Mayo school beaten in All-Ireland final in Croke Park

ALL-IRELAND PPS SENIOR A FINAL

St Pat's Maghera 2-8

St Colman's Claremorris 0-4

CROKE PARK

THE great St Colman's dream of winning the Hogan Cup for the first time since 1977 goes on. The boys in red never really got going today in Croke Park against a Maghera team who kicked a stream of wides, but did enough to deservedly win the big silver cup.

The Mayo side was a pale imitation of the team that conquered Connacht and reached the decider for the first time since 1981. They were hesitant and beaten to the ball time after time by the marauding Derry boys who would have won by far more if they had taken even a portion of their chances.

Maghera ended up with 13 wides and some of the misses had to be seen to be believed. That they were so wasteful, yet won by ten points tells its own story.

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St Colman's will rue the fact that they never found their rhythm and were too far adrift by the time they cut loose in the closing minutes. Full-forward Darragh Beirne was their only scorer and the game wasn't a true reflection of the season enjoyed by the boys from South Mayo.

Maghera were backed by the wind in the first half and dominated almost every aspect of play. It was hard to fathom how they were just four in front at the break, 0-5 to 0-1, given their power in many departments. However, their woeful shooting halted their advance and some of their eight wides were extremely poor.

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St Colman's laid very few gloves on them in that opening period and only had an 18^th minute Beirne point to celebrate before half time. To be fair, the Mayo boys were trying hard, but very little went right for them.

The first goal seemed destined to arrive after 17 minutes but Padraig Haran's close-range effort was blocked by Mark Noonan. That brave challenge kept Colman's in it and they were well-positioned at the break, four down after playing poorly, with wind advantage to come.

However, there was to be no revival.

Beirne and Finbarr McShane shared points just after the resumption but then the game's decisive moment arrived. Hesitancy in the Colman's attack gave Maghera the chance to counter-attack and full-forward Darragh McGonigle advanced before sending Haran through for a goal. That left seven between the teams and the prospect of a comeback was dim.

In fairness to Colman's they never stopped knocking on the door but it remained stubbornly shut. Beirne landed a free and kicked another from play as the boys in red rolled forward. Both Beirne and Dara Flanagan forced goalkeeper Jack McCloy into saves as the chasers sought much-needed goals, but the Derry boys were comfortable.

They broke out for two scores in the closing moments. First Cormac Óg McCloskey had a goal-bound effort deflected over by a diving block from Jack Noone before a flowing Maghera move ended with wing-back Darragh O'Neill finding the net.

The day that promised much for St Colman's failed to follow the script and the wait for a second Hogan Cup goes on.

A full match report and after-match reaction will be carried in Tuesday's Mayo News.