St Louis have enough to Tipp the Balance

March 25, 2016

Masita All Ireland Post Primary Schools Paddy Buggy Cup hurling final

Easter Monday, 2.15pm in Semple Stadium Thurles

St Louis Ballymena v Abbey CBS Tipperary

from Irish News

Although this is the first time that St Louis Ballymena will appear in an All-Ireland hurling final, they nevertheless have met their opponents Abbey CBS in a national decider previously.

That was back in 1998 when the schools played each other in an All-Ireland football final, a game that the Tipperary school won by six points in Croke Park, captained by future star Peter Lambert.

Abbey lost last year’s football final, but many of those players are bringing their experience to push the school’s bid for a third hurling title, adding to wins in 1992 and 2002.

Their run this year has been built on a very tight defence and an excellent goalie in Aidan Griffin. He has not conceded a goal in any of their knock-out games from the Munster semi-final through to the thrilling All-Ireland semi-final win a fortnight ago over Coláiste Mhuire Johnstown (Kilkenny) that ended 2-7 to 0-12.

What made that victory all the more remarkable was that it was backs-against-the-wall stuff for the second half, when they failed to add to their half-time score-line! And they were also without suspended centre-half back Josh Ryan.

Ryan will return to his regular position and allow Niall Heffernan to return to the attack and that should improve their scoring ratio, which has been dominated by the half-forward line.

Their run has been underscored by strong opening halves in each games and more than one close finish, including an extra-time win over Glanmire in the Munster semi-final by 2-11 to 0-14.

St Louis Ballymena are one of the best equipped teams to come out of the Mageean Cup and their success in the Casement Cup last year, ending in an extra-time All-Ireland semi-final defeat, means that they also bring some experience and a sense of unfinished business into the final.

In recent years the Mageean Cup has been a stepping stone to the All-Ireland for Maghera, Ballycastle and St Mary’s Belfast but none of those previous winning teams appeared to have the same range of pace and skill in the forward line that Ballymena carry.

The Dunloy quartet of the Elliotts, Conal Cunning and Keelan Molloy are all capable of winning a match on their own, as indeed is free-taker James McNaughton from Loughgiel.

And, like other Mageean winners, their defence is solid enough.

A fortnight ago, they dominated their semi-final with St Raphael’s Loughrea leading at one stage by 14 points before being reeled in to a 2-14 to 2-6 final score-line.

Should the forwards click again – and they normally do – then that four match no goal run of Abbey’s will surely be under threat.

Abbey will be at home in Semple Stadium, will have a good local support and won’t have had a 200 miles journey behind them. Therefore it is imperative that they are not allowed to build up any early advantage.

Ballymena will have to settle earlier than they did against Loughrea and dictate the opening exchanges. If that happens, they will then put themselves under less pressure when the game beds down.

They are good enough to take another title north – the seventh in a decade.