Colmcille’s left it very late to secure the two championship points in this tie against Passage in Passage on Monday evening last (27th July). The game was tight throughout but really caught fire with a thrilling finale. Both sides enjoyed some good spells of play during the game but both sides will perhaps be disappointed with some of their missed chances or decision making. Still, for the first game out, Colmcilles will be delighted to be the ones that have come out on the right side of the result. They started the brighter. Patrick Harrington set up Brendan Quaine who turned and shot a fine opening score from play. Quaine doubled his tally immediately after and his side were quickly into their stride with two point advantage. This fluency did not continue and from here to the first ‘water break’ at the 15 minute mark, there was no further score in the game. Colmcilles had plenty of possession but overplayed the ball on occasion allowing their opponents to turn over. Passage, for their part, had their own chances and came close to getting an early goal as the ball hopped around the square as the Colmcilles goalkeeper John Barry and full-back line of Thomas O’Hanlon, Ruairi Quinlan and Daniel O’Keeffe defended frantically to keep the ball out.

At the start of the second quarter, Colmcilles added another two points in quick succession. Brendan Quaine added his second from play (third in total) while midfielder Robert Docherty added a pointed free. The remainder of the half belonged to the home side, however. Their first two points were two frees in quick succession in the 21st and 22nd minute. Following two Colmcilles efforts at goal when possibly a point might have been the better option, Passage got their opening point from play before they scored a well taken goal. They quickly added a point and, not having troubled the scoreboard for the opening 20 minutes, now found themselves a goal up. Eddie Coughlan steadied the ship for his side as he landed the point of the half right at the end to leave the score at 1-04 to 0-05 in favour of Passage.

The second half saw Colmcilles get off to another good start. Another scoring burst saw Luke Kelleher (1) and half-time substitute Seán Whelan (2) put their side back into a one point lead on a score of 0-08 to 1-04. Every effort was made to push on at this point but this was not reflected on the scoreboard. Brendan Quaine saw his goal bound effort go narrowly wide while other efforts at points from teammates were also wayward. Passage also had wides of their own as the game went nearly twenty minutes without a score. Then the game burst into life with five minutes remaining. PJ O’Donovan got a fine point from play as his team now held the most dangerous of leads. With such leads, the possibility of a goal always exists. The Colmcilles defence, where Robert Sheehan was outstanding in the second half, held their team out for 28 minutes of the second half. However, failure to decisively clear a ball in and around the square allowed Passage to bundle home a goal and, in turn, swing the game back in their favour at a crucial point. The character of the Colmcilles side shone through at this point. Under pressure, they managed to keep their composure and two points from Luke Kelleher and PJ O’Donovan put their side back into a one point lead. Passage tried desperately to get the equalising a score. However, Colmcilles defended well and held out for a deserved win.

Team. John Barry, Thomas O’Hanlon, Ruairi Quinlan, Daniel O’Keeffe, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Martin Murphy, Eddie Coughlan, Joe Dunphy, Robert Docherty, Patrick Harrington, Aaron Ryan, PJ O’Donovan, Luke Kelleher, Brendan Quaine, Robert Sheehan. Subsititute: Sean Whelan