THERE are tough ways to lose a football match and there are agonising ways to lose a football final.

And then there was this Corn Ui Mhuirí final in Knocknagree.

With literally the second last kick of the match, in the 62nd minute, Bryan O'Shea hoofed over the winning point to deny a very brave De La Salle Macroom team what would have been only their second Munster Colleges senior football championship title.

Instead, O'Shea's point handed victory, and a 20th provincial title, to St Brendan's College, Killarney at the end of a dramatic final that saw St Brendans win this final almost in spite of themselves.

While this game won't enter the pantheon of 'classics' it was, nonetheless, a gripping final, played with typical honest endeavour as is the norm for colleges football, but the game really only burst to life in a dramatic final ten minutes.

With St Brendans protecting a three-point lead with the game about to roll into injury-time they broke from midfield and Thomas Moriarty found himself with acres of space in front of him to clip over the insurance point, but as he edged closer to the target he was in two minds. His shot cannoned back off the crossbar into the arms of team mate Padraig Lucey who, to his credit, took the right option of fisting a point but his effort came back off the post.

Cue the knowing glances in the press gantry. These things have a knack of coming back to haunt a team. And so it was.

Gathering the ball from Lucey's missed punch, Macroom moved as briskly as they had all afternoon to take the ball through the St Brendans defence and after a handful of slick passes Greg Barrett spirited on to the end of Declan Ambrose's cross to flick the ball past a stunned David Gleeson.

That made it 1-11 to 2-8 after 60 minutes and a draw and a replay looked a certainty. There would have been few arguements from either side. But there was a final twist in the tale and it would be written by St Brendan's substitute Bryan O'Shea.

Maurice Condon decreed there would be two minutes added time to be played, and after they moved the ball back downfield and contested and won a 'hop ball' O'Shea gathered the break and fired over a dramatic winner that had the umpire craning over the right post. It was, literally, the second last kick of the game.

Paul O'Sullivan's kickout ended the affair which was the cue for relief, then celebration for St Brendans. For Macroom, it was disbelief followed by despair.

In truth, St Brendans were the better team overall – that is to say that they looked to have more skilful footballers and moved better as a team – but it was Macroom's never-say-die attitude that almost carried the day, and had Barrett's goal sent the contest to a replay few, if any, would have any argument with that.

Still, save for that bit of indecision and lapse of concentration at the end, St Brendans just about justified their favouritism with a slicker brand of football that saw them dominate for longer sections and enjoy the territorial advantage.

And yet the Killarney school needed a slightly contentious 53rd minute goal to wrestle back the lead from a De La Salle Macroom team whose total was greater than its individual parts. In Tony Dineen at midfield and Andrew Hegarty, Barrett and Ambrose in attack they had players capable of winning this type of match, but St Brendans had heroes and match-winners in great number.

Enda O'Sullivan and Cillian Fitzgerald were outstanding in defence, while at midfield Gary O'Leary and, to a greater extent, Shaun Keane – when relocated there at half time – won a vital edge there in the defining third quarter.

A swirling wind hardly favoured either team, but if it did then St Brendans had the advantage in the first half and might have been a little down on themselves for only taking a 0-6 to 0-4 lead to the interval. It would have been greater but for a magnificent reflex save by Paul O'Sullivan to deny Padraig Lucey a goal from close range.

Daniel Twomey's goal two minutes after the re-start should have created the perfect platform for Macroom to mount a serious wind-assisted challenge but instead it immediately jolted St Brendans into their rhythm.

Brendan Falvey took control on the 'forty', scoring the next three points, and by the 48th minute it was all square – 0-10 to 1-7.

Five minute later Jeff O'Donoghue's persistent hard work was rewarded when he got the final touch to Falvey's high centre for a crucial goal, amid a small suspicion of a square ball, but now the Sem sensed victory.

It came, eventually, but would have been far easier on hearts and minds but for a needlessly dramatic conclusion to a very entertaining final.

- Paul Brennan