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Heartiest congratulations to two of our Leaving Certificate students, Patrick Gaynor (Western Gaels) and Dean Casey (Ballinameen), who this evening won the Connacht Under 20 Championship.

On a sweltering evening in Tuam, it took extra time to break the deadlock between Roscommon and Mayo, with the Rossies eventually coming out on top on a scoreline of 5-16 to 2-22. In a first half dominated by Mayo, the primrose and blue held on and had a purple patch in the second quarter that left them in striking distance at half-time. A particular highlight was when Patrick drove over a booming free just as their opponents were threatening to pull away.

Dean chipped in with a second-half point, and he ran himself into the ground chasing dirty ball around the middle third of the field. He came off absolutely shattered, to an ovation from a very vocal Roscommon support.

It was tit for tat and blow for blow right up to the final whistle, and the game ended in a draw, with neither team capitalising on half-chances to win near the end.

Extra time followed, and it took a splendid piece of opportunism to get the lead goal for Roscommon at half-time in extra time.

Dean was then summoned off the bench to play his part in guiding the Rossies to victory. He must have drank plenty of Lucozade because his energy levels were off the charts — like a machine — and this was exactly what was required of him. With his first possession, he stroked over a glorious point from out on the wing and got on a huge amount of ball as the primrose and blue jerseys gave their all to repel the Mayo challenge.

When the long whistle blew, it was Roscommon who prevailed, thanks to a late goal. They will now advance to the All-Ireland semi-final in a few weeks’ time to take on the winners of Cork vs Kerry. That game will be shown tomorrow evening at 7 on TG4 and TG4 YouTube.

All at St. Nathy’s College wish our two lads all the best going forward and hope to see you in an All-Ireland Final for the second time this year.