ARDSCOIL RÍS have been crowned All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior A Hurling champions resulting in fourteen Croke Cup medals for Clare hurlers.
Beaten by St Joseph’s Tulla in the Dr Harty Cup, Ardscoil Rís bounced back in the All-Ireland series defeating Gort CS in the semi-finals before taking down Kilkenny giants St Kieran’s College 1-17 0-17 in the decider.
St Kieran’s eliminated St Joseph’s Tulla from the semi-finals on a scoreline of 3-16 1-11.
They have won the Dr Harty Cup on five occasions but the St Patrick’s Day win marked the first occasion that Ardscoil Rís got their hands on the Croke Cup. It is also the first time since 1966 that a Limerick school has won the All-Ireland competition, Sexton St taking the honours, almost six decades ago.
This time there was a strong Clare contingent involved with the North Circular Rd school with Ballyea’s Paul Flanagan, Cormac O’Donovan of Clonlara and Meelick’s Niall Crowe part of the management alongside former Limerick hurler Niall Moran from Ahane.
Broadford’s Niall Farrell was top scorer for the winners finishing with 0-08 to his name while corner forward David Kennedy from Sixmilebridge raided for the all-important goal and chipped in with a further three points from play.
Lining out between the posts Clonlara’s Séimí Gully kept a clean-sheet with Colm Flynn of Sixmilebridge starting at corner back. Cratloe’s Rian McNamara, Diarmuid Stritch from Clonlara and Dean Ryan captain Sean McMahon from the Smith O’Briens club all entered the fray on 38, 58 and 59 minutes respectively.
Completing the Clare involvement were Denis Fahy (Broadford), Eoin Deegan (Cratloe), Sam Sheehy (Cratloe), Seadhna Liddy (Newmarket-on-Fergus), Dara Casey (Sixmilebridge), Morgan O’Connell (Sixmilebridge) and Noel Flynn (Sixmilebridge)
