Leinster 'A' College Champions

St Mary’s…………1-05
Good Counsel….1-04

A fisted 58th minute goal from Anton Sullivan gave St Mary’s, Edenderry their first Leinster Colleges SFC A title in a dramatic decider before an attendance of 1,000 at Dr Cullen Park, Carlow.

Good Counsel, All-Ireland A football champions in 1999, made a dream start when full-forward Walter Walsh made a splendid catch from a Matthew O’Hanlon 45 in the third minute before crashing the ball to the net.

But the Wexford college failed to build on that early goal and went a further 22 minutes before midfielder Declan Murphy converted a close free. In the meantime St Mary’s grew into the game, playing some lovely, measured football, and points from Shane Forde (2), Stuart Cullen and Sean Hurley left the sides level.

With scores at such a premium it was clear that a goal for either side would win this very tight final and it fell to Edenderry when Paul Cribben’s cross was fisted to the net by Anton Sullivan.

Scorers
St Mary’s: Anton Sullivan 1-0, Shane Forde 0-2, Stuart Cullen, Sean Hurley and Brian O’Flaherty 0-1 each.
Good Counsel: Walter Walsh 1-1, Matthew O’Hanlon 0-2, Declan Murphy 0-1

St Mary’s, Edenderry: Shane Geoghegan; Conor Grehan, MARK YOUNG, Des Holton; Ben Kenny, DEREK KELLY, Jake Kavanagh; Paul Cribben, STEPHEN GUING; SHANE FORDE, Anton Sullivan, STUART CULLEN; Brian O’Flaherty, Sean Hurley, PHILIP FARRELL.

Good Counsel, New Ross: Sean O’Gorman; Matthew Cody, Matt Crowdle, Michael Furlong; Alan Nolan, James Breen, Michael Curtis; Matthew O’Hanlon, Declan Murphy; Lorcan French, Ger Aylward, Shane Bradley; Graham Cullen, Walter Walsh, David Larkin Sub: Ian Duggan for Larkin (ht)

Referee: P Moran (Laois)