When the recent history of Colleges' football is discussed, the name of St Patrick's CS would undoubtedly pop up in the conversation and although an All-Ireland title proved to be a bridge too far in 2007, the Navan based school continued their provincial domination by capturing the Leinster Colleges SF 'A' title at the expense of Knockbeg College. While this achievement would seem to be nothing out of the ordinary for a school accustomed to similar successes, the way in Colm O'Rourke's charges recovered from the lowly depths of an opening round defeat to Moate made an eight Leinster title that little bit sweeter. That 1-4 to 0-8 reverse before Christmas seemed to map out an early exit from the competition, but St Pat's defied all the doubters by staggering their way through the qualifiers before victories over a Dundalk Schools side and Patrician College, Newbridge set them up for a date in the decider with a fancied Knockbeg outfit. One of the survivors from last years team which reached the All-Ireland final was David Maguire and the Walterstown clubman was adamant that the surprise opening round loss to Moate was exactly what the side needed as it knocked any complacency out of their systems. "When you play football for St Pat's, you are expected to go out and win every game and I think the fact that we were playing Moate, who were not well known, made us think that we just had to turn up and things would happen for us," Maguire said. "After that game we realised that we had to put in more effort and when we started back training again there was a real big effort from everybody involved and we all realised that we had to step up to the mark if we were to be successful. "To be honest the Moate defeat was the game that kick-started our season as we all knew that the players we had were better than what we showed in that game," he added. The ability to cope when faced with adversity was one of the most noticeable features of St Pat's journey to the decider and they were forced to prove these battling qualities against their Carlow counterparts in a epic duel that needed extra-time to separate the sides, at the end of which O'Rourke's troops prevailed, 2-9 to 0-13. Trailing by the minimum with the hour almost up, Kieran Lynch roamed forward from his full-back berth to send over the leveller thus ensuring that additional periods were necessary, with the sides deadlocked 1-7 to 0-10. That score left the momentum with St Pat's entering into extra-time and Patrick O'Rourke handed his side the lead for the first time by pointing within a minute of the resumption before substitute John Rogers punched to the net to hand his side a healthy 2-8 to 0-10 lead with three of the additional minutes elapsed. Knockbeg failed to relent however and two points either side of the second interval kept the St Pat's following nibbling at their fingernails but Conor O'Sullivan eased these worries by pointing in the 78th minute. With the clock firmly against the Carlow outfit, they were forced to go for broke in the closing moments and that bid was almost rewarded when Donie Kingston sent a powerful drive goalwards but 'keeper Barry Carolan was equal to the task and tipped the effort around the post at the expense of a '65' to ensure a St Pat's victory. Such a result couldn't have looked any further away at the break as St Pat's only managed a solitary point in the opening period as Knockbeg strode confidently into a 0-7 to 0-1 interval lead. But the switch of David Maguire to full-back in an attempt to quell the influence of Kingston, who ran riot in the first half, reaped handsome dividends and St Pat's second half retrieval mission seemed to gather momentum as a result. This was also greatly assisted by a slightly fortuitous Darragh Smyth goal. The Bective clubman failed to connect well with a point attempt from out near the touchline but Knockbeg 'keeper Stephen Miller fumbled the ball into the net to gift St Pat's an avenue back into the tie. And Knockbeg were made rue such generosity as with Lynch and Maguire outstanding at the back and Brian Sheridan, Smyth and O'Rourke spearheading a persistent St Pat's attack, the Navan school collected their eight piece of provincial silverware. "We had a good few lads like myself who were on the team that got to the All-Ireland final last year and we developed a winning mentality which meant that we never wanted to accept defeat," Maguire remarked. "In more than a few games we looked to be dead and buried but we kept plugging away and we always knew that we had the ability to get a result. "When you have got players like Patrick O'Rourke and Brian Sheridan on your side then you are always going to be in with a shout and they produced the goods time and time again at times when we most needed it," Maguire added. After showing a steady improvement throughout the Leinster campaign, many expected St Pat's to account for Tralee CBS in the penultimate stage of the All-Ireland series but the Kingdom students progressed to the decider on the back of a 1-13 to 1-7 win. After salvaging victory from some very uncompromising positions en-route to the clash, St Pat's looked to be perfectly placed at the break, only trailing by two points, 0-5 to 0-7, with wind and numerical advantage awaiting but they failed to sparkle in a one-sided second period. The deficit was reduced to the minimum when Patrick O'Rourke netted ten minutes into the half but this was as close as they got and with Barry John Walsh and Alan Donoghue in scintillating form in attack, Tralee coasted to the winning post in splendid isolation. The defeat brought an end to a rollercoaster campaign for O'Rourke and his charges and a campaign which began with such inadequacies in Moate gradually churned into a memorable year. "The match against Tralee was a weird type of a game as we looked to be well in contention at half-time but when they got a man sent off we didn't really know what to do. Playing underage football you are not used to players being sent off so it was a different experience for us all and we didn't know how to capitalise on it," Maguire said. "It was a bit of a disappointing end to the year for us and I thought after winning Leinster that we were in with a right good chance of winning the All-Ireland but it just wasn't to be. "But for this team to win the Leinster title was a major achievement. The dedication that each and every player put in was unreal and at least we have something to show for those efforts," Maguire stated. The first signs of improvement arrived in mid-January when St Pat's easily accounted for a Carlow Schools outfit in the first round of the qualifiers, winning by 2-10 to 1-6. That cosy success set up a meeting with St Peter's, Wexford in the second qualifying phase and with Darragh Smyth in breathtaking form, registering 2-5, St Pat's dawdled into the next round on the back of a 3-17 to 0-12 victory. This steady incline in form was nearly thwarted by a Colaiste Eoin side who almost made the journey home from Pairc Tailteann to Stillorgan with a Leinster quarter-final ticket in their back pockets but a late Barry Carolan save ensured that St Pat's ran out 1-9 to 0-10 winners with Smyth again leading the scoring charts with 1-3. Having been let off the hook by the South Dublin outfit, St Pat's were more clinical in their quarter-final clash with a Dundalk schools side and after establishing a 2-7 to 0-5 interval lead, they continued in the ascendancy after the break and advanced on a 3-12 to 1-10 scoreline. Next up was Patrician College, Newbridge and the Kildare side looked odds-on to reach the provincial decider for the majority of the tie only for St Pat's to stage a late, late rally and snatch the spoils at Dr. Cullen Park, Carlow. A poor first half showing was underlined by a 0-7 to 2-6 interval deficit and things didn't improve too much in the second half either as St Pat's still had five points to make up entering the last ten minutes of the tie but two quick-fire goals from Patrick O'Rourke and Stephen Moran in the 57th and 59th minutes respectively, carved out a 2-13 to 2-10 victory and saw them progress to the Leinster decider where they again showed their resolution to come out on top. The St Patrick's, Navan side that lifted the Leinster Colleges SF A title for an eight time with victory over Knockbeg at Tullamaore was as follows: B. Carolan; B. McGrane, K. Lynch (0-1), G. Sheridan; D. Morgan, D. Maguire (0-1), R. Barry; S. Moran (0-1), C. O'Sullivan (0-1); R. Shields, B. Sheridan (0-4), D. Smyth (1-0); J. Regan, P. O'Rourke (0-1), J. Owens. Subs - J. Power for Owens, J. Rogers for Regan, D. Kelly for Shields, A. Khan for Lynch, C. O'Reilly for Smyth. Tweet

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