St Andrew's College 3 (B Mannion, C Denver, B Walker) Banbridge Academy 2 (J Rowe 2)
Ben Walker provided the flash of inspiration with less than 90 seconds remaining to land St Andrew's their sixth Subway All-Ireland Schoolboys Championship title, dethroning Banbridge Academy in dramatic style.
Indeed, Walker was a star turn throughout. He netted twice in the semi-final win over Wallace HS and duly created the opening goal in the final, laying on the pass for Ben Mannion to tap home.
Jake Rowe – who scored a hat trick in last year's final for Bann – equalised from a setpiece only for Charlie Denver to restore the Booterstown side's advantage.
Back came Bann to make it 2-2 with barely 15 minutes played via a Rowe penalty stroke.
From there, defences finally got a foothold with Guy Sarratt controlling the tempo of the St Andrew's game while Academy's Kyle Marshall made innumerable key interventions, more and more dramatic as time wore on.
Both sides were thankful to their goalkeepers to keep it level until the last few minutes.
St Andrew’s were the side making most of the play and, with a shoot-out looming, they got their sixth and final penalty corner. The first two series of shots were smothered but amid the scramble, Walker was an oasis of calm, gathering the ball and coolly flicking home.
St Andrew's: B Bradley, E Good, G Sarratt, I Cooke, H Craig, M Romoli, B Walker, J Guilfoyle, D Shanahan, J Little, B Mannion. Subs: C Murphy, S Byrne, G Arrowsmith, C Denver, R McDonald. Banbridge Academy: L Roleston, K Marshall, R Simms, D Cowan, J Anderson, J Rowe, C Norris, M Barlow, P Campbell, N Liggett, J Reid. Subs: L Bingham, H Lockhart, E Rowe, S Dale, C Gibson
All-Ireland Schoolboys Championships Semi-finals: St Andrew's College 2 (B Walker 2) Wallace HS 1 (B Nelson); Wesley College 1 (G Gibney) Banbridge Academy 2 (J Rowe, H Lockhart).
