Ardscoil Rís fire themselves into the semi-final of the All-Ireland Schools Senior ‘A’ Hurling Croke Cup:

Ardscoil Rís fire themselves into the semi-final of the All-Ireland Schools Senior ‘A’ Hurling Croke Cup:

By Siadbh Redmond Limerick Leader Sport

ARDSCOIL Rís have fired themselves into the semi-final of the Masita All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior ‘A’ Hurling Croke Cup after beating Presentation College Athenry 1-14 to 1-09 in Tulla this evening.

After the heart break of loosing the Harty Cup final by one point to Nenagh CBS, Ardscoil Rís now have a semi-final in the All-Ireland competition to look forward to.

Full-forward for Ardscoil Marc O’Brien scored 1-09 for his side with a vital goal coming in the second-half to give his team the win in the end. The Limerick school will now face St Kieran’s College Kilkenny in the semi-final.

Presentation College Athenry started the brighter of the two sides with a fantastic goal from Ciarán Leen put them well ahead of the their Limerick rivals after three minutes of play.

Ardscoil Rís hit back with vital free’s from Daniel Chaplin and Marc O’Brien, but the goal would be the difference throughout the entire first-half.

In an extremely physical game both teams struggled to get scores for more than a 10 minute period, with Ardscoil Rís hitting five wides in the opening half before a missed goal opportunity for Ardscoil Rís after 15 minutes well saved by Ciarán White.

Presentation College Athenry pushed on with scores from Jason Rabbitte, Darragh Kearney and Aaron Niland. Ardscoil replied with points from Marc O’Brien, their top scorer in the first 30 minutes with four points, before replacement Patrick Kearney slotted over two points from play at the end of the half to leave it 1-05 to 0-07 in the Galway schools favour.

It was a Marc O’Brien master class after the break with the full-forward scoring three points for Ardscoil Rís before firing an incredible goal into the back of the net to leave them 1-10 in front of Athenry.

Despite the fast start by the Galway school they struggled to get scores in the second-half with Ardscoil’s goal spurring them on with every score.

Aaron Nilland continued to slot over free’s for Athenry but in the end they couldn’t find an answer to Ardscoil Rís fast play and and physicality leaving them the deserved winners on a scoreline of 1-14 to 1-09.

SCORERS- ARDSCOIL RÍS: Marc O’Brien 1-09 (0-06 free’s), Patrick Kearney 0-02, Daniel Chalpin 0-01(0-01 free’s), Fintan Fitzgerald 0-01, Jack Cosgrove 0-01.

SCORERS- PRESENTATION COLLEGE ATHENRY: Aaron Nilland 0-05 (0-04), Ciarán Leen 1-0, Darragh Kearney 0-02, Orin Burke 0-01, Jason Rabbitte 0-01.

ARDSCOIL RÍS: Fionn O’Brien (Bruree), James Coughlan (Ballybrown), Séan McMahon (Smith O’Briens), Seán Morrissey (Dromin Athlacca), James Finn (Na Piarsaigh), Jamie Moylan (Cratloe), Daniel Scully (Dromin Athlacca), Rían McNamara (Cratloe), Matthew O’Halloran (Sixmilebridge), Jack Cosgrove (Ahane), Fintan Fitzgerald (Mungret St Paul’s), Michael Collins (Clonlara), Daniel Chaplin (Sixmilebridge), Marc O’Brien (Cratloe), Eoin Begley (Clonlara).

SUBS: Patrick Kearney (Adare) for Chaplin (28 minutes), Darragh Gleeson (Adare) for Begley (47 minutes), Seán Arthur (Newmarket on Fergus) for Coughlan (51 minutes), Cathal Lohan (Cratloe) for Kearney (59 minutes)

PRESENTATION COLLEGE ATHENRY: Ciarán Wilde, Lucas Keane, Conor Lawless, Dylan Quirke, Oscar Fitzpatrick, Seán Murphy, Michael Fallon, Darragh Counihan, Mark Kilgannon, Darragh Kearney, Orin Burke, Jason Rabbitte, Ciarán Leen, Shane Kennedy, Aaron Niland.

SUBS: Robert Burke for Fallon (37 minutes), Ian Ward for Kilgannon (42 minutes), Eamonn McGlynn for Kennedy (51 minutes), Eoin Hannon for Leen (51 minutes).

REFEREE: Matthew Farrell (Roscommon)