Harty Cup: St Flannan’s College power past Our Lady’s Templemore in opening game
No stirring comeback required for St. Flannan’s College this time around after powering to victory over Our Lady's Templemore. Pic:John Sheridan/Sportsfile.
No stirring comeback required for St. Flannan’s College this time around after powering to the opening Harty Cup points in TUS Moylish Campus in Limerick.
A repeat of last year’s quarter-final that saw Our Lady’s Templemore lead by six points by half-time only to see the Clare school catch fire with a ten point second half turnaround, there would be no such drama for this opener.
Backed by a huge gale that blew towards Thomand Park, the 2025 and ’26 finalists hit the ground sprinting and would never look back as they led comfortably from start to finish.
Eoin O’Connor’s brace of early goals in the space of just ninety seconds set a scorching pace that allied to strong scoring performances from Conor Coffey and Graham Ball opened up a dominant 2-10 to 0-02 advantage after only eleven minutes.
A Darragh Murrihy clearance broke perfectly for O’Connor to find the bottom right corner of the net in the fifth minute before an almost identical strike, this time off a Ben Talty delivery would provide St. Flannan’s with an ideal start.
Our Lady’s Templemore barely had time to catch a breath as they were under constant siege, with nine different first half scorers catapulting the Ennis college to a 2-17 to 0-06 interval chasm.
The only redeeming feature for a shell-shocked Templemore were their lively attackers Padraic O’Shea and Philip O’Dwyer who raided for five of their six-point haul.
With the wind to come, the only way was up for the Tipperary side but credit St. Flannan’s for matching them all the way in an end-to-end second period.
Philip O’Dwyer did rifle a 20 metre free over the crossbar before Padraic O’Shea redressed the balance by finding the right corner of the Clare net by the two-thirds mark.
However, it only lowered the arrears to 14 at 2-21 to 1-10, and Our Lady’s Templemore needed more goals if they were to really unsettle the leaders.
Goalkeeper Cian McAllister did have a clearance blocked down, with the ball falling to Larry O’Brien to shoot at goal. However, that attempt was smothered by a miserly St. Flannan’s rearguard.
Instead, last year’s finalists just kept the scoreboard ticking over, with the excellent Conor Coffey taking his tally to nine before retiring through injury while centre-back Colm Daly became their tenth scorer of the day to seal a commanding first victory.
C Coffey 0-9 (5f); E O’Connor 2-1; G Ball, D Mahon, F Duignan 0-3 each; L Vaughan, R O’Donnell, B Talty, S Dilleen 0-2 each; C Daly 0-1.
P O’Shea 1-8 (1-6f); P O’Dwyer 0-3 (1f); S Burke 0-2; M Campion 0-1.
C McAllister (Ballyea); O Duignan (Banner), D Murrihy (Inagh-Kilnamona), D O’Donovan (Clooney-Quin); I Hassett (Clooney-Quin), C Daly (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield), F Duignan (Banner); G Ball (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield), R O’Donnell (Crusheen); B Talty (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield), E O’Connor (Ballyea), D Mahon (Clooney-Quin); C Coffey (Banner), J Keane Hayes (Kilmaley), L Vaughan (Éire Óg).
S Dilleen (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield) for Keane Hayes (22, inj), F Daffy (Inagh-Kilnamona) for O’Donnell (51), H O’Donoghue (Clarecastle) for Ball (54), S Daly (Kilmaley) for Coffey (57, inj).
C Ryan (Loughmore-Castleiney); D McDonnell (Loughmore-Castleiney), N Delaney (JK Bracken’s), J Sheridan (Drom/Inch); S Lee (Upperchurch Drombane), O Loughnane (Drom/Inch), D Hoare (Drom/Inch); J Bevans (Borrisoleigh), D Coffey (Killea); J Noonan (Moyne/Templetuohy), P O’Dwyer (Upperchurch Drombane), S Burke (JK Bracken’s); M Campion (Moyne/Templetuohy), P O’Shea (JK Bracken’s), L O’Brien (JK Bracken’s).
H Barton (Rathdowney-Errill) for McDonnell (HT), P Breen (JK Bracken’s) for O’Brien (43), S Leahy (JK Bracken’s) for Campion (54).
Eamonn Stapleton (Limerick).
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