St. Joseph's claim national title

The boys of St. Joseph's Secondary School, Foxford, claimed the FAI Schools John Murphy National Under 19 Senior B Cup title this afternoon.

In a pulsating game in Athlone, St. Joseph's defeated the defending champions, Grennan College of Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, by three goals to two.

Conor Flynn opened the scoring on 31 minutes but St. Joseph's joy was short-lived as Grennan equalised almost immediately from the penalty spot.

Flynn set up Caolan Hopkins for a second St. Joseph's goal just a minute before the break, however, and it remained 2-1 through half-time.

It went from good to great for the Foxford school on the hour mark as Hopkins scored from close range following a Lorcan Towey corner, and they almost made it 4-1 on 70 minutes only for Eoin Prendergast's strike to hit the post.

The expected fight back came and Grennan reduced the deficit on 75 minutes, and looked as though they had equalised in quick-fire fashion shortly afterwards only for the 'goal' to be ruled out for offside.

St. Joseph's survived a few more difficult moments from then until the end of the game but hung on to secure a 3-2 victory and, with it, the national title.