Dogged Midleton end cup hunger in style

Midleton College ended a two-decade Munster Senior Schoolboys Cup drought in fine style at Garryduff yesterday, resisting a last-ditch fightback to see off Ashton 3-2 in a pulsating tie. Having watched Ashton and Bandon Grammar dominate since the 1990s, Midleton were quietly confident that they’d something of a golden generation ripening in time for this year’s tournament. And that old maxim of taking your chances was the primary reason for the east Cork school’s first success since 1990, which back then had been the second part of a double.

They had stars in the spine of their team in the irresistibly skilful Nick Burns and Adam O’Callaghan, but it was some of their lesser-lauded players — the likes of goalkeeper Charlie O’Sullivan, Andrew Power and Greg Chambers — who were the catalyst for victory. Ashton will reflect ruefully on a day when their short corner machine failed to fire, with Wes Brownlow’s drag-flick radar decisively askew. That they won the corner count 11-3, but still tasted defeat, was a reflection of an overall possession advantage which they failed to press home. Having fallen to Bandon Grammar on penalty strokes in last year’s decider, this will have been a tough defeat for the city school’s sixth years to take, but in Gary Wilkinson and Richard Sweetnam, they have a couple of stars of the future. Following an untidy first quarter, Irish underage international Burns fired Midleton ahead with a trademark drag-flick in the 21st minute. And that advantage was doubled by Chambers 10 minutes later, the forward instinctively batting home a rebound after Power’s initial shot had been repelled by Deasy. O’Sullivan produced the necessary heroics at the other end — a double save from Wes Brownlow’s drag and Peter Catchpole’s stinging reverse rebound stood out — to keep Midleton’s lead intact at the break. Ashton finally hit back 12 minutes into the second period, when Wilkinson stuck in a tidy upright reverse rebound after O’Sullivan had batted out Brownlow’s stinging drag. But Chambers swept home his second following Power’s stunning 30-metre surge to restore the two-goal cushion with seven minutes of normal time remaining.

Midleton then wasted a great chance to put the game beyond reach, when Burns found Chambers on a breakaway and he produced a fine reverse-stick cross, but Ned Hodson delayed his shot for long enough for Cormac Deasy to smother the danger. Ashton took this miss as an invitation to launch a sustained last-ditch offensive. Having seen all manner of corner routines fail, the simplest of them all found a reprieve, as skipper Catchpole’s low, central straight hit found the backboard. Stephen Swanton had a glorious chance to force extra time as Midleton were forced into a backs-to-the-wall effort for seven agonising added minutes, but he scooped his shot wide after being put through one-on-one with O’Sullivan, and Midleton survived the late onslaught to spark wild celebrations in the sun. MIDLETON: C O’Sullivan (GK); N Burns, Andrew Colton, A Power, G Chambers, D James, J Sweetnam, N Hodson, A O’Callaghan (capt), O Jermyn, Adam Colton, B Doyle (GK), A Daly, S O’Sullivan, A Simonin, D Stead. ASHTON: C Deasy (GK); S O’Grady, P Catchpole, W Brownlow, N Gokul, S Swanton, W Johnston, R Lynch, M Holland, R Sweetnam, C Casey, G Wilkinson, D Doherty. Umpires: P Oakley & F Kelleher For the full set of Ondine Roche and Rachel McSharry’s pictures from the final, click here.