'To have so many players togging out for a Harty Cup final is huge for Clare hurling'

Saturday’s Harty Cup Final between Ardscoil Rís and St Joseph’s Tulla even pits club-mates from Broadford and Sixmilebridge against each other.

Tue, 01 Feb, 2022 - 16:29

Eoin Brennan

Scan down from the top line intrigue of contrasting recent Dr Harty Cup final experience and there’s a much more familiar backdrop to Saturday’s historic pairing of Ardscoil Rís and St Joseph’s Tulla in TUS Gaelic Grounds (1pm).

Five-time champions since 2020, Ardscoil Rís, are located on the Clare-Limerick border which provides a unique cocktail of players between both counties. Consequently, when facing Clare opposition, similar to November’s Dean Ryan Cup decider against eventual winners St Flannan’s that saw 27 of the 36 players on show being Banner natives. Saturday’s Harty Cup Final with East Clare stronghold St Joseph’s Tulla even pits club-mates from Broadford and Sixmilebridge against each other amidst a 45-strong Clare collective contingent.

“People kind of struggle with our identity,” admits Ardscoil Rís’ Niall Moran who manages the side alongside Clare duo Paul Flanagan and Cormac O’Donovan. “That’s the nature of Limerick City, we’re always going to have Clare lads and Limerick lads, irrespective of whether sport is to the fore or not in the school. To have so many players togging out on Saturday for a Harty Cup final is huge for Clare hurling. The county have probably struggled in the last couple of years from a PR perspective on what it’s doing at underage level but the reality on the ground is that Clare are starting to do a lot of things very, very right across the board.

Ardscoil Ris manager, former Limerick hurler Niall Moran. Picture: Sam Barnes

“Obviously with the Harty lads, you’d expect that these guys will be going on to play U20’s later on in the year so it’s very, very positive for Clare and I think they also recognise the work that we’re doing in the school that will benefit them in the same way Limerick always have.”

The manager of Clare’s U20 team for the coming year is Terence Fahy who also plays an integral role on the managerial ticket for first-time Dr Harty Cup finalists St Joseph’s Tulla alongside fellow U20 coach Tomás Kelly and former Galway player Aidan Harte.

“The county needs this,” said Fahy. “We’re coming out of a cycle there at underage in Clare and there are great shoots evident. There’s a lot of good work being done in Clare and a lot of low-key work being done by very good people in clubs and development squads. And if that’s consistently brought, then Clare hurling is only going to go one way, fingers crossed.

Terence Fahy, St. Joseph's Tulla manager. Picture: Dan Linehan

“It was great to see such representation in the Dean Ryan final, there was also great work being done by an underage development committee for Clare Post-Primary Schools which organised a Clare U15 competition that included Ardscoil. They’ve been very intentional about building up hurling in all secondary schools in Clare and have done some great work in a short space of time. Their results so far have been encouraging and it’s gives everyone a lift to see teams and players competing in the final stages of the elite level Munster colleges competitions.”

Former Limerick senior Moran knows all about the inextricable links between the Shannonside neighbours from the Ahane-Clonlara cross-border derby rivalry, not to mention his own schooling in St Flannan’s College in Ennis and his brother James’ current role for the Clare seniors under Brian Lohan.

“The counties are strong rivals but there’s great respect there too and obviously huge links on both sides. Overall I think the main thing here is that hurling people love second and third-level competitions as the Fitzgibbon and Harty are both raw competitions that also have romance.”