St Peter's, Wexford 2-13
Moate Community School 0-7

St Peter's, Wexford ended a 25-year wait for Leinster Senior Football 'A' honours when they defeated Moate Community School in Portlaoise this afternoon.

With late goals from full-forward line duo Barry O'Connor and Cathal Devereux, St Peter's proved too strong for their Westmeath counterparts in a pulsating final clash at O'Moore Park as they captured their second ever provincial title in the competition.

They make it a two-in-a-row for Wexford schools at this level after Good Counsel, who Moate dethroned in this year's semi-final, lifted the silverware last season. 

Winners over Wicklow Schools in the last four, St Peter's started brightly and raced into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead after eight minutes with scores from Barry O'Connor (two frees) and Rory O'Connor.

A Robbie Forde free opened Moate's account and Sean Pettit quickly followed up with another placed ball. Peter Tormey's side were level by the quarter-stage when wing-back Ciaran Kelly got forward for a superb score but four unanswered points courtesy of Devereux (2), captain Conor Firman and Ben Moore ensured a 0-7 to 0-3 half-time lead for St Peter's.

The eventual winners maintained a comfortable four-point lead by the third-quarter as Kieran Hartnett and Pettit (Moate) and Devereux and Barry O'Connor (St Peter's) swapped scores to leave the scoreboard reading, 0-9 to 0-5. But Moate proved no match for their opponents over the remainder of the contest. Barry O'Connor (2), Devereux and Firman found the range again for St Peter's remaining points while Moate, who had centre-back Hartnett sent off for a straight red card offence, could only muster two frees from Forde and Pettit in the last 15 minutes.

'Man-of-the-Match' Barry O'Connor and the brilliant Devereux, who shot 2-9 between them, raised green flags in the 57th and 59th minutes respectively to send their side on the way to an easy twelve-point victory.

St Peter's, Wexford - R Ryan; E O'Leary, B Maddock, D O'Keeffe; Q Saunders, C Firman (0-2), F O'Driscoll; B Deeney, R O'Connor (0-1); D Gouldson, B O'Connor (1-4, 0-3f), P Barry; C Devereux (1-5, 0-3f), B Moore (0-1), D Lyne. Subs: D Furlong for D Gouldson, M Codd for D Lyne, J Devereux for P Barry.

Moate Community School - J Nugent; C Parker, L Gavin Mangan, D Mullins; R Aspell, K Hartnett (0-1), C Kelly (0-1); S Clinton, P Gorman; H Cornally, D Fleming, R Forde (0-2f); S Farrell, D Heavin, S Pettit (0-3, 2f). Subs: B Cox for D Mullins, J Bradbury Hughes for S Clinton, L O'Neill for S Farrell.

Referee - S Mulhare.

Leinster Champions - We believed!! pic.twitter.com/zsZVx5nevE

- St. Peters College (@StPetersWexford) January 27, 2017

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