St Flannan's dig deep to haul in St Joseph's Tulla and secure Harty Cup final berth 

Harry Doherty of St Flannan's. Pic: John Sheridan/Sportsfile

Harty Cup semi-final: St. Flannan’s College 2-19 St. Joseph’s Secondary School Tulla 3-11 

The art of persistence was again exemplified by St. Flannan’s College before finally sealing their place in a record 42nd Harty Cup final in Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg, Ennis.

Having recovered from a six point half-time deficit in the quarter-final, the Ennis college had to again dig deep to overturn their plucky opponents as neighbours St. Joseph’s Tulla led by five points as late as the two-thirds mark.

Lady Luck smiled down on the East Clare side in that opening period as a Matthew Corbett’s 90 metre free somehow ended up trickling over the line in the 22nd minute before Liam Murphy capitalised on St. Flannan’s hesitancy to double Tulla’s bounty on their way to a five point cushion.

Eoin O’Connor and Harry Doherty did lessen the interval damage to three at 2-09 to 0-12 but if anything the half-time break only emboldened Tulla’s belief as they resumed with the first two points of the new half through Matthew Corbett and Michael Vaughan to restore a five point advantage.

That was as good at it got for a spirited Tulla though as remarkably they wouldn’t score again until the 60th minute by which time the tide had not only turned but had disappeared completely out of view.

Instead, a 2-6 unanswered rally breathed new life into St. Flannan’s as two goals in the space of three minutes at the turn of the final quarter thoroughly deflated Tulla’s challenge.

Darragh McNamara had seen a powerful effort repelled by Tulla goalkeeper Patrick Murphy in the 40th minute but five minutes later, the Clooney-Quin poacher would be the quickest to react to a rebound to pull to the net and slash the arrears to just the minimum.

Stemming from a Harry Doherty free that dropped short to Thomas O’Connor, his shot would deceive everyone only to ricochet off the left post for the waiting McNamara to finish at 2-11 to 1-13.

The decisive moment of the derby was saved for the 48th minute when a glorious goal chance for Nicky Belenko was superbly thwarted by a last gasp dispossession by James Cullinan, only to see the ball end up in the opposite net only seconds later.

A Tulla error allowed Thomas O’Connor to make space before rifling to the right corner to catapult St. Flannan’s in front for only the second time in the entire contest at 2-13 to 2-11.

Jerry O’Connor had an attempt also blocked by the defiant Cullinan as a buoyant Flannan’s soared to the next five points through Graham Ball, Patrick Finneran, substitutes John Barry and Ben Talty along with the hugely influential Harry Doherty.

St. Joseph’s Tulla did finally bounce back off the ropes with a powerful Jerry O’Connor rebound on the hour mark to cut the deficit to just four. 

However, despite seven minutes of injury-time, the only further score would come from the leaders through Eoin O’Connor, while a last gasp Darragh McNamara flicked goal would also be ruled out for a square ball.

2-7 to 1-0 in the last 30 minutes told its own story as St. Flannan’s returned to a second successive final where they are presented with a reunion against Nenagh CBS, whom they drew with in the opening round, in a fortnight’s time.

Scorers for St. Flannan’s College: H Doherty 0-7 (5f); D McNamara, T O’Connor 1-1 each; G Ball, E O’Connor 0-3 each; P Finneran 0-2; J Barry, B Talty 0-1 each.

Scorers for St. Joseph’s Tulla: M Corbett 1-5 (1-3f); J O’Donnell 0-3; L Murphy, J O’Connor 1-0 each; R Hayes, Cl Leamy, M Vaughan 0-1 each. 

St Flannan’s College: L Talty (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield); D Murrihy (Inagh-Kilnamona), S McNamara (Clooney-Quin), C Hill (Ballyea); D Ball (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield), J Cullinan (Ruan), C Daly (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield); I Hassett (Clooney-Quin), R Ralph (Clarecastle); G Ball (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield), P Finneran (Clooney-Quin), E O’Connor (Ballyea); D McNamara (Clooney-Quin), T O’Connor (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield), H Doherty (Clarecastle).

Subs: D Kennedy (Ballyea) for Ralph (40), J Barry (Inagh-Kilnamona) for Hassett (40), B Talty (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield) for Kennedy (41, inj), J Keane Hayes (Kilmaley) for Finneran (62, inj).

St. Joseph’s Tulla: P Murphy (Tulla); R Hayes (Tulla), E Cooney (Tulla), C Maxted (Clooney-Quin); H Nolan (Tulla), M Vaughan (Broadford), L Moroney (Tulla); M Corbett (Clooney-Quin), J O’Connor (Clooney-Quin); Ó Perril (Crusheen), J O’Donnell (Broadford), N Belenko (Tulla); A O’Driscoll (Broadford), C Leamy (Clooney-Quin), L Murphy (O’Callaghan’s Mills).

Subs: M Fitzpatrick (Clooney-Quin), H Vaughan (Broadford) for Moroney (52), D Greene (Broadford) for Maxted (58). 

Referee: J O’Halloran (Limerick).