St. Joseph's, Crossmaglen 2 - 11
Franciscan College, Gormanston 2 - 06

Gormanston College's run in this year's Senior Schools 'D' Championship finally came to an end at the All-Ireland semi-final stage against the Ulster champions, St. Joseph's of Crossmaglen.

Playing with the aid of a strong wind in the first half, Gormanston College never really got into their stride and struggled for long periods against a very fit and mobile Crossmaglen outfit. St. Joseph's scored the first point and followed it up with a goal shortly afterwards to give them the dream start. Gormanston tagged on a few points from Dylan Brady, Scott Shier and Cillain Curran to leave the game level at 1-01 v 0-04 midway through the first half.

Crossmaglen scored 3 more points to open up a lead before Evan Murphy went on a fantastic solo run from wing back to score a superb goal to keep the maroon boys in the game. Dylan Brady knocked over a point to leave the half-time score at 1-05 v 1-04 in favour of Gormanston College. It was looking bad for Gormanston at this stage as they faced the strong wind and Crossmaglen had dominated the possession in the first half, looking very dangerous in attack.

The second half began with a renewed intensity from the Gormanston team as they fought for every ball but still struggled to put scores on the board. Crossmaglen's dominance started to pay and they opened up a 5 point lead. Another individual goal from Evan Murphy reduced the deficit to two points which kept Gormanston in the game with 15 mins to play. However, although the whole Gormanston team battled bravely, Crossmaglen kept it extremely tight at the back and opening up gaps in attack. They finished the game 5 points to the good to win on a score-line of 2-11 v 2-06.

Gormanston College can have no excuses as their forwards only scored one point in the entire game which is not a winning return on any day. Scott Shier and Dylan Brady were outstanding in midfield for the College, as they constantly drove forward and took the game to the opposition. They were well supported by Sean Hayes and Nick Smith in defence who had their best games all year for the school. Evan Murphy kept the team in the game with two fine individual goals but over the course of the 60 mins, the better team on the day were victorious and will now push on to compete in the All-Ireland Final.

The Senior Panel can hold their heads high as they never gave up and kept fighting until the bitter end as they have done all year. They have let no-one down and have successfully put Gormanston College back on the GAA map with Senior North Leinster and Leinster titles in 2014.

Gormanston - O. Berg, J. Conway, C. Harrington, N. Smith, E. Murphy, D. Brady (0-03), S. Hayes, C. McGinley, S. Shier (0-02), T. Downes, C. Curran (0-01), A. Mulvany, N. Cahill, C. Niall, A. Carberry. Subs: C. Sullivan for A. Carberry, J. Keenan for N. Cahill. Tweet

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