Dr Harty Cup: CBC strike late to deny Doon victory

Christian Brothers College (Cork) 1-15

Scoil na Tríonóide Naofa (Doon) 1-12

The composure and character of Christian Brothers College were key elements hailed by joint manager Traolach Martin after they struck late to deny Scoil na Tríonóide Naofa in their Dr Harty Cup opener.

Banteer’s 4G pitch was the setting for a game postponed last Wednesday and the Doon school looked to have made a decisive burst as Tadgh Hourigan’s goal put them 1-11 to 0-12 in front before Aidan Moloney tacked on a point.

However, Christians levelled thanks to a goal from super-sub Fionán Barry and they fired over three late points from Diarmuid Wall, Conor McCarthy (Glen Rovers) – a massive free from his own 45 – and another sub, Peter O’Shea, who had been unable to start.

Martin was delighted with how his team persevered.

“It’s massive,” he says.

“In fairness to the lads, they kept working, they didn’t panic.

“The Doon goal was a sucker-punch as we had got on top but they just kept doing the simple things.

“That’s twice in a week now that we’ve come out of tight games as we beat Coláiste Choilm in the O’Callaghan Cup last Friday.

“There’s a good spirit there and they work away. With two minutes to go, your season is hanging there and then suddenly you come out with a win and the whole group opens up again for you.

“It was a massive goal to level it and then they just kicked on with three points in three minutes.”

Christians had trailed by 0-8 to 0-6 at half-time after playing against the wind and were 0-10 to 0-7 down early in the second half before points from Wall, Darragh O’Connor and Conor McCarthy (St Finbarr’s had them level).

It was nip and tuck from there and Martin – joined on the management team by Tony Wall and Darragh O’Callaghan knew it was a game they could have lost.

“Doon were good,” he says, “they were solid and well organised.

“Eoin Coughlan had to make two or three good saves for us so, if anything, they should have won. They were the better team for a lot of it and a bit gutted afterwards.

“That we managed to come out with the result made it all the sweeter.”

The delay in playing the game was a challenge.

“We had the O’Callaghan Cup Friday and then a few lads playing over the weekend,” Martin says.

“Peter O’Shea, one of our best players, got injured in the O’Callaghan Cup and that upset things. Then the whole, ‘Is it going to go ahead? Is it on astro or grass?’ There are so many different things going on.

“Then, we have only about six players left from last year so, for a lot of the lads, it was their Harty debut, a massive occasion for them, they were gearing up for it last week and then it was called off.

“To go out and get the win, they can relax a little bit now.”
Next up is a clash with Midleton CBS next week, with Martin hoping that he northside school can harness momentum.

“We haven’t really trained properly in the last two weeks,” he says.

“We only had a light session last Monday as he were expecting games Wednesday and Friday. We won’t do much Friday now as lads are recovering and then we can’t do a lot next Monday either as the Midleton game is coming up on the Wednesday. You’re just doing organisational stuff.

“The important thing was to get the win. We’ve Midleton, then mid-term break and Rice College after that. The next month is planned out – we’ve two more games and we have to win one of them to go through.”

Scorers for CBC: D Wall 0-9 (0-6f, 0-2 65), F Barry 1-0, Conor McCarthy (Glen Rovers) 0-1f, B Mayer, J Brosnan, Conor McCarthy (St Finbarr’s), D O’Connor, P O’Shea 0-1 each. Scoil na Tríonóide Naofa: C Hayes 0-7 (0-6f), T Hourigan 1-1, A Moloney 0-2, D Hogan, T Ryan 0-1 each.

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS COLLEGE: E Coughlan (Blackrock); B Nolan (Erin’s Own), J O’Callaghan Maher (Douglas), J Huggins (Sarsfields); J Leddy (Sarsfields), Conor McCarthy (Glen Rovers), D Browne (Blackrock); B Mayer (Ballinora), J Brosnan (Glen Rovers); P Lehane (Na Piarsaigh), J Hartnett (Douglas), Conor McCarthy (St Finbarr’s); D Wall (Glen Rovers), J Cronin (Blarney), D O’Connor (Sarsfields).

Subs: J Hegarty (Ballinora) for Cronin (37), P O’Shea (Erin’s Own) for Leddy, F Barry (Douglas) for O’Connor (both 46), M Brosnan (Glen Rovers) for Hartnett (52), R Buckley (Whitechurch) for Lehane (54).

SCOIL NA TRÍONÓIDE NAOFA: C Wallace; T Costello, S Óg Blackmore, S McDonnell; O Holmes, A O’Connell, J Stokes; E Coleman, D Hogan; A Moloney, C Hayes, E Roche; T Hourigan, C Gantley, T Ryan.

Subs: M Ryan for Gantley (half-time), C Hynes for Hogan (56).

Referee: D Hickey (Cork).