St Pat's knocked out of Shield

ST PATRICK'S College has been knocked out of the Herald Sun Shield by renowned footballing school Kilmore's Assumption College.Numbers to the ball and clean hands meant Assumption was able to build a five goal half time lead before running out 18.3 (111) to 11.6 (72) winners."Assumption were far too good on the day and have a very good chance of going further," St Patrick's coach Howard Clarke said."They had an outstanding conversion rate that will win you a lot of games."Ben Hayes was a stand-out for St Patrick's in defence, refusing to give in and rebounding the ball into the midfield for St Patrick's.Tempers flared and St Patrick's gave away a number of avoidable free kicks as well as the early lead they had established.After half time, Assumption kicked three quick unanswered goals to give them an eight goal advantage.Rex Hickman and Marc James worked their way into the match just as it looked like St Pat's might sneak back in front, but a more determined Assumption outfit extended its lead.St Patrick's revived itself once more late in the third term, but were seven goals down and could not break barrier to get back into the game."They adapted to the conditions better and their slickness by hand and foot was very good," Clarke said."It is a great learning curve for the boys and I would be negligent if I didn't provide a (football) program that teaches them."Clarke also highlighted the mateship that came with schoolboy football."I was talking to (former St Patrick student and Collingwood footballer) Nathan Brown and he said that playing in a Herald Sun Shield final remains his number one memory," he said."We are in the elite competition with 16 of the best footballing schools and it's a shame we couldn't progress further."ASSUMPTION COLLEGE 18.3 (111) d ST PATRICK'S COLLEGE 11.6 (72)GOALS - St Patrick's: Rex Hickman 4, Marc James 2, Daniel Nicholson, Lucas Cook, Jake Garvey, Nathan Sobey, David Lang.BEST - St Patrick's: Ben Hayes, Rex Hickman, Marc James, Jake Garvey, Mark Hanson, Seamus Herrick.