*Darragh McNamara of St Flannan’s College. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
ST FLANNAN’S COLLEGE maintained their unbeaten start to the Harty Cup campaign with a comprehensive 23-point victory over Cashel Community School with St Joseph’s Tulla also victorious in the second round.
St Flannan’s College 4-26
Cashel Community School 1-12
Venue: UL North Campus
By Gearóid Howley
St Flannan’s claimed their first win of this year’s Harty Cup with a ruthless display against Cashel Community School in which they scored an impressive 4-23 from play.
The Ennis based school got off to a lightning start when Clooney/Quin’s Darragh McNamara caught a ball from the clouds and somehow regained his footing, before weaving through three defenders and rifling it to the back of the net for their first score of the game.
Cashel followed up with two points of their own, while another shot on goal from McNamara was saved between their scores. Harry Doherty responded with three points in quick succession and his clubmate Rory Ralph added his name to the scoresheet to push their lead out to five points. Doherty struck again, this time from a free, before Patrick Finneran and Darragh McNamara, straight from intercepting a puckout, both found the target from play. With just twelve minutes on the clock, they had already racked up 1-7.
The scoring rate dipped slightly in the second quarter as the Tipperary outfit landed three points. St Flannan’s matched that tally, with a superb point off the sideline from Graham Ball, before Isaac Hassett got in on the act and Finneran added his second of the afternoon. Brendan Bugler’s side went in at the break leading 1-10 to 0-5.
St Flannan’s wing-back Colm Daly opened the scoring when the teams re-emerged with a monster point from his own half, and for the next ten minutes both teams went tit-for-tat on the scoring front.
As the clock hit the forty-minute mark, Ballyea’s Eoin O’Connor drove through the heart of the Cashel defence with a sensational solo run before raising St Flannan’s second green flag of the day. Senan Mackey, who had since switched from wing-back to full-forward, responded with a goal of his own for the Tipperary outfit just two minutes later, leaving the scoreboard reading 2-15 to 1-8.
Eimhin Ryan added the next score for Cashel, but Flannan’s replied instantly with three quickfire points. Mackey converted another free shortly after, before the winners hit 1-4 without reply.
Clare minor hurling captain Graham Ball got his second point of the afternoon, this one from the opposite sideline, and Harry Doherty rattled the net for his first goal of the encounter before substitute David Loftus added two-points of his own in as many minutes.
As Cashel tried to stem the tide, Charlie Walsh pointed what was their first score in almost ten minutes with five minutes to go. It did not take long for the Clare school to fire back as joint-captain Doherty grabbed his second goal after a tidy passage of play that again included Darragh McNamara, and John Barry.
Eoin O’Connor slotted over a point both before and after that goal, with his fourth point of the day coming not long after a superb save from goalkeeper Leon Talty.
In the closing stages, John Barry and Colm Daly doubled their personal tallies, with top scorer Doherty adding yet another point to finish the game with an outstanding 2-7, 2-4 of that from play.
Flannan’s were dominant on the opposition puckout all afternoon and ultimately it gave them the platform in what was an unrelenting display. Most impressive for the victors were Harry Doherty, Eoin O’Connor, Colm Daly, and Darragh McNamara, who scored 1-2 and directly assisted another 1-2.
(Gallery of photographs by Gerard O’Neill)
Scorers St Flannan’s College: H Doherty (2-7, 0-3f), E O’Connor (1-4), D McNamara (1-2), P Finneran (0-3), C Daly (0-2), G Ball (0-2), J Barry (0-2), D Loftus (0-2), R Ralph (0-1), I Hassett (0-1)
Scorers Cashel Community School: S Mackey (1-3, 0-3f), C Fogarty (0-2), A Toomey (0-2), N O’Flynn (0-1), C Walsh (0-1), C Hall (0-1, 1f), S Cooney (0-1), E Ryan (0-1)
St Flannan’s College:
1: Leon Talty (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
2: Darragh Murrihy (Inagh/Kilnamona)
3: Sean McNamara (Clooney/Quin)
18: Rory Ralph (Clarecastle)
6: James Cullinan (Ruan)
7: Colm Daly (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
8: Graham Ball (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
5: Darragh Ball (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
9: Isaac Hassett (Clooney.Quin)
23: Eoin O’Connor (Ballyea)
10: Harry Doherty (Clarecastle)
11: Patrick Finneran (Clooney/Quin)
12: Ben Talty (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
15: Darragh McNamara (Clooney/Quin)
13: Thomas O’Connor (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
Subs:
14: Jason Keane-Hayes (Kilmaley) for T O’Connor (44)
24: John Barry (Inagh-Kilnamona) for B Talty (44)
30: James Murphy (Kilmaley) for Hassett (46)
28: David Loftus (Éire Óg) for Finneran (50)
Cashel Community School:
1: Kieran O’Neill (Boherlan-Dualla)
2: Rory O’Mahony (Fethard)
3: Noah O’Flynn (Fethard)
6: Briain O’Donoghue (Cashel King Cormacs)
5: Senan Mackey (Knockavilla Kickhams)
7: Tommy O’Connor (Cashel King Cormacs)
4: Kyle Cully (Cashel King Cormacs)
8: Charlie Walsh (Fethard)
9: William Colville (Rosegreen)
10: Charlie Hall (Golden-Kilfeacle)
11: Shane Cooney (Clerihan)
14: Conor Fogarty (Boherlan-Dualla)
13: Eimhin Ryan (Cashel King Cormacs)
15: Tudor Mereacre (Cashel King Cormacs)
17: Harry Fogarty (Golden-Kilfeacle)
Subs:
20: James Finn (Golden-Kilfeacle) for Cully (26, inj)
18: Aaron Toomey (Knockavilla Kickhams) for H Fogarty (HT)
22: Evan Burke (Knockavilla Kickhams) for Mereacre (40)
Referee: Éamonn Stapleton (Limerick)
St Joseph’s Tulla also claimed their first win of the campaign and remain unbeaten after a three-point triumph over Our Lady’s Templemore on a scoreline of 1-21 to 3-12.
Matthew Corbett was once again the East Clare school’s top scorer, finishing with 0-9, 0-4 of which came from play. His Clooney-Quin club-mate Jerry O’Connor also impressed, scoring 1-1 from centre-forward. Their starting fifteen featured five players from Tulla and Clooney-Quin, three from Broadford, and one each from Crusheen and O’Callaghan’s Mills.
Meanwhile, Ennistymon Community School came out on top in the second round of the Corn Risteard Uí Mhathuna (Munster Senior C Hurling Championship) with a 3-16 to 3-13 win over Coláiste treasa Kanturk, securing their first two-points in the competition.
