REPORT! Tipperary school wins All-Ireland hurling title in controversial decider in Carlow

Masita PPS All-Ireland D Hurling Final

Colaiste Phobal Roscrea 1-15

Grennan College Thomastown 2-11

Tipperary schools have started St Patrick’s weekend in winning fashion as Colaiste Phobal Roscrea were crowned Masita Post Primary School All-Ireland D Hurling champions after a dramatic one-point win over Grennan College of Thomastown in the TUS Carlow campus on Friday afternoon.

A fantastic contest throughout, this decider was tinged with late drama with a big stoppage five minutes from time causing huge confusion as the referee and mentors of both teams questioned the on sight scoreboard at the ground. 

After plenty of deliberation, the score read Colaiste 1-15 Grennan College 2-11 and with massive battles for possession for the remaining ten minutes of normal time plus stoppage time, the Roscrea school retained the Niall McInerney Cup for Tipperary, after St Mary’s of Newport won the title in 2024.

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This was a titanic contest from start to finish with both teams delivering a final to savour for the supporters who turned out to shout on the players, and it was a frantic start to the game that set the tone for what was to come thereafter.

Paul Dooley was the first on the scoresheet after less than two minutes of play but the energiser for the game came early when Conor Monks fired a low, daisy-cutting effort to the back of the Roscrea net after three minutes to give the Kilkenny team an early jolt.

Main men for the sides in Gearoid Maher and Colm Treacy traded points in the next 60 seconds, which came just before four Roscrea scores in succession with Seamie Cleere, another Maher score from a free, and two classy strikes from full-forward Sam Dooley shoved Roscrea ahead 0-6 to 1-1 after 10 minutes.

Grennan College responded well and with a large proportion of the players on the field bringing confidence from the schools U19B All-Ireland soccer success a week previous, they didn’t become flustered with the early Roscrea dominance and had taken the lead by the 17th minute with Colm Treacy (2) the main threat, while Éanna O’Keeffe flighted over his first of the game in that spree.

Grennan led by 1-5 to 0-7 after the 22 minute mark but Roscrea managed to take a solitary one-point lead in at the break with James Sampson working hard to manufacture to scoring chances - which the Shinrone man duly converted - as the Tipp school led 0-9 to 1-5 at half-time.

Roscrea started the second half well with Jack Walsh making little of a tight angle to flight over his first point of the game, but Grennan College were creating space of their own with Thomastown senior hurler Colm Treacy firing over two classy points in the next five minutes to level the game again, now reading 0-11 to 1-8.

The Dooleys were causing major problems for the Grennan College defence and Paul Dooley had a big chance to raise a green flag in the 37th minute, but with the goal in sight, he got under the shot too much and blasted it over the bar.

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Éanna O’Keeffe’s pace was a weapon for Grennan College though, and he showed it again a minute later to equalise again, but again, Roscrea hit their straps and stretched their lead out to two-points by the 42nd minute with Seamie Cleare and James Sampson firing over to make it 0-14 to 1-9.

However, Colm Treacy - who won a county title with Thomastown seniors last year - was in mercurial form and he rattled the back of the Roscrea net with an incredible strike in the 43rd minute that put Grennan College into the lead with the final quarter to come.

That was a big moment for the Kilkenny school who came looking to capitalize on the major from Treacy, but Roscrea responded perfectly four minutes later when Sam Dooley and Seamie Cleere tore through the Grennan College defence, before the latter fed a clever hand pass into Paul Dooley who had the easy task of lashing home from close-range. A massive score.

In fairness to both teams, they took every blow that the other landed throughout the game and this time was no different with Eoghan Byrne and Éanna O’Keeffe pointing either side of another brilliant effort from Sam Dooley and that brought the game back to a single point at 1-15 to 2-11 with five minutes of normal time to come.

Despite the drama over the confusion of the scoreboard that referee Eamonn Furlong took some time to solve, the sides were in agreement thereafter and with Roscrea holding firm at the back, they managed to see out the next ten or so minutes without scoring or conceding to seal the win and confirm a deserved All-Ireland title for the north Tipperary school.

A perfect start to the school’s final weekend from a Tipperary perspective as the attention now turns to the A final on St Patrick’s Day in Croke Park where Thurles CBS will be hoping to emulate their Roscrea counterparts.

Scorers: Colaiste Phobal Roscrea: Paul Dooley 1-2, Sam Dooley 0-4, James Sampson 0-3, Seamie Cleere, Gearoid Maher, Jack Walsh all 0-2 each, 

Grennan College Thomastown: Colm Treacy (1-5, 0-1f), Éanna O’Keeffe 0-3, Conor Monks 1-0, Jamie Cassin, Eoghan Byrne, Seán Denieffe all 0-1 each.

Colaiste Phobal Roscrea: Matt Watkins (Ballyskenagh/Killavilla); Michael Loughnane (Roscrea), Cathal McDonald (Roscrea), Josh Loughnane (Moneygall); Seán Maher (Moneygall), Paul Simpson (Shinrone), Darragh Phelan (Ballyskenagh/Killavilla); Gearoid Maher (Shinrone), Jack Moloney (Roscrea); James Sampson (Shinrone), Paul Dooley (Roscrea), Seamie Cleere (Ballyskenagh/Killavilla); Calum Mitchell (Roscrea), Sam Dooley (Roscrea), Jack Walsh (Roscrea).

Subs used: Michael Dooley (Roscrea) for Mitchell (49); Miko Pasalic (Roscrea) for M Loughnane (54); Sam Carey (Moneygall) for Walsh (64).

Grennan College Thomastown: Adam Barden (Bennettsbridge); Rory Tobin (Tullogher Rosbercon), Jimmy Hennessy (Rower Inistioge), Evan Fitzgerald (Tullogher Rosbercon); Darragh Dack (Thomastown), Tyler Nolan (Thomastown), Conor Kelly (Thomastown); Alex Begley (Thomastown), Colm Treacy (Thomastown); Éanna O’Keeffe (Thomastown), Odhran McGorry (Rower Inistioge), Eoghan Byrne (Rower inistioge); Conor Monks (Thomastown), Seán Denieffe (Thomastown), Jamie Cassin (Dicksboro).

Subs used: Tadhg McMahon (Thomastown) for Hennessy (48); Jack Ravenhall (Thomastown) for Dack (54); Cian Murphy (Rower Inistioge) for Monks (59).

Referee: Eamonn Furlong (Wexford)

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