Scores galore as St Colman's win exciting Mayo colleges clash

FOOTBALL MAYO SCHOOLS FLANAGAN CUP A CHAMPIONSHIP

St Colman's Claremorris 2-22

Gortnor Abbey Crossmolina 2-11

In Claremorris

The boys in red continued their winning ways on home soil on Wednesday when they powered past their North Mayo guests. St Colman's had beaten Summerhill in the opening round and made it two from two when Gortnor Abbey came to town.

In truth, there was a gap in quality between the sides on the pitch, but that's only half the story. St Colman's are the reigning Connacht Colleges A champions while Gortnor Abbey have been beaten in the last two provincial C deciders. Throw in the fact that the guests were resting a number of Crossmolina senior players before the weekend's club championship semi-final and on another day the gap might have been tighter at the end.

Colman's were missing a number of front-liners themselves, but the absence of Sean Óg McGuinness, Kobe McDonald, Dylan Flynn and Josh Moyles from the Gortnor Abbey ranks meant they were on the back foot from the outset.

However, Colman's had no sympathy and tore into action as soon as referee John Glavey threw in the ball. They powered forward and led 2-9 to 0-4 at the interval. The goals were delivered by impressive full-forward Jack Comer and busy centre-half-forward Aaron O'Dea. The scoreboard was also troubled by Dylan Burke, Adam Gallagher, David Lally and Jake Mullin and but for the intervention of the crossbar and goalkeeper Fionn Cosgrove the gap would have been bigger.

The boys in red were dominant in the middle third as Cathal Tierney, Sean Clarke and Dara Flanagan ruled the roost despite the best efforts of Gortnor's Ronan Walsh who powered into every challenge with great gusto.

Ethan Reilly, Andrew Barrett and the impressive midfielder Lorcan O'Donnell all kicked points for the Crossmolina school and O'Donnell forced Alex Pilbrow into a great save after 16 minutes, but it was clear that Colman's were on their way to the second win of the competition.

The home side powered into an 18-point lead after ten minutes of the second half when they enjoyed a 2-16 to 0-4 lead and it looked as if Gortnor were going to be overwhelmed.

However, the boys in green and gold drew a line in the sand and finished strongly. Tom Burke flicked home a goal and points arrived from Luke Williams, Luke Maloney and O'Donnell before full-back Eoin Dyra came forward to bend over a classy two-pointer. Things got even better for the guests four minutes from the end when Mark Sheerin cracked home a goal from a free, but they were never going to catch the impressive home side.

Colman's looked like a really slick outfit for long periods of the game and some of their movement and combination play was a joy to behold. Six points in the closing quarter meant they were never in any danger despite Gortnor Abbey's strong finish and they'll be hoping to continue their winning ways next week when they face the challenge of St Nathy's.

A full match report will be carried in Tuesday's Mayo News.