Gaelcholáiste Mhuire seek back-to-back O’Callaghan Cup titles in Páirc Uí Chaoimh

It’s fair to say that Gaelcholáiste Mhuire AG’s Harty Cup campaign didn’t pan out as the school would have hoped. Manager Tomás Manning would be the first to admit that. After all, this was a team that reached a semi-final last year and felt they had the makings of another strong run.

But the Harty Cup doesn’t forgive much.

For every good team that reaches the knockout stages, there’s another that falls short by the slimmest of margins. This year, the AG were one of those unlucky sides.

“We were obviously disappointed, and the players put in a fantastic effort,” says manager Tomás Manning. It was a very tight group. We won a game by two points, we drew a game, and we lost a game by two points.

“We felt we could have won all three games. But, again, going back to it, you'd have to kind of reset straight away and get over the disappointment.” 

And there’s no better way to reset than with a final to play for. The O’Callaghan Cup final offers AG that chance, they take on Christian Brothers College tonight in the Cork post-primary schools decider for a chance to retain their title.

“We have a fantastic opportunity to win back-to-back O’Callaghan Cups and leave a strong legacy.

“Obviously, it was disappointing in the Harty – from a Cork perspective – to only have one team going on to the knockouts was disappointing. But, Friday night gives us a great opportunity to reset and kind of set the record straight, because we do feel we have a lot of talent in our group.

CONTRAST

“We're under no illusions how big the challenge playing CBC is,” he remarks. “It's very much a contrast between the spread of almost 20 clubs represented on their panel Friday. We probably have three clubs represented in our starting 15.

“And equally, we'd argue that's an advantage for us in kind of how tight-knit our group is and the spirit that's in our team. They have a lot of quality in their team. We're well aware of that, and we know each other very well at this stage.

“They've actually added quality players from other kind of strong hurling schools, which makes them even more formidable. But, to be fair, both teams are in a similar boat, where we went toe-to-toe in the Harty. The game could have went either way.

“So Friday's a great opportunity for one of us to finish the year on a high, and we'll be hoping that we're in that position.

“Particularly in a final, we’re confident in our players’ ability to perform under pressure, the biggest skill that we could pay to the current sixth years is that they’ve a lot of resilience. Luke Hurley, Josh Brosnan, Craig O’Sullivan, who consistently perform under pressure.

“Finals bring a different pressure, and it’s having that ability to stick to the process and stick to the plan. That’s something we’ll be banking on, on Friday night.” 

The Harty meeting between the sides in November went AG’s way, though neither managed to escape the group in the end. This time, there’s a new backdrop. Páirc Uí Chaoimh, under lights.

“It's fantastic that the Cork Colleges have decided to give this kind of promotion and status to the games,” Manning said. “And to have it down the Páirc, it's fantastic for the young fellas. It's a pleasure for every young fella to play down there.

“But look, the big part we've been pushing, is that it's still just another match, and not for it to become an occasion or a distraction.

“A big thing we've spoken about all week is to be the first AG or Mon team to win back-to-back O’Callaghan Cups, and specifically down in the Páirc is a kind of great legacy,” he explains. “Even from a traditional point of view for Cork hurling, I think having, an AG team playing down the Páirc is just great for that kind of tradition. So it's a fantastic initiative.

“Between Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, Éanna Desmond, Tim Lordan, Tadhg Óg Murphy, Daire Connery, we feel that we’ve really quality preparation and we get the very best version of ourselves from what we have, so that’s what we’ll be looking to bring on Friday.”