The Dublin Senior A schools final took place in a sunny and breezy O’ Toole Park on Wednesday 27th March. It was a repeat of the final from 2024 pitting Terenure College against the holders, St Fintan’s High School from Sutton. Terenure started brightly with the aid of the strong breeze with centre forward Paul O Connor getting three early points. St Fintan’s responded in kind with points from Cathal Barrett and Daniel Moore. Both teams had good goal chances thwarted in the opening ten minutes with both goalkeepers pulling off smart saves. A green flag was finally raised when St Fintan’s centre forward Barrett got on the end of a long clearance that broke past the full back line and emphatically finished to the net. This gave the northsiders a 1-3 to 0-3 lead after 12 minutes. Terenure thundered back into the game then and had their purple patch for the next ten minutes turning a 3 point deficit into a 4 point lead on 24 minutes. This was led by Daniel O’ Kelly and Tommy Crosby Dillon in their half back line getting on top of their counterparts. Midfielder Conor Quinn hit a huge point from distance while corner forward Oisin Costello hit 1-2 in this period. The goal coming after the St Fintan’s defence were turned over coming out with the ball. St Fintan’s were under pressure during this period and got a reprieve when corner forward Ben Kennedy pushed home a goal. He then repeated the trick a few minutes later to push St Fintan’s into the lead. This was supplemented by wing back Sam O’ Leary getting forward to clip a point. Terenure responded with Billy Shouldice hitting two good points from play. This left us at half time with St Fintan’s leading by two points on a scoreline of 3-7 to 1-11. Terenure will ultimately feel it was this second quarter that cost them as they gave away two goals and at the other end of the field they missed some easy scoring chances. The second half opened with St Fintan’s having the wind adavantage. Full forward Daniel Moore was beginning to exert a big influence scoring two early points. Centre forward Barrett was unerring from placed ball too in this period. Terenure responded gamely with points from O’ Connor, Costello and Declan Power. St Fintan’s were slowly beginning to get the upperhand and Ben Kennedy completed his hat trick getting on the end of a good team passing move. A long range point from corner back Matthew Clarke stretched the lead out to 8 points at the 45 minute mark. At this stage St Fintan’s were reduced to 14 men after midfielder Tom Beary recieved a second yellow card. Terenure pushed their captain O’Kelly into the attack in order to reel in lead. St Fintan’s defended stoutly in this period lead by Ronan Fitzpatrick and Conor Wilson as well as the Heffernan brothers, Darragh and Donnacha. Barrett punished any indiscipline in this period from placed balls scoring 1-4 from them in the final quarter. The goal coming from a quickly taken 21yard free. Terenure were kept fighting until the end and captain Daniel O Kelly finished the game with a well taken penalty that he won himself. Referee David Murphy blew the final whistle after that with St Fintan’s retaining their title on a scoreline of 5-20 to 2-16. Injured captain Joe Sheppard received the cup to the cheers of his team mates and supporters. Teams and scorers. Terenure College Harry Lynch (Ballyboden St Endas), Adam Gorman (Ballyboden St Endas), Luca O’ Reilly (Faughs), Cillian Noonan (Ballinteer St Johns), Tadhg Hutchinson (Ballyboden St Endas), Daniel O Kelly 1-0 pen (Commercials),Tommy Crosby Dillon ( Ballinteer St Johns), Cormac Quinn 0-2 (Ballinteer St Johns), Cathal Martin (St Judes), Billy Shouldice 0-2 (St Judes), Paul O’ Connor 0-8 0-6 frees (Faughs), Declan Power 0-1 (St Kevins), Joe Plunkett (St Judes), Alan Delaney (Ballyboden St Endas) Oisin Costello 1-3 (St Judes). Subs/Panel:Hugh O Neill (St Judes), Joe Clohessy (Ballyboden St Endas), Jack Ledwidge ( Round Towers Clondalkin), Mark Power (Ballinteer St Johns), Jack Walsh (Ballyboden St Endas), Conor Fitzgerald (Ballyboden St Endas), Sean Ringwood (Faughs), James Norris (Ballyboden St Endas) St Fintan’s High School. Padraigh Ryan (Naomh Barrog), Joseph Doherty (Raheny), Ronan Fitzpatrick (Binn Eidear), Matthew Clarke 0-1 ( Naomh Barrog), Sam O’ Leary 0-1 (Raheny), Darragh Heffernan (Naomh Barrog), Conor Wilson (O’ Tooles), Donnacha Heffernan (Naomh Barrog), Tom Beary (Raheny), Oscar Finnegan (Clontarf), Cathal Barrett 2-14, 1-11 frees (Trinity Gaels), Evan Coyne (Raheny), Conall Kenny (Clontarf), Daniel Moore 0-4 ( Naomh Barrog), Ben Kennedy 3-0 (Raheny) Subs/panel: Darragh O’ Sullivan (Raheny), Conor Gallagher (Naomh Barrog, Cillian Bradley (Binn Eidear), Leo Keane (Clontarf), Sean O Connell (St Vincents), Michael Bolger (Raheny), Cillian Bredican (Clontarf), Kyle Comerford (Naomh Barrog), Jack Wilson (Naomh Barrog), Darrag Wilkinson (Naomh Barrog), Sean Wilson (O’ Tooles), Charlie Given (Trinity Gaels), Joe Sheppard (Clontarf), Adam Ryan (Raheny), Cian Alexander (Naomh Barrog), Michael Clarke (Naomh Barrog), Thomas Judge (Raheny), Timo Tryhorn (Raheny), Shane Wallace (Naomh Barrog), Conor Callanan (Raheny), Brendan O Byrne (Raheny), Oisin Kelly (Naomh Barrog), Kevin Cotter (Naomh Barrog), Cathal Cavanagh (Naomh Barrog), Karl Doyle (Naomh Barrog)
