St Colman’s College captain says Mayo school ‘proved a lot of people wrong’

WHERE now are the naysayers who wrote off St Colman’s College after their group stage defeat to Summerhill?

There were none to be seen or heard last Saturday afternoon, but Rio Mortimer still felt compelled to address them.

“A lot, this year, we were told, we're not at it, we’re a decent team but maybe not good enough to go far but I think we’ve proved a lot of people wrong,” Mortimer told The Mayo News after the game.

The win over Coláiste Mhuire wasn’t an awe-inspiring display, and Mortimer conceded as much.

“Yeah, sometimes games just go that way and there’s not an awful lot you can do but just keep playing,” began the St Colman’s joint-captain when asked to assess the yin-yang nature of the game.

“It was awful low-scoring, it was tight, it was tiring on the legs, it was very hard, there was a lot of hits going in. We knew that was going to be the case, in fairness to Mullingar, they're a top side, they work awful awful hard.

“We watched a good bit of them going into the game. We had our game plan set up and we stuck to it. We were ahead at half-time with the wind, but we didn’t use it all that well. We knew coming out in the second half we just had to push on and in fairness to the boys, some brilliant moves and as the old saying goes ‘Goals win games.’ We’re happy enough that’s how it turned out.”

By the time Mortimer’s joint manager, Eoghan Collins, spoke to The Mayo News, the post-match euphoria had died down and it was now time to cast a cold, analytical eye on the result.

“Delighted, first of all. Very proud of the lads,” began Collins. “We probably didn’t play as well as we would have liked, but at the end of the day goals win games and thankfully we came out the right side of it.”

What changed in the second half that so transformed the tempo of the game?

Collins began by explaining their cautious approach to the first half.

“The wind was fairly strong. We probably sat a bit too deep in the first 15 minutes. They were playing the ball across the halfway line and in fairness, the boys changed it on the pitch and we got a turnover on the halfway line and that’s what got the goal. Three of our backs scored goals so we just tried to go out and carry the ball into the wind.”

We couldn’t part without noting this being the first St Colman’s College team to reach a Hogan Cup final since 1981.

“Yeah, it’s crazy,” said Collins. “We wouldn’t have thought last September we’d be heading for Croke Park on Paddy’s Day, we’ll embrace it, we’ll enjoy it, we’ll enjoy the buildup, and hopefully get a performance.”