*The victorious St Michael’s CC panel and management.
ST MICHAEL’S Community College, Kilmihil brought a Munster title back to West Clare with a comprehensive success over Cork counterparts, Millstreet Community College.
St Michael’s Community College, Kilmihil 2-12
Millstreet Community College 2-3
Venue: TUS
Thursday’s U19 Munster development final took place at TUS’ Moylish campus in Limerick with the West Clare school shortening the journey home by ensuring they were accompanied by some silverware.
It is the second senior title won by the school in four years.
Cian Downes of Cooraclare and Shannon Gaels’ James Downes each scored 1-3 from play, their attacking prowess helping to put St Michael’s in a commanding position.
County minors, Gavin Browne at full-back, Paddy Neylon in midfield and Thomas Dillon at wing forward were effective throughout for the winners.
Eoin Murphy who lined out with the Clare minors in 2024 was a solid figure at centre back for the side with notable performances from Scott Meaney, Darragh Connors and Julian Linnane.
Connors and Linnane were joint captains of the side and were more than proud to return to school with the trophy in their possession.
Seven different clubs had representatives on the St Michael’s panel, namely Doonbeg, Killimer, Cooraclare, Kilmihil, Shannon Gaels, Naomh Eoin and O’Currys
Speaking to The Clare Echo, St Michael’s Community College manager, Kevin McNamara “It is a brilliant achievement for the team to win the Munster senior competition, for some of our Leaving Cert students it is a fitting way to end their football career in St Michael’s. They have contributed massively to football in the school over the past five or six years so it is great for them to go out on such a high”.
Winning the Munster Junior E championship in November was another big lift for football in the school, their latest win is the second senior title in four years. “The team winning the Munster Junior before Christmas acted as a great springboard for the senior team, with nine starters on our team coming from that team”.
Kilmaley’s McNamara pointed out that facing off with Ennistymon Community School and Mary Immaculate College Lisdoonvarna in the Clare colleges competition “was great preparation for us before the Munster games. There is good work going on behind the scenes with teams in the schools from first year all the way up and it is tremendous for these lads to get to play together in big competitions, let alone win them”.
Part of the Clare minor hurling management, Kevin was proudly sporting a Club Clare hat on the sideline in TUS and is well aware of the benefits of strong development systems at inter-county level. He maintained the ongoing work on the football side is becoming clear to see. “We can now see the impact that the Clare development squads are having and it is visible within the schools, the calibre of player is getting bigger and better year on year which is helping Clare schools compete against other Munster schools of similar size”.
St Michael’s CC: Daniel Haugh (Doonbeg); Jack Browne (Killimer), Gavin Browne (Cooraclare), Scott Meaney (Cooraclare); Daniel Finnucane (Kilmihil), Eoin Murphy (Cooraclare), Tadhg Austin (Cooraclare); Julian Linnane (Shannon Gaels), Paddy Neylon (Shannon Gaels); Thomas Dillon (Doonbeg), Darragh Connors (Kilmihil) Terran Frawley (Shannon Gaels); James Downes (Shannon Gaels), Cian Downes (Cooraclare), Joseph Lernihan (Kilmihil).
Subs Darragh Walshe (Kilmihil), Conor Looney (Cooraclare), Peadar Kelly (Shannon Gaels), Senan Downes (Kilmihil) Micheál Honan (Doonbeg), Odhran Conway (O’Currys), Jacob Greene (Doonbeg), Tadgh Roche (Naomh Eoin), Oran Comerford (Doonbeg), Alan Foley (Shannon Gaels), Luke Honan (Doonbeg), Mark Crowley (Doonbeg).
