There are times when important victories have to be put down to big individual displays. Under bright sunshine at Croke Park on Saturday, Andrew O'Shaughnessy stood out as a player with a voracious appetite and unrivalled ability - and the key to St Colman's winning their third All-Ireland Colleges' title.
The hour of hurling won't be classed as one of the most memorable, but the superb contribution from O'Shaughnessy - who scored 1-8 of St Colman's 2-10 total - has rarely been surpassed in this competition.
But after a lifeless first half that ended 0-4 to 0-3 in favour of Gort Community School, it was clear that both teams could only improve substantially. Gradually the pace and quality gathered force and after rotating their entire forward line, St Colman's began to take control.
Just two minutes into the second half, Maurice O'Brien, who had moved from midfield to corner forward, tapped a long free from Des Fitzgerald into the net. That gave the Fermoy school a narrow lead that they would never surrender, thanks mainly to the persistence of O'Shaughnessy.
He would account for all but one of their remaining scores, starting with his goal a short while later. Team captain Brian Carey sent in another long ball and again the Gort defence would have to take some of the blame as O'Shaughnessy swept the ball somewhat harmlessly into the net. With his next strike, O'Shaughnessy doubled the difference at 2-4 to 0-5. But Gort were not prepared to lie down. As the more physical team, they tested to the extreme the St Colman's full back line of Matthew Fitzgerald, Richard Murphy and Brian Murphy. Eventually, the crack appeared and Joseph Gantley, chasing a long free from Shane Kavanagh, slipped the ball into the net.
Another run on goal was crucial, but instead O'Shaughnessy came up with three key scores in succession. At that stage, time was running out for Gort and the St Colman's defence grew ever tighter.
One last ray of hope came in the final minute of normal time when substitute Martin Nestor was pulled down approaching the goal and full back Joseph O'Leary stepped up to convert the penalty. That reduced the gap to three and it remained that way after a final exchange of scores from Des Fitzgerald and Kavanagh.
ST COLMAN'S: D Fitzgerald; M Fitzgerald, R Murphy, B Murphy; R Relihan, T Healy, A Kearney; M O'Brien (1-0), D Fitzgerald (0-1, a free); S Kearney, B Carey, S Stack; A Shaughnessy (1-8, seven frees), J Mulchinock, P Kearney (0-1). Subs: S Coughlan for Mulchinock (35 mins), S Molumphy for Coughlan (46 mins).
GORT: M Donoghue; E Ruane, J O'Leary (1-0), S Burke; S Moylan, S Kavanagh (0-2, one free, one 65), M Fitzsimons; C Forde, C Crotty (0-1); T Lee (0-1, a free), I Tannian, C Burke; C Connolly (0-1), J Gantley (1-1), D Greene (0-1). Subs: N Curtin for Burke (39 mins), G Forde for Forde (42 mins), M Nestor for Lee (49 mins), R Glynn for Tannian (52 mins).
Referee: P Ahern (Carlow).
