Corn Uí Mhuirí: Goals the difference as Coláiste Choilm lose to St Brendan's in opener 

St Brendan’s College Killarney: 3-4 

Coláiste Choilm: 0-4

Coláiste Choilm fell to defeat in their TUS Corn Uí Mhuirí opener against St Brendan’s College of Killarney at Ballyvourney on Wednesday afternoon.

The Ballincollig-based school will be disappointed with how this first game in Group 1 panned out. They had their moments, but their inability to capitalise on promising spells in the contest proved costly.

Coláiste Choilm shipped six goals in this same fixture 12 months ago as they lost by 16 points, so there was an improvement here.

St Brendan’s, whose three-in-a-row bid ended at the semi-final stage last season, weren’t convincing here, but they got the scores when they needed to. They were clinical and that was the difference.

Coláiste Choilm were very competitive throughout but it was their slow start which hindered them. Two soft goals conceded in the first 10 minutes, which they will have a lot of regrets over. St Brendan’s got their first green flag after two minutes through Oisín Fleming as his effort from long range dropped into the square, deceived everyone and went into the net.

The second goal arrived after nine minutes. Coláiste Choilm were comfortable in possession but lost the ball in a crucial position which resulted in Josh Bowler tapping home. It was the worst possible start for Coláiste Choilm in what was an even opening. The winners then added a point through Fleming. Denis Keohane’s side did settle and got their first score after 12 minutes when Adam Dodd converted a free.

Coláiste Choilm were defending very well but they lacked composure up front. They had three wides in the opening quarter. Danny Miskella pointed with six minutes to the break but St Brendan’s got the last score of a nervy and cagey half when Joey McCarthy landed a free, 2-2 to 0-2 at half-time.

On the resumption, Coláiste Choilm were the better team in the early stages but didn’t make any considerable inroads into the deficit. They had two wides before Cian Ahern slotted over a free.

St Brendan’s first attack of the half after 40 minutes resulted in Bowler fisting over a point, 2-3 to 0-3.

Ahern landed another free before St Brendan’s pretty much put the game to bed with 1-1. The goal coming after 49 minutes when Bowler got his second, 3-4 to 0-4.

The game petered out in the final 10 minutes, with no further scores. Coláiste Choilm did push hard and had three goal chances, Miskella with two efforts and Ethan Donovan, but the green flag remained elusive.

Next up for the Ballincollig school is a meeting with St Flannan’s College Ennis on Wednesday, November 13.

Scorers for St Brendan’s College Killarney: J Bowler 2-1, O Fleming 1-1, J McCarthy 0-2 f.

Coláiste Choilm: C Ahern 0-2 f, A Dodd (f), D Miskella 0-1 each.

St Brendan’s College Killarney: K Robak; D Brosnan, A Byrne, C Fleming; J Rudden, J Moynihan, C Mulcahy; O O’Neill, M Kennelly; A Buckley, T O’Gorman, D Stack; J McCarthy, J Bowler, O Fleming.

Subs: D Murphy for J Rudden (49), B O’Shea for A Buckley, C Morrissey for M Kennelly (both 51).

Coláiste Choilm: M Murray (Ballincollig); S O’Callaghan (Éire Óg), P Rose (Ballincollig), C Power (Ballincollig); C Herlihy (Inniscarra), C O’Connor (Ballincollig), E Donovan (Ballincollig); K O’Leary (Ballincollig), D Miskella (Ballincollig); D McCarthy (Éire Óg), C Ahern (Ballincollig), S Rue O'Sullivan (Ballincollig); S Murphy (Éire Óg), C Murphy (Ballincollig), A Dodd (Canovee).

Subs: C O’Donoghue (Ballinora) for A Dodd (46), B Cronin (Ballincollig) for C Herlihy, L O’Mahony (Ballincollig) for S Rue O’Sullivan (both 50), A Kennedy (Ballinora) for C Murphy (56).

Referee: Timmy McCarthy (Clondrohid).