*Robert Loftus and Sean McNamara in action for St Flannan’s College. Photograph: Sport Action Photography
ST FLANNAN’S COLLEGE exited the Croke Cup at the quarter-final stage to Presentation Athenry on Saturday afternoon.
Presentation Athenry 1-19
St Flannan’s College 1-14
Venue: Gort
Ciarán Leen’s forty second minute goal gave Athenry the ascendancy entering the final quarter and a St Flannan’s fightback failed to ignite allowing the Galway side to carve out their biggest lead of the game by the sounding of the final whistle.
Nine missed first half chances were costly over the hour for Flannan’s, they were also level at the interval when the boost of Donnacha McNamara’s thirteenth minute green flag should really have pushed them to be leading at the break.
Athenry possessed a much stronger attacking threat. Jason Rabbitte at centre forward had a fine duel with Flannan’s captain James Hegarty, the towering teenager a son of former Galway hurler Joe was very effective in the air and he had the final lay off for Leen for the decisive goal after controlling Frank Burke’s delivery. Both Leen and Burke were also lively in attack.
In their Harty Cup final defeat, St Flannan’s had a single point from play from their forward line, the tally increased to 1-3 on this occasion but it didn’t match the 1-8 return from play from Athenry.
Freetaker Leen opened the scoring on three minutes with his Flannan’s equivalent Harry Doherty getting them off the mark on nine minutes. In between, Chris Callanan produced an excellent blocking save to deny Conor Ralph a major.
Callanan was unable to stop Donnacha McNamara raiding for goal, a strike which put the Clare outfit into a 1-2 0-2 lead. James Hegarty won the turnover in the half-back line, allowing Harry Doherty to find Marco Cleary who popped to McNamara for their goal. In the next attack Cleary was denied by the crossbar, Athenry then responded with scores from Leen and Rabbitte.
A sideline cut from Leen even earned him applause from the Clare contingent as he responded to Ronan Kilroy’s first score of the day. White flags from McNamara and two from Doherty had St Flannan’s two points ahead but Athenry hit three of the final four scores in the opening half to tie matters.
St Flannan’s started well in the second half and they had four of the first five scores, Kilroy getting a second effort from play coupled with frees from Doherty and a James Cullinan effort.
Their work was undone as Athenry hit 1-3 without reply to take a three point advantage as the game entered the final quarter.
Robert Loftus wandered forward to land two nice scores for Flannan’s but moments of inspiration were too far and between for the Harty Cup finalists. On the other hand, Athenry led by Rabbitt’s superb fielding and a tenacity in defence stayed on top and they created the biggest gap of the game of five points, a deficit which remained.
For the winners, Jason Rabbitte and Ciarán Leen were particularly effective up front, Seán Murphy was solid at full-back with Chris Callanan very reliable between the posts with Oscar Fitzpatrick also doing well. They still have Aaron Niland to return to their ranks so expect the Galway side to be even stronger in their quest to lift the Croke Cup.
Successive defeats end the 2025 campaign for St Flannan’s who were beaten by a better team. They didn’t help their own cause as they over-carried the ball at times and took the wrong option in possession. Ronan Kilroy and Joseph Casey were the standout players while Harry Doherty demonstrated his ability in the air, Seán McNamara was always smart in his use of possession James Hegarty did well on occasions as did Donnacha McNamara.
Scorers Presentation Athenry: C Leen (1-11 9f 1SC), J Rabbitte (0-5 1f), F Burke (0-2), E O’Brien (0-1).
Scorers St Flannan’s College: H Doherty (0-8 8f), D McNamara (1-1), R Kilroy (0-2), R Loftus (0-2), J Cullinan (0-1).
Presentation Athenry:
1: Chris Callanan (Clarinbridge)
4: Aodhán McDonagh (Athenry)
3: Seán Murphy (Clarinbridge)
2: Lucas Keane (Craughwell)
5: Oscar Fitzpatrick (Clarinbridge)
6: Darragh Counihan (Clarinbridge)
7: Michael Fallon (Clarinbridge)
8: Ronan McGlynn (Athenry)
9: Ronan Murphy (Clarinbridge)
10: Darragh Kearney (Clarinbridge)
11: Jason Rabbitte (Athenry)
12: Ethan O’Brien (Turloughmore)
13: Eoin Hannon (Athenry)
14: Ciarán Leen (Craughwell)
15: Frank Burke (Athenry)
Subs:
18: Cian Hannon (Athenry) for Kearney (27)
20: Éanna McDonagh (Athenry) for McGlynn (36)
19: James Diviney (Athenry) for Hannon (62)
St Flannan’s College
1: Micheál Ó Coileáin (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
19: Conor Hill (Ballyea)
3: Joseph Casey (Kilmaley)
4: Seán McNamara (Clooney/Quin)
2: Conor Daly (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
6: James Hegarty (Inagh/Kilnamona)
7: Robert Loftus (Éire Óg)
8: Daniel Costelloe (Ballyea)
5: James Cullinan (Ruan)
12: Harry Doherty (Clarecastle)
10: Ronan Kilroy (Banner)
11: Darragh Ball (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
15: Marco Cleary (Éire Óg)
14: Conor Ralph (Clarecastle)
13: Darragh McNamara (Clooney/Quin)
Subs:
17: Patrick Finnernan (Clooney/Quin) for Ralph (43)
21: Paul O’Connell (Clarecastle) for Cleary (50)
23: Dillon Kiloughrey (Ballyea) for Ball (55)
Referee: Michael Maher (Offaly)
