but the bad news for Offaly kept coming. 23 minutes were on the clock when Danny O’Callaghan was the first to react after Damien Kilmartin saved his own goalbound attempt, and he swept the loose ball in for the first goal of the game. James Gorman, now playing at full forward after struggling to make an impact at midfield replied with a point, but O’Callaghan’s second goal followed quickly to leave Cork 11 points clear. This was still the margin at half time, with scores from Gorman and Martin cancelled out by two from Pat O’Mahony, one of the 8 St. Brogan’s starters.

The second half started slowly, and two further Cork scores left you worrying for the fate of the Offaly players. 11 minutes in and we began to see some of the ability that had been hidden until now. A great catch and shot from Gorman pulled one goal back, and much like in the first half, one goal quickly begat a second, as Ger Scales burst though to hammer low past the keeper for a second Offaly goal. At this stage six points remained between the sides, and a few points could have really put Cork under pressure. The scores came over the next ten minutes, but again the scorers were all wearing red. 4 points in a row left ten between the sides as we entered the closing stages, and though Daniel Currams struck for the goal of the game with a great turn and finish off his right to the top left corner from 20 metres, the early deficit accrued in the first half never looked like being overhauled. O’Callaghan’s third goal after a mix up in the Offaly defence four minutes into injury time rounded off the scoring, leaving a ten point margin between the teams as the final whistle sounded.

The first games in the Leinster minor championship were also played this weekend, and though the result was not encouraging, some performances will have caught the eye of the watching Johnny Dooley. Damien Kilmartin in goals, Ronan Larkin in defence and Sean Martin in midfield worked hard at stemming the damage, while captain Ciarán Flannery looked impressive when moved to centre back. Equally James Gorman and John Lambe played impressively up front off a limited supply of possession. These and others should feature over the summer, where hopefully the greater preparation will result in better displays from county and club players alike.

Scorers:
Cork: Danny O’Callaghan 3-2, Pat Finnegan 0-6 (0-3 Frees), Kevin Canty 0-3, Colm O’Neill 0-2, Ross Cashman 0-2 (1 Free, 1 65’), Pat O’Mahony 0-2

Offaly: James Gorman 1-2, Ger Scales 1-0, Daniel Currams 1-0, Sean Martin 0-2 (1 65’, 1 Free ), Paul Gleeson 0-1 (0-1 Free), Ciarán Flannery 0-1 (pen), David Sullivan 0-1 (Free)


Teams:
Cork: Risteard Ó’Cuinneagáin (Coláiste Eoin, Youghal); John O’Callaghan (Coachford CC), David Lynch (St. Brogan’s, Bandon), James O’Donovan (St. Brogan’s); Ger O’Driscoll (St. Brogan’s), Ross Cashman (St. Brogan’s), David Foley (Coachford CC); Cian O’Leary (Capt.) (St. Brogan’s), Pat McCarthy (Mary Immaculate CC, Dunmanway); Colm O’Neill (Davis College, Mallow), Alan Healy (Coachford CC), Pat O’Mahony (St. Brogan’s); Pat Finnegan (Coachford CC), Kevin Canty (St. Brogan’s), Danny O’Callaghan (St. Brogan’s).
Subs: Tom O’Neill (Coláiste an Chraoibhín, Fermoy) for Pat McCarthy.

Offaly: Damien Kilmartin (Kilcomac VS); John Cashin (St. Rynagh’s CC, Banagher), Conor Hernon (St. Rynagh’s), Ronan Larkin (St. Rynagh’s); Joe Dunican (Kilcormac VS), Martin Corcoran (St. Rynagh’s), James Corrigan (St. Rynagh’s); Sean Martin (Tullamore VS), James Gorman (Kilcormac VS); John Lambe (St. Rynagh’s), Ciarán Flannery (Capt.) (St. Rynagh’s), Daniel Currams (Killina CS); Ger Scales (St. Rynagh’s), Paul Gleeson (Kilcormac VS), Kevin Moran (St. Rynagh’s).
Subs: James Rafferty (Gallen CS) for Martin Corcoran, Martin Corcoran for Joe Dunican, David Sullivan (St. Rynagh’s) for Paul Gleeson.

Referee: Noel Cosgrove, Tipperary.

[Flatcap]

thats a woeful shame altogether. that muppet scales in charge of them has a lot to answer for. theres feck all between kilcormac and rynaghs at schools level, and to pick 9 from one and only four from the other is a disgrace. id say the tullamore lads feel hard done by too.

i dont like picking on kids, but theres three or four in that team that could easily have been replaced, and if they were we might have done a lot better.

[Lone Shark]

I'm not well enough up on the schools hurling scene to really comment on this. There were a few there all right who didn't look great, but in truth it'd be unfair for me to say whether it was a one off bad day or selection bias.

From what I could tell the selectors were all Banagher based, so that would seem to bear out the theory at any rate.

My biggest gripe is that from the subs I was talking to, they had only met up for the first time that week. Now there's 28 counties in Ireland who don't consider this competition worth entering, and if that's our attitude we should make it 29. our young lads are sick of getting hammered at every level, there's no need to make it worse for them by making winning as tricky as it could possibly be. You have to ask yourself what's the merit in this if you're not going to put in the effort - Johnstown alone would make a decent KK team, and you'd have to assume that Dublin would muster up a half decent outfit as well. Yet these see fit to stay out, so why don't we?