Ronan Lynch seals semi-final spot for Ard Scoil Ris

The reigning champions had to call on all their fighting spirit to battle past both the wintry conditions and a spirited Hamilton display.

While Ard Scoil had plenty of heroes, the displays given by wing-back Conor Holihan, centre-forward Michael Mackey and a floating Ronan Lynch meant that the champions would be difficult to depose.

For the west Cork school, Eoin O'Reilly gave a wonderful display of accuracy in the difficult conditions while goalkeeper Cathal Dart pulled off three superb saves.

The sides were level on eight occasions over the 60 minutes, with points of the highest quality flying over from both sides with impressive regularity.

The first half was a gripping, intense affair with just the puck of a ball separating the teams at the break - Ard Scoil led by 0-8 to 0-7.

A Lynch goal, followed by a brace of points, looked to have settled the issue midway through the second half, but Hamilton rallied with a wonderful goal from Sean O'Donovan on 55 minutes.

However, it was not enough to rescue the spoils.

scorers - Ard Scoil Rís: R Lynch 1-2 (0-2fs), M Mackey 0-5, A Gillane 0-4, P O'Loughlin 0-3, C Holihan (f), C Boylan 0-1 each. Hamilton HS: E O'Reilly 0-6 (3fs), S O'Donovan 1-0, C O'Leary 0-3 (2fs), D Curran, C Dinneen 0-1 each.

Ard Scoil Rís - S Mullane; C Holihan, S Phelan, N Fox; R Lynch, S Hogan, M Andrews; T Grimes, J Flynn; K Howard, A Gillane, M Mackey; P Casey, E Ryan, C Boylan. Reps: E Mulcahy for K Howard (50), M Connolly for C Boylan (55), J Boylan for M Andrews (56).

Hamilton HS - C Dart; J O'Mahony, W Hurley, L Murray; J Kelleher, C O'Leary, E O'Brien; L Meade, J Mulcahy; D Curran, S O'Donovan, T O'Sullivan; C Dinneen, E O'Reilly, B Crowley. Reps: I Crowley for J O'Mahony (h-t), C Maguire for T O'Sullivan (46), A O'Callaghan for E O'Brien (55), T O'Sullivan for L Meade (59).

Ref - F Horgan (Tipperary)

Ard Scoil Ris (Limerick) 1-16k) 1-11