Hi °C | Lo °C
Peter Howard was the hero as Patrician edged out new-comers St Mary's CBS at Hawkfield. The full-forward came up trumps with the winning point in the 10th minute of injury-time.
The game looked set to finish level when Tom Shiel tapped over his fifth point for St Mary's almost six minutes into added-time, but there was a final twist in an incredible 43-minute second half.
Howard's winner was just reward for perseverance, as his side had held their own against a strong first-half wind. Five points from free-taker Ben McCormack helped them to a 0-6 to 0-4 lead at the break.
McCormack kept Patrician in front thanks to his dead-ball accuracy in the third quarter but St Mary's eventually went in front thanks to Shiel, who pointed twice inside a minute.
That left it 0-9 to 0-8 with 12 minutes of normal time remaining, but Patrician dug deep to turn it around in a nerve-wracking finale.
Scorers – Patrician College: B McCormack 0-8 (7f, 1 '45), D Hartley, S Dempsey, P Howard 0-1 each. St Mary's: T Shiel 0-5 (3f, 1 '45), E Lowry 0-2 (1f), R Byrne, S Noonan, E O'Carroll 0-1 each.
Patrician College – TJ Carroll; A Scully, T Aspell, S Healy; S Dempsey, D Hartley, C Scanlon; C Hartley, C Kavanagh; R O'Shea, B McCormack, K Lynch; D Dempsey, P Howard, C Troy. Subs: D McHugh for O'Shea (h-t); C Earley for McHugh (54).
St Mary's CBS – A Murphy; R Byrne, M Furey, C O'Brien; B Lawler, T Kenny, J Davis; M Lawler, R Lawler; J Furey, E Lowry, T Shiel; S Noonan, B Power, C Townsend. Subs: E O'Carroll for Power (34); C Deboza for B Lawler (45) .
REF – D Btacken (Laois)
