Harty Cup: Thurles CBS overcome St Flannans to reach last four
BATTLE: Darragh Kelly, Thurles CBS, under pressure from James Hegarty, St Flannan's College in the Quarter Finals of the Harty Cup in Meelick. Picture: Brendan Gleeson
Dr Harty Cup quarter-final
Before a ball was pucked, everything looked set up for everything this match potentially could be.
Beautiful January sunshine. A pitch in good condition. A big crowd. A stand packed with hordes of students from both schools. A Tipperary school crossing into Clare to take on St Flannan’s. Anticipation. Energy. Excitement. And then the match was anything but what everyone expected it might be.
Most of that had everything to do with what Thurles did and what Flannan’s didn’t. Thurles were business-like, slick, efficient and highly impressive, bossing a Flannan’s team that was flat and devoid of energy, bringing none of the physicality, aggression and intensity that they needed to take down a team of Thurles’ quality.
In so many ways, this was almost the antithesis of what a big Harty occasion should be. Too much loose hurling. Very little big body hits. No atmosphere. No noise. The Thurles supporters had plenty more to shout about but the overall silence in the stand was largely a metaphor for the event.
That has nothing to do with Thurles who let their hurling do all the roaring and shouting. Flannan’s may have had more high-profile names from last year’s All-Ireland minor winning side but Thurles played with far more panache, class and cohesion and had all the standout performers, one of whom, Euan Murray, underlined again why there has already been so much talk about the 15-year old prodigy from Durlas Óg.
Flannan’s did put on a charge at the outset of the third quarter, but a goal from the excellent Cormac Fitzpatrick in the 37th minute extinguished that flicker of hope that the game might ignite into some kind of a flame to warm the place up more than the winter sunshine.
Flannan’s did keep the scoreboard moving but it was never enough to dilute the sense of inevitability about the outcome which set in from the first quarter. Flannan’s’ last ten scores all came from Tadgh Boddy. His last six were from placed balls but Boddy was still one of the few Flannan’s players that tried to get something going.
Although this is still a relatively young Thurles team, they were the physically stronger outfit but everything about them from the first ball was more dynamic and loaded with intent. The ball was sticking far more in their attack than in Flannan’s final third.
Thurles had seven more shots than their opponents in the first quarter and Flannan’s had to rely on a sensational solo-goal from Luca Cleary to keep them in touch at the end of that period.
Flannan’s were fighting fires everywhere, constantly reconfiguring their defence to try and plug holes and gaping gaps in front of goal. Their half-back line was being dragged all over the place, which was even more damaging considering the firepower Thurles had all over their forward line.
Five of Thurles’ six forwards had scored from play by the 16th minute, but some of their early profligacy was gradually being ironed out into a more silken conversion rate, with Thurles nailing eight out of nine chances in that second quarter. The impressive Robbie Ryan ended with 0-4 from play in that opening half.
Thurles led by five at the break, 0-13 to 1-5, but they had almost double the amount of shots (20-11) in that period. Flannan’s did get five of the first seven scores of the second half but Fitzpatrick’s goal sucked the energy from that charge.
The match just played out to the anticipated low soundtrack in the background. Thurles did what they had to do to stall Flannan’s generating any momentum and, while Boddy kept slotting frees, Thurles still never felt the Ennis school’s hot breath on their neck.
When Flannan’s got the margin back to four in the 60th minute, Thurles just applied another rapier thrust to their gut with a fine goal from David Costigan.
Game over. Job done. Impressively so by Thurles. And even more satisfying again when beating Flannan’s at a Clare venue.
C Fitzpatrick (1-10, 6fs, 1 ’65); R Ryan (0-5); D Costigan (1-1); J Hayes (0-2), E Murray, B Flanagan, D Kelly 0-1 each.
T Boddy 0-14, (10fs, 1 ’65), L Cleary 1-0, R Kilroy, F Hegarty and H Doherty (0-1 each).
H Loughnane (Roscrea); P Noonan (Thurles Sarsfields), E Morris (Holycross Ballycahill), J Lahart (Holycross-Ballycahill); K Loughnane (Durlas Óg), P O'Dwyer (Killenaule), E O'Dwyer (Boherlahan Dulla); E Murray (Durlas Óg), J Doyle (Holycross Ballycahill); D Costigan (Moycarkey Borris); R Ryan (Holycross Ballycahill), B Flanagan (Moycarkey Borris); C Fitzpatrick (Drom & Inch), D Kelly (Eire Óg Annacarty), J Hayes (Moycarkey Borris).
R Bargary (Boherlahan Dualla) for Flanangan (42); T Corbett (Upperchurch Drombane) for O’Dwyer (46); D Carr (Sean Treacy’s) for Cositgan (60); K Purcell (Thurles Sarsfields) for Lahart (60).
C Howard (Éire Óg Ennis); I Williams (St Joseph's Doora-Barefield), F Ó Braoin (Sixmilebridge), P Nagle (St Joseph's Doora-Barefield); E Price (Clarecastle), F Meaney (St Joseph's Doora-Barefield, capt), J Hegarty (Inagh-Kilnamona); J Casey (Kilmaley), J Mescall (Inagh-Kilnamona), T Boddy (Bruff), F Hegarty (Inagh-Kilnamona), R Kilroy (The Banner); K McDonnell (Ballyea), L Cleary (Éire Óg Ennis), H Doherty (Clarecastle).
M Cleary (Éire Óg Ennis) for McDonnell (ht), R Loftus (Éire Óg Ennis) for F Hegarty (55).
J O’Halloran (Limerick).
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