Virginia light up the college scene
March 01, 2010It took a 50th minute goal from Emmet Fitzsimmons to afford Virginia College some breathing space and deliver their tenth Cavan Vocational Schools senior title in as many years in early December.
From the start, the game had been evenly contested, with Virginia drawing first blood when they Fitzsimons crashed an early goal effort off the bar and Cian McEnroe was on hand to slot over the rebound, before three quick points from Martin Brady, Karl Duke and Eoin Donohoe sent Breifne College into a surprise lead.
Virginia responded with a trio of their own, with the pick of those scores being Gerard Smith's fine curling effort, but Breifne College looked to have landed a vital blow when Diarmuid Conaty received possession from the wing and shot past Aaron Farrelly in the Virginia goal and to the back of the net.
A long-rage effort from Lavey's Christopher Conroy put the Blues three points in front, which cued Virginia's emphatic response as the impressive Jack Brady cut his team's arrears to two, before Ruairi O'Connell and McEnroe drew the game level. The would-be winners put their foot on the throttle thereafter, as Enda Flanagan set-up Adam O'Connell to fire a shot to the net and four more points before the break gave Virginia College a 1-11 to 1-5 half-time lead.
Breifne College made the better start after the resumption, with Eoin Donohoe blasting an early chance just wide and the same player fisting over moments later. Further scores from Conroy and Ronan Smith cut the difference to three but they lacked the killer edge to push on and it would cost them dearly.
After trying to breach a way past Virginia's solid back-line, Duke's kick-pass was blocked down and intercepted, resulting in a swift move up field from the young men in red and the finish saw Fitzsimmons nip the ball past Carl O'Reilly for Virginia's second goal, bringing the gap back to six.
The Cavan town side pulled out all the stops to try and get themselves back into the game and a quick double from 'Man of the Match' Cian Byrne and a nice point from Darragh Monaghan had them within a goal.
However, Breifne College couldn't back it up from there and it was Virginia that held out for a deserved victory in the end, which saw their captain Jack Brady accept the Cup on the team's behalf.
Virginia College (SF v Breifne College): Aaron Farrelly; Tadhg Morrissey, James Tackney, Ciaran O'Connell; Sean Lawless, Jack Brady (0-1), Gerard Smith (0-1); Emmet Fitzsimons (1-1), Darren Lynch (0-1); Adam O'Connell (1-2), Cian McEnroe (0-2), Simon Cadden (0-2); Enda Flanagan (0-1), Ruairi O'Connell (0-1), James Bradley (0-1).
Under 16s follow suit
In November, Virginia College claimed a 0-12 to 1-5 victory over Breifne College at Mullagh to get their hands on the Under 16 Vocational Schools county title.
Despite a bright opening from Breifne College, the Cavan town outfit wasted their possession all too often and played into the hands of their opponents, who were more lethal in attack and took their scores when they cropped up.
Enda Flanagan had Virginia off the mark with a pair of points in the opening stages, which would be cancelled out by Cian Byrne and Diarmuid Conaty. Virginia saw a goal chance from Flanagan flash past the post moments later.
The would-be victors were dominating at centre-field at this early stage and had it not been for some solid defending from their counterparts, they could well have been out of sight. Virginia used their big full-forward to feed off scores from and two more points from Flanagan had them back into the lead.
The Blues did their utmost to try and pierce their opponents' rearguard, but they were finding it tough and whenever Flanagan would find himself in possession down the other end he was always in the danger. At half-time he was the difference between the sides as the scores sat at 0-5 to 0-2 in Virginia's favour.
Minutes into the resumption and Andrew Fallon had the deficit cut down to two points for Breifne College when he cut in from the wing to loop over a score, Virginia hit back by raising two more white flags, as McManus got on the score-sheet along with the lethal Flanagan to help send the reds five clear ten minutes into the second-half.
Breifne's defence were beginning to get into the bad habit if leaking scores and they looked to be down and out of this game before a high ball was fetched by Conor Smith and as he sprinted into the Virginia square he was dragged down for a penalty. Cian Byrne stepped up to take the spot kick only to see his effort saved, which proved a killer blow to the Blues but, to their credit, they stuck to their guns until the final whistle.
Diarmuid Conaty pegged Breifne College back further with another score and two more classy points from Flanagan sealed the deal for Virginia.
In the closing stages, the trailers were awarded their second penalty and on this occasion Andrew Fallon coolly slotted a late consolation goal which would prove too little, too late from Breifne College's view as Virginia saw out the win to bring the Cup back to their proud school.
At Under 14 level, the new amalgamation of St Bricin's, Belturbet and St Mogue's, Bawnboy defeated Bailieborough Community School to take their first Vocational Schools county title. Tweet
