Castlebar boys beaten by Donegal's finest

ALL-IRELAND SENIOR A SCHOOLS SEMI-FINAL

St Gerald's Castlebar 2

Scoil Mhuire Buncrana 4

Ray MacSharry Park, Sligo

A brave and battling St Gerald's side bowed out of the All-Ireland race in Sligo this afternoon when going down to a physically-imposing Donegal outfit who took their chances with great style.

Buncrana were deserving of their victory as they created the more clear-cut chances, but for effort and application there was no besting St Gerald's. The Castlebar boys never stopped trying to do the right thing despite trailing from the eighth minute, and two spectacular penalties from Gavin Forry had them well in contention until a late goal left too much of a gap in the final moments.

An early strike from team-captain Conor Graham gave the Ulster champions the lead and another from Jay Bradley early in the second half left Gerald's with a mountain to climb, but they hit back after 56 minutes when a hand-ball offence allowed Forry the opportunity to half the deficit by planting a penalty in the bottom corner.

The Castlebar boys dominated after that with Alan Hegarty, Niall Vahey and Cian Walsh among those to catch the eye.

However, after 66 minutes a long ball over the top sent the excellent Darragh Coyle through on goal and he rifled a shot past Geralds' impressive goalkeeper Oisin Costello.

Once again, Gerald's had to set off in chase of a two-goal deficit and when Walsh danced in from the right and was fouled in the box, Forry had another opportunity from the spot.

The central midfielder showed nerves of steel to chip the ball, Panenka-stye, straight down the middle and suddenly the gap was back to a single goal again.

Gerald's pushed forward looking for an equaliser but with three minutes remaining, Buncrana counter-attacked and when Graham scored his second of the day the Ulster champions were headed for the final.

Full report and aftermatch reaction in Tuesday's Mayo News.

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