De La Salle College captured the Under-15 (Gaelic Football) Eamonn Martin Cup in style against Ennistymon of Clare in Lattin, County Tipperary on a scoreline of 1-9 to 0-5.
De La Salle led from the off and were very unlucky when an early James Aylward goal was controversially disallowed as it was deemed to be a square ball.
While De La Salle had most of the possession in the first half, they struggled to get scores. Mark Fitzgerald kept the scoreboard ticking over while Evan Hayes and Alex Keane worked hard in the forwards to show for the ball and were a constant threat.

In fact most of De La Salle’s scores came from frees which was a reflection of their dominance up front. The backs and the goalkeeper, Luke Horgan, worked tirelessly and were solid as ever. Despite this dominance, De La Salle only led by a single point at half-time (0-4 to 0-3).
The second half saw a renewed determination and everyone upped their game significantly. With much more movement in the forwards, the scores started to come, both from frees and from play. Sean O Dwyer set up James Aylward who with cool deliberation slotted the ball past the Ennistymon goalkeeper for the only game of the match. This goal was the catalyst for the rest of the game with De La Salle ruling the roost for the last 20 minutes.

Even when reduced to 14 men for an unfortunate red card, De La Salle kept their composure and with two points from Evan Hayes and a lovely dummy and point from Patrick Fitzgerald, it was only a matter of time before a Munster Gaelic Football title returned to De La Salle College for the first time since 2004.
This was a complete team performance and was best encapsulated by Daniel McLoughlin who gave a sterling performance in lieu of the injured Kealan Furlong, despite only very short notice. Mark Fitzgerald, as always, gave a man of the match performance, ably assisted David Roche, Evan Hayes, Alex Keane and Patrick Fitzgerald.

De La Salle had a very successful U-14 Waterford Schools campaign last year and hopes were high going into the U15 Munster Championship this year.
They had a good victory over St Augustine’s which set them up for a battle with old foes, Inbhear Sceine of Kenmare. This was a fantastic match which saw De La Salle run out comfortable victors on a scoreline of 4-11 to 2-6.

Next up was Rockwell College and again De La Salle won easily despite not playing particularly well. The Munster semi-final saw De La Salle pitted against Miltown of Castlemaine, a Gaelic Football stronghold.
This was a very tense and exciting game which came down to the wire. A last minute cross from Evan Hayes to Dylan Stickel saw Dylan score the most valuable goal this year, resulting in De La Salle coming out on top 2-11 to 0-14, and more importantly, qualifying for their first Munster Final in many years.
This is hopefully a sign of things to come for this very talented squad, many of whom also play hurling and soccer.

De La Salle: L Horgan; D Kiely, D Treacy, C Cantwell; D Roche, P Murphy, D McLoughlin; M Fitzgerald, S O’Dwyer; O Oseni, J Aylward, B Kirwan; P Fitzgerald, A Keane, E. Hayes; D Stickel, K Furlong, C Goff, A Walsh, B Kennedy Dunphy, S Fitzgerald, E McSweeney, O Hartney, B Regan, E Walsh, S Sutton.

Team managers: Carolyn Ahern and Angela Kenneally.