Hi °C | Lo °C A well-drilled and highly motivated St Patrick's Academy, Dungannon won the coveted Hogan Cup for only the second time in their history with a fully merited victory over a dogged Killarney outfit who battled to the final whistle at O'Moore Park, Portlaoise on Saturday evening.
Nerves jangled in the closing stages for the Academy players, management and supporters as the referee played close to 10 minutes of injury time.
But when the final whistle sounded all the anxiety was worthwhile as they bridged an 11-year gap to, once again, win the blue riband event of Colleges' football.
It was a nervous first half performance from both teams, understandable given the prize at stakes. The Killarney side, with the wind advantage, turned round 0-5 to 0-3 in front.
A Chris O'Leary goal put them further ahead and at 1-6 to 0-4 they looked as though they were going to take a bit of stopping.
This Academy team, though, are a resilient bunch.
The catalyst for their fightback came in the shape of a brilliant Patrick Doherty goal, the man of the match giving Killarney keeper Brian Kelly no chance with a rising shot into the top left hand corne of the net.
Maghery's David Lavery then popped up for a well taken equaliser as Dungannon turned the game on its head.
Doherty put them in front and even though O'Donoghue equalised from a placed ball the Tyrone school weren't going to be denied with full forward Thornton doubling his tally for the day with two crucial points late on.
ST PAT'S: Niall Morgan, Brian Kelly, Louis O'Neill, John Loughran, Ryan Pickering, Gavin Teague, Daniel Toner, Niall McKenna, David Lavery [0-1], Sean Murphy [0-1], Tiarnan O'Hagan [0-2], Patrick Doherty [1-1], Mark McLernon, Dermot Thornton [0-4], Ciaran Gervin. Subs: Oisin MacIomhair for McLernon, John Grimley for Brian Kelly.
ST.BRENDAN'S: Brian Kelly, Fionn Fitzgerald, Jonathan Lyne, John O'Mahony, Damien Sullivan, Padraig O'Connor, Bryan Russell, James O'Sullivan, James Coffey, Adrian Courtney, James O'Donoghue [0-3], Philip O'Connor, Shane O'Neill [0-1], Cian Tobin [0-2], Chris O'Leary [1-1]. Subs: Eamon O'Mahony for Sullivan, Donal Murphy for Courtney, Kevin Regan for O'Connor, Anthony O'Sullivan for James O'Sullivan
Referee: Gary McCormack (Dublin)
