Ardscoil Ris junior hurlers overcome St Colmans to reach Munster final in Dean Ryan Cup

ARDSCOIL RIS booked their place in the final of the TUS Munster Post Primary Schools Junior Hurling Championship this Tuesday afternoon.

In Kilmallock the Limerick city secondary school powered over the winning line in the second half to seal a Dean Ryan Cup final spot against Thurles CBS on November 9. The final score was Ardscoil Ris 2-30, St Colmans College Fermoy 1-15.

In this Munster PPS U16 ½ hurling semi final, the North Circular Road outfit hit 2-20 from play and recorded just six wides to back-up their impressive quarter final win over Nenagh CBS earlier this month.

St Colmans of Fermoy had the aid of the breeze in the opening half but the Limerick side brought a 2-10 to 0-11 lead into the break thanks to two well-taken goals from Adare’s Patrick Kearney.

The opening quarter was tight but then Ardscoil Ris got on top and when Kearney hit his first goal, the side in black were 1-7 to 0-3 ahead and 13-minutes played.

The north Cork response to the goal was impressive with Fionn Lardner, Diarmuid O’Connell and John Temple points. All of a sudden the lead of seven points was down to just a goal and 10-minutes until half time.

Then on 22-minutes came the second Kearney goal to help ensure a five point interval lead for a side who were beaten in the Dean Ryan Cup final last season by St Flannans.

In the second half, Ardscoil Ris, managed by teachers Niall Crowe and Fergal Lyons, were backed by the breeze and dominated from the start with seven successive points.

Marc O’Brien and Darragh Gleeson led the scoring in this spell as Ardscoil Ris moved 2-17 to 0-11 clear and 10-minutes lapsed in the new half.

St Colmans did respond briefly with a Larder goal and it was 2-20 to 1-14 just inside the final quarter.

The Limerick side added another 10-points with just a single free in reply. Gleeson (4), Kearney (5) and Collins (4) all with fine returns of points from play for a side jointly captained by James Coughlan and Eoin Carey.

SCORERS: ARDSCOIL RIS: Darragh Gleeson 0-14 (10frees), Patrick Kearney 2-5, Michael Collins 0-4, Eoin Begley 0-3, Marc O’Brien 0-2, John O’Keeffe and Jack Cosgrove 0-1 each. ST COLMANS: Fionn Lardner 1-8 (0-6frees), John Temple and Donnacha Hickey 0-2 each, Brian McGrath, Diarmuid O’Connell and David Barry 0-1 each.

ARDSCOIL RIS: Darragh Jordan (Na Piarsaigh); Leo Connolly (Na Piarsaigh), Eoin Carey (Cratloe), Luke Tobin (Parteen); Eoin Brosnan (Na Piarsaigh), James Coughlan (Ballybrown), Jack Cosgrove (Ahane); Darragh Horkan (Na Piarsaigh), Marc O’Brien (Cratloe); John O'Keeffe (Murroe-Boher), Michael Collins (Clonlara), Darragh Gleeson (Adare); Cillian Murphy (Sixmilebridge), Eoin Begley (Clonlara), Patrick Kearney (Adare). Subs: Malachy McKenna (Pallasgreen) for Eoin Carey, inj (32mins), Paidi O’Gorman (Bruree) for Eoin Brosnan (47mins), Oisin O’Byrne (Crecora-Manister) for Cillian Murphy (50mins), Dylan Keogh (Sixmilebridge) for Jack Cosgrove (54mins), David O’Keeffe (Na Piarsaigh) for Eoin Begley (54mins).

ST COLMANS: Harry Bates; Billy Ryan, Evan O’Driscoll, Leo Lynch; Ruairc Donovan, Tomas Riordan, Denis Riordan; Diarmuid O’Connell, Jack Counihan; Ryan Loftus, Donnacha Hickey, John Temple; David Barry, Fionn Lardner, Brian McGrath. Subs: Chris Ring for Leo Lynch (27mins), Cian McCarthy for Diarmuid O’Connell (36mins), Ciaran Leamy for Diarmuid O’Connell for Jack Counihan (37mins), Tadgh McCarthy for David Barry (44mins), Owen Magner for Ryan Loftus (48mins).

REFEREE: Johnny Murphy (Limerick).