Schools scoop new award
The Mid-Cork school’s representation would have been swelled further only for a cruciate injury which sidelined David Goold for the season while commitments with UCC meant defender Eoin O’Mahony wasineligible. Still, it was a healthy showing for De La Salle, joint winners of the new Rebel Óg awards scheme in January, which the Irish Examiner is a media partner of, with Midleton CBS.
And with the school’s current senior team flying the flag in Saturday week’s Corn Uí Mhuirí semi-final, their football stock continues to rise.
“Regardless of whether we’ve good or bad teams, we always seem to end up having a few fellas going on to play football for Cork,” said team manager Eric Graham.
“That’s just where we’re living, it’s a big football area. We’d be picking from Iveleary, Kilmichael, Macroom, Canovee, Clondrohid, Aghinagh, Kilmurry and Ballingeary, which are all good football clubs.
“I think we’ve just been lucky in recent years with good crops of players. We have to make the most of this as we’re not going to be involved every year. I came to the school as a teacher in 2000 and we were competing in Munster Colleges B until 2005.”
Since then De La Salle have been extremely competitive, winning the Corn Uí Mhuirí title in 2006 and reaching the final in 2010. This season’s team is powered by midfield duo Cathal Vaughan and Peter Kelleher, members of the Cork minor football and hurling panels respectively, and attacker Danny Twomey. They have coped as well with the loss of Aidan Moynihan, the star forward for the Cork U16 footballers last year, who has moved to Rockwell College to pursue a rugby career.
“He’s a big loss to us as he was centre-forward on the U16 school team that won the county last year,” admitted Graham. “But look, he’s gone to rugby now. The lads have worked very hard and we’ve come out of a strong group which we were delighted with.”
They are now preparing for a semi-final showdown against Coláiste Chríost Rí on Saturday week in Cloughduv, although Graham is wary of meeting opponents they have beaten twice this season.
“There’s nothing between the two teams and I think from our point of view, it’s a disaster we’ve beaten them twice. The first time we were lucky and the second game we beat them by a large margin but that didn’t reflect the way the game was. Chríost Rí will have huge determination and they are the best football school in Cork from a traditional point of view.”
The other joint winners of the Rebel Óg awards scheme, Midleton CBS, were recognised for the impressive manner in which they claimed the honours in the Cork Colleges SAHC (Dr O’Callaghan Cup) before Christmas. Their pursuit of honours in the Dr Harty Cup ground to a halt at the quarter-final stage a few weeks back when they came up against superior opposition in De La Salle (Waterford) but the loss of star attacker Dillon Cahill, a Cork minor last season, was a major blow.
“De La Salle were a stronger side and they coped better with the heavy pitch that day,” said team mentor Peter Dowling.
“Dillon was a big loss for us but you have to think of player welfare and we decided not to risk him. The tradition in the school concerns winning Harty Cups and All-Irelands, but unfortunately we couldn’t progress this year.”
Dowling, a Kilkenny native from the O’Loughlin Gaels club, is well-placed to comment on colleges hurling standards having gone to school himself in hurling specialists St Kieran’s College.
“I’d certainly think the teams in Munster and Leinster are probably on a par. Physically wise, there is a difference. Looking at underage games in Kilkenny and what is let go by referees, you can see there is a difference compared to matches that I’d see in Cork and elsewhere. But this Midleton team progressed a lot this year with their style of hurling and work-rate.”
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