CBC Cork: ‘We felt there was room for another hurling school in the city’
One of Cork’s rugby powerhouses in the Harty Cup final, Christian Brothers, Cork, have had to buck tradition to arrive in today’s decider. Selector, coach, and deputy principal Donal O’Mahony, along with team manager Tony Wall, tell how it was done
We had somebody with a vision and a bit of backbone to make a big decision, and that was Dr Larry Jordan, our former principal. Larry is a great GAA man but he was conscious of the school he was in, and he was also conscious of the environment he was in. He felt there was a niche in the market. Farranferris was closed, and the North Monastery, which was another powerhouse of Harty hurling, wasn’t as strong.
Rochestown, at the time, were doing very well but we felt within the city there was room for another school, and if things went well fellas would start coming to the school for hurling whereas, at the time, they weren’t. We would have been seen as a rugby school. To give Larry credit, that is exactly what happened. We started off. We won the Cork Colleges U14 and U16. All of a sudden, you would be reading through the application form and you would see hurling which we wouldn’t have seen before. We started at B level, progressed to the A level.
Last year really gave us the self-confidence. We played Ardscoil Rís in the Harty semi-final and we were level with six minutes to go. They went on and won the final easy. That gave us evidence we could compete. Thankfully, things have gone well. It didn’t just happen this year, it has been happening over the last couple of years.
We played them in the O’Callaghan Cup (Cork Colleges) last year and they beat us quite well. This is our first time coming across them in the Harty Cup since we came back into the competition.
That was Larry’s idea, that fellas would come in and play Harty Cup and go back to their clubs as better players. They are going to Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford playing the best teams. It is challenging them, and hugely beneficial for them. This year, you had Blarney and Midleton in the Cork Premier 1 minor final. Three of the Blarney players are on our team.
It shows we have a wide net of players from all sides of the city. Kevin Finn is a super player. Kevin and Sam would have played together in the Premier minor team that won the county. It is interesting, there were about nine players from our school involved in the minor final. Again last year, there were about 10. The profile of the school is rising both at club and at Munster schools’ level.
There is a change in dynamics as well. A lot of our fellas, their parents would be working in the city and it is easier to drop them to us and collect them in the evening. We have two lads from Lismore (brothers Iarlaith and Carthach Daly) who are a great addition, both in the classroom and on the field of play.
It was difficult at the start, we were playing traditional schools — Thurles, Nenagh, Ardscoil Rís — and they would have that experience. We are lucky we have a former Harty Cup winner in Tony (Wall) and he also has experience of being senior hurling coach in the Glen (Rovers). We wanted to build good characters on the field and when you get into those tight battles they come through. At the start, we were picking good hurlers and then when the games got tough in January and February, there were times when we didn’t perform to our best. That was a good learning for us to try and develop strong characters first.
The first two years we were back we were given a lesson by St Colman’s in the Harty quarter-finals. We changed our perspective a little bit after that in what we needed to do. Last Harty Cup when we played St Colman’s in the quarter-final, we felt we were a match for them. Against Ardscoil Rís, we were leading with five or six minutes left and they just had that bit of poise and experience that maybe we didn’t have. They got some great scores in the last couple of minutes. It was a brilliant effort by our lads and no fault attached. Just that bit of experience. We gained that, and you saw in the quarter-final (Nenagh CBS), there is just that bit of an awareness.
We felt the game against Ardscoil Rís last year was there to be won, a little bit like the Limerick game with Cork last year. Ardscoil introduced quality from the bench. That got them over the line.
That was another learning for us. We have built a good squad and we trust the fellas coming off the bench. James Scally, Robbie Cotter, Carthach Daly have all done jobs for us. We have no problem calling on any of our squad.
Eight. But no matter what you say, a Harty Cup final is a big occasion for any school or any young fella. While the experience of being there last year is an advantage, our philosophy is to take every game at a time. The next game in the progression, whether it is a Harty Cup final or semi-final, it is the next game we are looking to.
It was a factor. But we worked hard for the last couple of years. When we started the project you are not seen as a hurling school when you are playing the likes of St Colman’s and Midleton CBS. That did give them an advantage. The fact we have beaten Colman’s, Thurles, Nenagh over the last number of years, we have dealt with that. Playing the bigger and more traditional schools, we are able to compete now.
Great satisfaction and a great life lesson for the lads. We are very proud of what we have done. It comes back to the idea of what we are trying to instil in the lads. We’ve had tough defeats but it has built character. Nothing is in a straight line. There are ups and downs. We are hoping for an up on Saturday. But Midleton will say the same. They are after working extremely hard. They had a massive disappointment last year, they lost the final.
I agree completely. You get a bond when you are teaching them. It is different to club in so far you are with the boys all day long. You have them for a short period of time so it is not like you can build a four-or five-year plan. It is now or never. It is a one or two-year window. We are sending players back to their clubs better than they came in. The idea that we can bring fellas in and build something from scratch basically and try and develop them as best we can, it is enormously satisfying. It shows it can be done. Saturday will tell us how far down that road we have gone. It is a continuous journey. Lads who are coming in first and second year will hopefully continue setting the trends.
About 11 or 12. For some, it is their third Harty campaign. The lads love being involved in something that wasn’t there five or six years ago. We are hoping they build lifelong bonds and friendships, and that seems to be the case. They are a very tight group.
We wouldn’t be doing it unless we enjoyed it. John Meyler will probably kill me, but definitely the priority is to get the first game out of the way and try and do the best we can with that.
What is challenging, is the mental side of things. Reframing. I had the same last year. We played Ardscoil in the semi-final in Mallow and we came back and beat Kilkenny. You lose a Harty and are disappointed. Then you beat Kilkenny in the first National League game.
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