2024/2025 TUS Frewen Cup (Under 17 A Football) Final – St Brendan’s College 2-13 Clonakilty CC 0-11

St Brendan’s College defeated Clonakilty CC by 2-13 to 0-11 in the 2024/2025 TUS Frewen Cup (Under 17 A Football) Final on Friday November 8th at Mallow.

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The Sem prove to strong for Clonakilty in Frewen Cup Finalhttps://t.co/BI4hrL5kNl

— Irish Examiner Sport (@ExaminerSport) November 8, 2024

The Sem prove to strong for Clonakilty in Frewen Cup Final

Report by Murt Murphy for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Munster PPS U17 A Frewen Cup Final: St Brendan’s College (The Sem) 2-13 Clonakilty CC 0-11

In the second awarding of the Frewen Cup for the year of 2024, due to the Munster PPS season changes, St Brendan’s College Killarney won the competition for the school for the first time since thanks to a strong final quarter performance. A gallant Clonakilty Community College could not cope with once the Sem got their first goal.

The Sem – managed by Vince Cooper and current Dr Crokes and Kerry defender Gavin White – scored the opening four points in both halves of play but were pegged back to within range by Clon twice before Dylan O’Meara and Ben Kelliher goals settled the tie in the Killarney school’s favour.

After defeating IS Killorglin in the second semi-final on Monday, Clonakilty were slightly slow out of the blocks in the first quarter. They finally got on the board in the 15th minute through Jack Byerly and were managing to get the better of the Sem in the physical stakes. The Sem’s strong footballing brains got them out of a few tough spots however as Clonakilty goalkeeper Ruairí O’Sullivan had to be vigilant to deny Dylan O’Meara putting the ball into the net before half-time.

It looked finely poised when the Sem led at the break by 0-7 to 0-6 but they got another run of four straight points to put daylight between the sides again. Clon rallied again to make it 0-11 to 0-9 on the three-quarter mark as Jamie Collins kicked seven points in total for the west Cork School. However, a decent passing move involving Mark O’Carroll and Ben Kelliher in the build-up led to the Sem’s first goal through O’Meara making it 1-11 to 0-9.

Kelliher scored the Sem’s second goal in the final minute of normal time after being put through by Liam Kelliher. David McCarthy, Anthony Cremin and Cian Stack impressed for the Killarney School in victory. Cremin had denied Clonakilty their best chance of a goal in the 56th minute through full-forward Tom Whooley with a great block as Clon’s wait for a first title at this level since joining from the old vocational ranks continues.

The Sem’s win follows three straight successes for Tralee schools – Mercy Mounthawk (2022) and Tralee CBS (2023 and March of this year) as the victors will be referred to as the 2024/25 winners for official purposes.

St Brendan’s will hope for a double in the spring when Kerry’s U17A, the Dunloe Cup gets going.

Scorers for St Brendans: B Kelliher (1-6, 3f), D O’Meara (1-2), L O’Brien (0-3), F Doyle and M O’Carroll (0-1 each)

Scorers for Clonakilty CC: J Collins (0-7, 1f, 1m), J Byerly (0-3, 2f) and R O’Donovan (0-1)

ST BRENDANS COLLEGE: J Murphy (Killarney Legion); B O’Connor (do), A Cremin (Firies), D McCarthy (Listry); J Nash (Dr Crokes), Z Cronin (Kilcummin), C Clifford (Dr Crokes); M O’Carroll (do), C Stack (Kilcummin); F Blackwell (Killarney Legion), B Kelliher (Dr Crokes), J Henderson (Firies); L O’Brien (Glenflesk), D O’Meara (Firies), F Doyle (Fossa)
Subs: J Kelly (Glenflesk) for J Henderson (20), J Culloty (Killarney Legion) for F Doyle (50), I Vickers (Firies) for F Blackwell (57), JJ O’Donoghue (Spa) for D O’Meara (60)

CLONAKILTY CC: R O’Sullivan (Kilmeen); E Whelton (St James), A McCarthy (Owen Gaels), C Collins (Ibane Gaels); M Collins (do), H O’Donovan (Kilmeen), J O’Leary (Owen Gaels); C Murphy (do), E Nolan (Clonakilty); E Hicks (Carbery Rangers), J Byerley (Clonakilty), R O’Donovan (Ibane Gaels); R Twohig (Kilmeen), T Whooley (Clonakilty), J Collins (Ibane Gaels)
Subs: F McCarthy (Owen Gaels) for R O’Donovan (55), E Deiseach (Clonakilty) for R Twohig (57)

REFEREE: J O’Halloran (Limerick)