Munster Colleges SHC final: Full forward Bernard Gaffney was the hero for St Flannan's at Feenagh in Co Limerick yesterday when he grabbed the last-gasp goal that earned the Ennis college a Dr Harty Cup final replay date with St Colman's of Fermoy, who were going for their third title in a row.
Centre back Mark Moloney launched a high ball deep into the Cork school's defence; for once they failed to clear, and Gaffney pounced.
The draw was no more than the Ennis college deserved after producing a display full of guts and character.
The St Flannan's mentors put 15-year-old James McInerney on St Colman's danger man Andrew O'Shaughnessy, a member of the Limerick senior squad, and McInerney rose to the challenge to keep his highly-rated opponent scoreless.
The Cork college had also expected much of Patrick Kirby, another Limerick senior panellist, but, apart from scoring four points, three of them from frees, he could never make his mark on the game.
Both defences were outstanding, which made scores hard to come by. The St Colman's half backline of Kevin O'Mahony, Aidan Kearney and John O'Donnell particularly excelled.
Midfielder Seamus Stack also worked tirelessly to help out his defence.
The cross-field wind made it difficult for both sides, but St Colman's got off to the better start when Kirby set up Fergus Browne for a goal after a minute.
It took the Ennis college until the 22nd minute to open their account when Eoin Shinnors pointed a close-in free. This inspired a period of dominance by the Clare college and when Danny O'Halloran pointed in the 29th minute St Colman's half-time lead of 1-3 to 0-2 didn't look too convincing.
St Flannan's continued to harass the Cork side on the change over and the excellent free-taking of Shinnors had the deficit down to the minimum six minutes into the second-half, as the champions began to struggle.
With the Fermoy side leading by 1-6 to 0-6 with 10 minutes to go, their defence was coping so well with the ever-increasing St Flannan's pressure that the title looked destined for the Fermoy college. That was until Gaffney's late intervention.
ST COLMAN'S: D Fitzgerald; C Griffin, B Lane, J Dorgan; K O'Mahony, A Kearney, J O'Donnell; S Stack, E Condon (0-1); M Cleary, P Kearney (0-2), P Kirby (0-3); A O'Shaughnessy, M Allen, F Browne (1-0). Sub: C O'Connell for Cleary.
ST FLANNAN'S: A Ryan; A Byrne, D O'Doherty, J McInerney; S O'Brien, M Moloney, M Óg Murphy; B Guinnane, R Keane; A Griffey, J Clancy, D O'Halloran (0-2); E Shinnors (0-4), B Gaffney (1-0), N Dunne. Subs: K Forde for Guinnane; D Kelleher for Griffey.
Referee: J McDonnell (Tipperary).
