It wasn’t to be for St Colman’s College who were well beaten today by St Patrick’s of Maghera in the Hogan Cup final at Croke Park. The Derry team were on top from first to last and ran out easy winners on a scoreline of 2-8 to 0-4.

St Colman’s will have little complaint about the result. It was a game in which they never got a proper toe-hold and, but for wayward shooting from the winners in the first half, in which St Pat’s recorded eight wides, partly explained by the tricky, swirling wind that blew around a baltic Croke Park, the game could well have been over as a contest at the half-way mark.

By then St Pat’s were five points to one ahead, Colman’s solitary point of the half coming on 18 minutes by their sole scorer, Darragh Beirne.

The Mayo lads really needed a strong start but it looked as if nerves were a factor early on for them, as they repeatedly fumbled the ball, allowing the opposition to turn over possession and drive up the field.

Still, when Colman’s finally opened their account, they were only two points in arrears. The four-point deficit they faced at the break was far from fatal too, even if the signs weren’t looking positive.

When Darragh Beirne hoisted over a superb second point, after McShane had scored for St Pat’s soon after the resumption, it gave the big, boisterous Colman’s support something to cheer about.

Those cheers were, sadly, silenced when Pat’s – sitting with fifteen behind the ball in what’s likely to be the last match any of us see played under the old rules – broke at pace and bore down on goal. Centre-back Haran finished it to the net and, with twenty minutes still left to play, that was effectively that.

Colman’s had a few late goal chances that came to nothing and Pat’s had a goal effort that cannoned back off the crossbar as the game finally opened up coming down the stretch. The Derry team, fittingly, had the final say when O’Neill found the net for them in injury time to seal a ten-point win and a sixth Hogan Cup title victory.

While today’s defeat will come as a bitter blow to the St Colman’s lads, as Colm Boyle points out in our Final Whistle pod (which will be up on Patreon shortly), their achievement in going on a run all the way to the final has given an enormous boost to Claremorris and the town is rightly proud of them, as is everyone connected to the school they’ve represented so well on the playing field.

For sure, they’ll have better days in the future. Today they were beaten by a far stronger team and there’s no shame at all in that. Hard luck to them and congrats to St Pat’s, who were worthy Hogan Cup winners today.