Déise date with destiny

It started out over a decade ago as a plan to expose youngsters in West Waterford to an elite standard of colleges hurling.

That enlightened decision to enter a combination outfit from the western half of the county into the top grade of Munster Colleges hurling bore fruit in 2004 when they reached the Dr Harty Cup final. They lost that decider and numbers dwindled in recent years. But tomorrow Coláiste na Déise, now comprised of Dungarvan CBS and St Augustine’s (Dungarvan), are back on the big stage and face Nenagh CBS for this year’s Dr Harty Cup title in Cashel.

“It’s certainly a massive occasion for hurling in West Waterford,” admits manager Pat Collins. “When we reached the final in 2004, it was Dungarvan CBS, St Augustine’s, Lismore CBS and a small school in An Rinn, the Ghaeltacht area, providing players. We beat St Colman’s in the semi-final that year but fell down badly in the final against St Flannan’s. Injuries didn’t help our cause. Now we’re just down to the two Dungarvan schools. There is a certain sort of resistance to combination teams. But I think it’s a worth bearing in mind that a town like Dungarvan has two boys secondary schools whereas towns like Thurles and Midleton would have just the one. Put it this way, we’d be picking from half the numbers of De La Salle in Waterford City.”

Combination teams present their own unique set of challenges but Collins and his management colleagues, Shane McGrath (Dungarvan CBS) and Darragh Duggan (St Augustine’s), focus on co-operation in order to succeed.

“I’m based in Dungarvan CBS. I’m from Cork originally and went to school in Deerpark CBS,” says Collins. “That was a great Harty Cup stronghold in the past with household names like Dermot McCurtain and Ger Cunningham going there but sadly it’s not any more. Then Shane is in Dungarvan, he’s a past student of the school. Finally you’ve Darragh in St Augustine’s, who’s from Tipperary and would have gone to Thurles CBS.

“The obvious question when you’re picking from two schools, is does that lead to friction? And it really doesn’t. We work well together. I remember a few years ago, the management team was two St Augustine’s selectors to one Dungarvan CBS selector. A player from St Augustine’s was out injured and their first call was to get a Dungarvan CBS player to replace him. We put the team’s interests first all the time.”

It’s been a gradual progression to this juncture for Coláiste na Déise.

“In the two years coming up to this year, we played five Harty Cup matches and lost all five,” reveals Collins. “Even this year we lost our first match against Midleton CBS. But while we were losing matches they were all very narrow losses and we were very competitive.”

Away from the Dr Harty Cup, Dungarvan CBS were making waves in the Munster Colleges SBHC (Corn an Phádraigh) and last Saturday contested their third successive final in that competition.

“We won the first one but lost the last two. Last Saturday was bitterly disappointing as we only lost by a point and the lads on the Coláiste na Déise team must pick themselves up now. But they’re getting good exposure to good hurling games. It’s also encouraging that Dungarvan CBS were beaten in the Dean Ryan Cup (U16½) final this year and we beat Nenagh CBS in the semi-final of that.”

The most startling feature of Coláiste na Déise’s wins over St Flannan’s in the quarter-final and De La Salle in the semi-final was the fact they were achieved with 14 men as bizarrely on both occasions, they had a man sent-off before the throw-in.

“I think there was no doubt they were fantastic wins, especially with 14 men,” says Collins. “Both days we played without a full-forward when we’d a man sent-off and that may have lulled our opponents into a false sense of security. We left their full-back in front of goal and we played in from the corners. Against DLS we had the breeze in the first-half which was a big help and against Flannan’s, we seemed to relish the outsider role.”

There is a huge anticipation engulfing the hurling strongholds of West Waterford this week and Collins is determined they seize this chance.

“There’s no doubt, it’s maybe a once in a lifetime experience for all of us involved. The last time a Waterford team won this before De La Salle in 2007 and 2008 was Mount Sion in 1953. There have been fleeting appearances in finals since then but this is a rare occasion for Waterford hurling.”