THERE WILL be singing in the classrooms of Cushinstown and Rathgarogue National Schools this week as their boys' side came back from a half-time deficit to beat Oylegate in the Allianz Rackard League football Roinn 'C' final in Wexford Park on Saturday last.

In what was an entertaining game with an emphasis on quality attacking play, Cushinstown struggled in the middle of the opening half but roared back to collect the silverware after an enjoyable 50 minutes of football.

The boys from outside Ross made a tidy start and were ahead through Patrick Murphy inside 60 seconds. Seamus Power shot narrowly wide minutes later before they combined to grab the game's opening goal, Murphy with the finish.

Two points in under a minute from Murphy and Adam Delaney stretched their lead to six (1-3 to nil) before Oylegate, comprised of Oylegate and Glenbrien National Schools, produced a purple patch of their own.

Seamus Casey opened their account with a point from a free before he combined with Steven Ring to send Conor Doyle away for their opening goal in the 15th minute. Cushinstown 'keeper Fionn Slattery had already produced a pair of good stops but was helpless to prevent Bryan Cody's deflected '45 enter the net for Oylegate's second goal.

With all the momentum in their favour, Shane Reck found Casey inside and he fired a powerful effort into the right corner of the net to give his side a four-point lead. Having not scored for twelve minutes, Cushinstown started to get a foothold in the middle of the park and picked up late first-half overs from Robert Kehoe (two) and Jason Dunne to leave the half-time deficit at the minimum (3-1 to 1-6).

Dunne levelled the scores two minutes into the second-half and, when Delaney gave them the lead moments later, they never looked back. Pierce Murphy made a great save from Enda Kelly before Corey Bolger and Kelly himself smashed the crossbar with shots.

Patrick Murphy and Kehoe combined for Cushinstown's second goal in the 33rd minute, Kehoe supplying the finish after his initial effort had been blocked, before Bolger added the third after a classy catch and powerful run following an Oylegate kick-out (3-8 to 3-1).

Another solo effort, this time by Dunne, produced the fourth goal, while combination play by Power and Eoin Porter gave Kelly the chance to grab a goal for himself with ten minutes remaining. Patrick Murphy added the final point for Cushinstown before Evan Kelly grabbed a consolation goal for Oylegate late on.

Bryan Cody, who put in a masterly performance at centre-back, picked up the trophy from Jim Dempsey as his side celebrated their firstever boys' Rackard League football title.