Beaten Benildus upbeat

ST BENILDUS College manager Patrick Fahy reminded his side yesterday that they are still Leinster champions, despite losing their Minor All-Ireland semi-final to St Eunan's College.

Goals on 35 seconds and 17 minutes from the Ulster champions were enough to see off the South Dublin outfit and Fahy quickly pointed back to the recent provincial success over De La Salle, Dundalk to pick his side up.

Benildus claimed the Leinster title after a narrow penalty-shootout victory following three separate comebacks between normal time and extra-time in the final. Despite Joe Doyle's first-half equaliser, the Kilmacud school went in 2-1 down at the break but the same player struck in the second period to level the scores.

The scoreline remained unchanged until extra-time, when De La Salle took what looked to be a decisive lead but Ronan O'Flynn was the saviour with only minutes remaining.

His curling free kick late on forced penalties, and a combination of goalkeeper Daniel Murray and a winning spot kick from Sean Letmon was enough to give Benildus the win.

"Obviously the players were low after losing the All-Ireland semi-final, but to be honest St Eunan's were a very good side," said Fahy.

"We have to remember that we achieved our goal a couple of weeks earlier and are Leinster champions, so should be proud of our year's work."

ST BENILDUS COLLEGE: Daniel Murray, Jamie McNulty, Joe Rafferty, Cillian Fagan, Sean Letmon, Graham Doran, Graham Kelly, Ronan O'Flynn, Joe Doyle, Craig Ronayne, Aaron Robinson, Dan O'Brien, Andrew Brennan, Robert O'Gorman, Laurence Joyce, Jordan O'Halloran.