Daly and Doon getting used to being in unfamiliar territory

Four days it took yours truly to get Justin Daly on the other end of a phone line.

Far from a desire on the part of the Scoil na Tríonóide Naofa manager to keep a low profile ahead of tomorrow’s Harty Cup semi-final, it’s not the easiest thing to track down a teacher who spends most of his time outside of classes rushing between buildings.

Daly, on top of his hurling duties, is a German teacher at the newly amalgamated Scoil na Tríonóide Naofa, Doon, incorporating St Fintan’s CBS and St Joseph’s Convent of Mercy. The school’s new premises, however, won’t be completed until the end of next month and so, for now, teachers and pupils make do in the buildings of St Joseph’s and St Fintan’s, located just across the road from each other.

Daly was eventually nabbed at first break yesterday morning.

His first words were to list off the school’s record in the knockout stages of Munster’s premier colleges competition, quickly setting out that this weekend’s clash represents unfamiliar territory.

Only once did the school, under the old crest of St Fintan’s CBS, reach the Harty Cup decider — that some 83 years ago, back in 1931.

“We reached two semi-finals on the hop back in 2003 and 2004, but lost both,” noted Daly.

“We’ve been regulars at the quarter-final stage but semi-finals and finals have been few and far between.”

Still, Doon’s rare flirtations in the penultimate round far outweigh Rochestown’s Harty Cup travails, the Cork outfit dining at the top table for the first time this season. Mind you, it’s been quiet the maiden journey.

“They are a relatively new entity at Harty Cup level,” said Daly. “We saw them in a recent challenge game and they were really impressive. I wouldn’t worry about them beating Thurles CBS and that we couldn’t [Thurles beat Doon in the group stages]. Every game is different.”

The buzz in the school corridors has intensified this week even though nothing has changed in playing personnel since the amalgamation.

“We haven’t really benefited from the amalgamation hurling wise because we weren’t joining with another boys’ school. Both Doon and Pallasgreen are our main feeder clubs and they had very good campaigns in 2013.

“They are coming into us in great shape and we are just trying to build on that.”