Corn Ui Mhuiri Football Quarter-Final – St Flannan’s 4-9 Mercy Mounthawk 2-12

St Flannan’s defeated Mercy Mounthawk by 4-9 to 2-12 in the Corn Ui Mhuiri Football Quarter-Final on Wednesday at Mick Neville Park Rathkeale.

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Early goal blitz does the trick for St Flannan’s

Report by Murt Murphy for the Irish Examiner newspaper

St Flannan’s College 4-9 Mercy Mounthawk 2-12: A three-goal St Flannan’s, College, Ennis salvo in the opening 10 minutes proved decisive as they had to withstand a tremendous second-half comeback from Mercy Mounthawk, Tralee to hang on for a three-point win, in this gripping Corn Ui Mhuiri quarter-final at Rathkeale.

St Flannan’s strolled through a static Mounthawk defence to score goals in the seventh, ninth and 10th minutes from Gearóid Cahill, Sean Kennedy and Eoghan Thynne as they raced 3-3 to 0-3 in front. From then onwards Mounthawk outscored the winners 2-9 to 1-6 – a fact not lost on St Flannan’s manager and former Clare senior footballer, Darragh Kelly.

“We enjoyed an excellent first-half but really Mercy Mounthawk did not start well at all. We really walked in for four goals in the opening spell and I am sure when they look back on it, they will be very disappointed in the goals they conceded.

“But, the other side of that, is we were eight points up at half-time, and once we missed the goal chance at the start of the second-half we sat back, when we really should have been pushing on. “

To their credit Mounthawk hit back with 1-2 without reply after suffering that early goal blitz, with Bobby Regan getting the goal. Then another soft goal conceded by the Tralee side when they allowed Cahill to run straight through the middle and St Flannan’s looked home and hosed at half time leading 4-7 to 1-8.

Kelly was disappointed with St Flannan’s second-half display that could have cost them victory. “We only scored two points from frees and it will not be good enough to progress in the competition.”

Kelly added St Flannan’s have not been scoring goals so far in the Corn UI Mhuiri “We are not normally noted for scoring goals we had only scored two before today but I think Mounthawk will be very disappointed when they look back at the four goals they conceded. While it gave us a great cushion and it was the reason we won, you have to give them credit for the way they fought back in the second-half and made a real battle out of it. We will have improve massively to beat St Brendan’s, but we were there last year and we be going into that game with no fear.”

Mercy Mounthawk showed tremendous battling qualities in the second-half as they penned St Flannan’s back in their own half with Shane Walsh, Donagh McMahon, Fergal Barry and Ciaran O’Reilly driving them on, and some excellent free taking by Dara Devine and a goal from a penalty by Bobby Regan saw Mounthawk close the gap to just two points with as many minutes left.

It would have been much closer only for a couple of missed goal chances by the Tralee side, one in particular in the 33rd minute when a Clare defender took a Michael Walsh shot that had beaten the keeper off the line and four very costly wides in the final 10 minutes, when the game was in the melting pot.

St Flannan’s will now face Corn Ui Mhuiri and Hogan Cup holders St Brendan’s, Killarney in the semi-final on Saturday February 4 and for Mercy Mounthawk, it is very much a case of what have been.

Scorers for St Flannan’s College: G Cahill (2-1), D Duggan (0-6, 5 frees), E Thynne (1-1), S Kennedy (1-0), G Cooney (0-1).

Scorers for Mercy Mounthawk: B Regan (2-3, 1-0 pen, 2 frees), D Devine (0-6 frees), R O’Connor (0-2), E McElligott (0-1).

ST FLANNAN’S: T O’Brien; M Collins, P Casey, D O’Shea; I Ugwueru, R Hayes, T Hannan; C Donnelly, C Mc Neilis; S Kennedy, G Cahill, E Thynne; G Cooney, D Duggan, C Brannock.
Subs: D Mescall for M Collins (20), I Molloy for S Kennedy (h/t), P Talty for C Brannock (40)

MERCY MOUNTHAWK: B O’Regan; P O’Mahoney, S Walsh, D McMahon; F Barry, S Collins, C Carmody; C O’Reilly, M Linnane; R O’Connor, B O’Regan, S Griffin; M Walsh, D Devine, E McElligott
Subs: R Murphy for S Griffin (47), M O’Gara for E McElligott (47), F Ennis for M Walsh (55).

Referee: R Moloney (Limerick).

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When – Wednesday January 18th at 1:30pm
Where – Mick Neville Park Rathkeale
Referee – Richard Moloney (Limerick)
Next Round – The winners will play the winners of PS Chorcha Dhuibhne and St Brendans in the Semi-Final on Saturday February 4th.

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Admission Prices
Adults – €5
Students / OAP’s – €3

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Results to Date

St Flannans
Group D Round 1 – St Flannans 1-8 St. Fachtnas Skibbereen 0-10
Group D Round 2 – P.S Rathmore 3-11 St Flannans 1-14
Group D Round 3 – St Flannans 0-9 P.S Chorcha Dhuibhne 0-5

Mercy Mounthawk
Group B Round 1 – Mercy Mounthawk 4-16 Clonmel High School 0-7
Group B Round 2 – Colaiste Chriost Ri 3-12 Mercy Mounthawk 0-10
Group B Round 3 – Mercy Mounthawk 3-16 Clonakilty Community College 0-8

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Match Preview

Mick Neville Park in Rathkeale will be the venue for the meeting of Group D winners St. Flannans and Mercy Mounthawk of Tralee. St. Flannans (three time winners – last time in 1995) reached last year’s Semi-final before bowing out to the eventual winners St. Brendans. This season, St. Flannans took part in Group D, the most competitive of the four groups saw St. Flannans record a first round one point win over St. Fachtnas Skibbereen before losing narrowly to P.S Rathmore by 3-11 to 1-14 in round two. St. Flannans needed to win their last game versus P.S Chorcha Dhuibhne which they duly achieved, winning a low scoring game by 0-9 to 0-5 to qualify for the Quarter-Finals as group winners. Gearóid Cahill, Gavin Cooney and Darragh Duggan scored three points each for the winners on that occasion.

Mercy Mounthawk from Tralee qualified second in Group B following three one-sided games. In Round 1, the Tralee school had 21 points to spare against last year’s finalists Clonmel High School. The tables were turned in round two as Colaiste Chriost Ri defeated Mercy Mounthawk by 11 points. A victory in the last round was required in order to qualify for the knockout stages and Clonakilty Community College proved no match for Mercy Mounthawk as the Tralee School won by 17 points. Bobby O’Regan, Dara Devine and Eoin McElligott have been their top scorers in the campaign to date.

Richard Moloney of Limerick is the referee for this game with a 1:30pm throw-in on Wednesday.

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Radio Kerry Preview