Pádraig Haran of St Patrick's Maghera celebrates scoring his side's first goal during the Masita GAA Football Post Primary Schools Hogan Cup final match between St Colman's Claremorris of Mayo and St Patrick's Maghera of Derry at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.
Masita Hogan Cup Senior A football final
ST PATRICK'S COLLEGE, MAGHERA 2-8 ST COLMAN'S COLLEGE, CLAREMORRIS 0-4
By Paul Keane at Croke Park
Derry's domination of the underage football ranks continues.
Back-to-back All-Ireland minor football champions and now Hogan Cup winners for good measure, the county is producing some serious young prospects.
Padraig Haran, who struck 1-1 for St Pat's and was named Man of the Match at Croke Park, is one of a number of players who have now won titles for college and county.
Darragh O'Neill was the Maghera college's other goalscorer, netting in the third minute of second-half stoppage time to leave 10 points between.
You couldn't say the margin flattered St Pat's either as they were on top for the majority of the game and cruised to a sixth title at the grade, their first since 2013 when a certain Conor Glass, on hand at Croke Park today, was a key figure.
Truth be told, St Pat's should have scored significantly more than they did with four other good goal chances falling to them over the course of the hour or so.
Darragh Beirne accounted for all of the St Colman's scores and as they poured forward late on in search of a goal, the big full-forward had a shot at goal expertly saved by Jack McCloy.
The goalkeeper also did well to deny Dara Flanagan with another late goal chance.
St Pat's are jointly managed by former Derry star Sean Marty Lockhart while Slaughtneil hero Chrissy McKaigue was a notable presence on the sideline too, constantly encouraging.
Maghera, who defeated Abbey Vocational in the MacRory Cup final before overcoming Mercy Mounthawk to reach the national decider, had a near patent on possession in the first-half as they played with the wind.
Cormac Og McCloskey came around on the loop down in the left corner in front of the Davin End stand in the second minute and swung over a point, punching the air in both delight and anticipation of further gains.
But it was a slow burner for St Pat's initially as they simply couldn't turn all their possession into points.
They hit the interval with a relatively healthy 0-5 to 0-1 advantage but they fired seven wides in that period and failed to take two goal chances.
And it wasn't until close to half-time that Darach McGonigle and McCloskey again pinched points to stretch the lead out to four points at the break.
Odhran Doherty, who came into the lineup for Kevin Barry Mullan in the only change to the Pat's team from the semi-final, struck their best point of the first-half.
That came in the fifth minute when he booted from a distance that would have secured his team two points if the game was played under football's new rules. As the competition was started in late 2024, last year's rules applied.
Beirne landed a cracking Claremorris point six minutes after the restart and turned immediately to encourage his team-mates. They were only four points behind at that stage.
But the goal they required never materialised as Maghera defended superbly throughout. One moment in particular stood out as Ciaran Treacy latched onto a long kicked pass and bore down on the Maghera goal, only for corner-back Rian Collins to pick his pockets with a terrific near-hand tackle that stole back the possession.
St Colman's poured forward late on and carved those couple of goal chances but St Pat's were well in the clear at that stage, Haran's 40th minute goal after a great run by Darach McGonigle the clear turning point.
St Pat's scorers: Padraig Haran 1-1, Darragh O'Neill 1-0, Cormac Og McCloskey 0-3, Odhran Doherty 0-1, Padraig O'Kane 0-1, Darach McGonigle 0-1, Finbarr McShane 0-1.
St Colman's scorers: Darragh Beirne 0-4 (0-1f).
St Patrick's College, Maghera: Jack McCloy; Rian Collins, Padraig O'Kane, Niall McNicholl; Darragh O'Neill, Padraig Haran, Dara Doherty; Cahal McKaigue, Turlough McHugh; Mark McGurk, Finbarr McShane, Odhran Doherty; Cormac Og McCloskey, Darach McGonigle, Gabhan McIvor.
Subs: Kevin Barry Mullan for McKaigue 26, Dara O'Kane for McGurk 42, Daithi McCloskey for Dara O'Kane 60, Fionn O'Sullivan for McGonigle 63.
St Colman's College, Claremorris: Evan Campbell; Nathan Gill, Tom Hession, Dara Flanagan; David Hurley, Mark Noonan, Rio Mortimer; Craig Cassidy, Cathal Tierney; Ronan Kelly, Jake Mullin, Dylan Burke; Ciaran Treacy, Darragh Beirne, Sean O'Connell.
Subs: Jack Comer for O'Connell 40, Ben Sheridan for Mullin 42, Jack Noone for Treacy 54, Stefan Petkovic for Gill 59, Fionan Sweeney for Burke 62.
Referee: Sean Hurson (Tyrone).
