Kildare Catholic College ensured they will go into the Carroll Cup final full of momentum after downing Wagga High School by 131 points on Wednesday night.
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Kildare produced their best performance of the competition to date, proving far too strong for Wagga High at Robertson Oval.
They will meet Mater Dei Catholic College in next Wednesday’s final, after they downed The Riverina Anglican College (TRAC) by two points.
Full-forward Brad Ashcroft starred for Kildare with an eight-goal performance and he was well supported by Josh Buchanan (five goals) and Mitch Bloomfield (four goals).
Kildare coach Peter Gaffney was pleased to see his team back on track.
“It was as good as the first game against TRAC,” Gaffney said.
“Wagga High were pretty handy around the ball but just didn’t have the troops to go with it.
“We put a few things in place tonight and we started to gel. Hopefully hold us in good stead for next week.”
Kildare had winners all over the park and Ashcroft was virtually unstoppable deep in attack.
Jack Sase and Ryan Allen were very strong across half-back, while Buchanan and Bloomfield were also dangerous in attack.
Meantime, Mater Dei survived a huge scare from a determined TRAC to qualify for another final.
Mater Dei appeared on track for a scrappy, uninspiring victory until TRAC mounted a late charge.
Three straight goals drew TRAC within two points, before Nathanael Mooney launched the match-winner from 50 metres out with just two minutes remaining.
Ed Perryman kicked a goal on the siren to bring the margin back to two points.
Mater Dei coach Nathan Irvine was relieved to scrape over the line.
“Definitely relieved but I expected it to be much closer than it was a couple of weeks ago,” Irvine said.
“We’ve got our bad one out of the way hopefully.
“At least we won’t be getting ahead of ourselves this week.”
The final will be held next Wednesday night at Robertson Oval.
Full-time
KILDARE CC (143)
6.4 12.7 17.8 22.11
WAGGA HIGH (12)
0.0 0.0 2.0 2.0
Goals: (Kildare) B Ashcroft 8, J Buchanan 5, M Bloomfield 4, N Buchanan 2, T Lawler, F Yates, F Jenkins; (Wagga High) M Bryon 2.
Best: (Kildare) J Sase, W Reinholdt, R Allen, B Ashcroft, M Bloomfield, J Buchanan; (Wagga High) S McGowan, J Pope, Z Delaney, J Collingridge, B Richards, H Radley.
MATER DEI CC (46)
3.3 3.5 4.9 6.10
THE RIVERINA ANGLICAN COLLEGE (44)
2.2 2.3 2.7 6.8
Goals: (Mater Dei) N Mooney 3, C Quade 2, C Toole; (TRAC) A Howard 2, C Krebser R Hunter, C Fuller, E Perryman.
Best: (Mater Dei) J Carey, W Seymour, N Mooney, J Currie, J Conlan; (TRAC) L Nicholas, M Hamblin, B Glyde, N Fitzgerald-Holmes, E Perryman, X Mamo.