Seán Óg Ó hAilpín: ‘Harty Cup success goes hand in hand with county success’

There is that trip to Croke Park, the walk up the steps of the Hogan Stand, the weight of a Celtic Cross when All-Ireland glory is finally tasted. Seán Óg Ó hAilpín has made that journey three times with Cork. The last of which he achieved as captain.

And yet, those senior triumphs do not sit alone at the summit of what he holds most dear. The Harty Cup success he achieved with the North Mon in 1994 remains, as he puts it himself, right up there.

“Oh it's up there, it's up there,” Ó hAilpín begins. “Because I would go as far as to say without the Harty Cup medal, it probably wouldn't have given me the confidence to go on and represent Cork underage, and U21s and seniors.

“The level of preparation involved playing a Harty Cup mirrors or mimics what's required at inter-county level.

“When you compete and when you have the confidence that you can survive at that [Harty] level you want another taste of it at a higher level,” Seán Óg explains. “But it all comes back to schools because the best players you play against at inter-county level, you've played against at schools level.

“So there's a strong correlation there between the schools. I'm very indebted to my five years in the Mon for the school itself, and for the hurling education.

“It's not about the player, it's about the teachers behind the player, like the parents obviously, and all the support mechanisms, because you don't make that journey on your own.

“It's the same with every Harty Cup player, they do that journey with people that help them in the background that don't get the pats on the back and the plaudits.” 

Seán Óg’s one and only Harty triumph was in 1994. It also happens to be the Mon – or now, Gaelcholáiste Mhuire AG’s – last Harty win. St Colman’s won five titles in the years after and Midleton CBS won a couple.

But since Cork’s last All-Ireland title in 2005, there have only been two Harty Cups won by Cork schools in the last 20 years.

Compare that to the 20-year period before that 2005 All-Ireland win. Ten Harty wins for Cork schools, four All-Ireland SHC titles. And that trend of county success following Harty victories does not only apply to Cork, as Liam Ó Donnchú mentioned during the launch of his Dr Harty Cup history book earlier this month.

Quite often, Harty success directly translates to county success.

“The time when I was playing Harty Cup, the Cork schools were very dominant,” Ó hAilpín says. “Back then the Cork minors were very dominant, those Cork minors went on to win the U21s and then from that then, 1999 came.

PEEL IT BACK

“The Cork Senior Hurlers won in 1999, but if you look at the guys that had gone to Midleton CBS; Joe Deane, Diarmuid Sullivan, Donal Óg, Mickey O'Connell and myself in the Mon. It's a no brainer when you peel it back.

“When you see whoever's won a Harty Cup, follow that for the next couple of years and see where it takes you. It goes hand in hand.

“The bigger picture for Cork and the Cork schools, start winning the competition and then things should happen.”

Gaelcholáiste Mhuire’s wait has now reached 32 years, and will go on until at least next season following their group stage elimination in the 2025/26 campaign.

The couple, or three years you get if you’re fortunate at Harty – are truly special. For Seán Óg, there are two specific memories that come to mind.

“I'll give you two,” he begins. “One of them was a training session up in the Mon field.

“So we were training at lunchtime, the sun was out, it looked grand, and then next, there were hailstones came down as big as sliotars. No word of a lie. Just came out of nowhere.

“So, Gerry Kelly and Nicky Barry, we thought they’d tell us, ‘okay lads, go in there.’ No,” he laughs. “They drove us on. Then every ten year reunion we still bring up, how did we survive that training session, it was bucketing hails as big as sliotars!

“That was a bigger lesson for us, that you need to toughen out these things and not be wrapped up in cotton wool.

“I suppose the other one would be beating Midleton CBS in 1994 when we won the Harty Cup,” he says. “Because we were rank outsiders to win that game. When you look at Midleton CBS, oddly enough, Midleton CBS probably offered more to Cork in later years than the Mon did.

“So, on paper they were star-studded, we got there, probably lucky to fall through to the final, but the school for years had a great unique tradition of against the odds,” he explains. “That's what we built on, it was against the odds, not expected to win, rank outsiders, and we were able to capitalise on those moments.

“We beat Midleton that day, that was a great memory. That was in Fermoy, and we went on to win the Croke Cup.”