St Brendan's narrowly miss out on All Ireland Final as Ennis boys advance

All Ireland PPS D Semi Final

Rice College (Ennis) 2-10

St Brendan’s (Belmullet) 2-9

In Bekan

On a cool day in the Connacht Centre of Excellence, it was the students from the Banner County who overcame St Brendan’s of Belmullet in the battle for a place in the national decider.

In a competitive and close affair, there was never much between the sides but the Ennis students enjoyed a purple patch early in the second half and never seemed to look back although the Erris boys set up a tense finish.

The first half was extremely low scoring and going in at the break, the Munster champions led the barony boys 0-3 to 0-2. Looking back, Brendan’s enjoyed the wind in the opening half and one would question their shot selection as they racked up a hefty amount of wides. To add to their woes, after 21 minutes, Fionn O’Donoghue saw his effort from the penalty spot saved when Tony Burke denied him in the Ennis goal.

Just 70 seconds into the fresh half, the ball was in the back of the net when Rhys Murphy scored for the Ennis students. Through a pair of two pointers, the lead was stretched to eight and Brendan’s looked in trouble. 

Midway through the second half, Belmullet’s Fionn O’Donoghue  secured a lifeline when he found the net and three minutes later, added a second green flag which left just one between the sides. 

Entering the final ten minutes, Rice College found a new lease of life when Niall Doyle secured a well-taken goal, but O’Donoghue reduced the gap through placed ball efforts as time ticked by.

Entering injury time, it was down to the bare minimum but Rice College stood tall and now advance to the Rice Cup Final at the expense of the Mayo students.

A full match report will be carried in Tuesday’s edition of The Mayo News.

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