HARTY CUP PREVIEW: Thurles CBS continues redemption journey against St Flannans

TUS DR HARTY CUP MUNSTER PPS HURLING QUARTER-FINAL

Thurles CBS vs St Flannans, Ennis

Wednesday, January 10th in Meelick @ 1 pm

Thurles CBS will continue their quest to get back to the finale of the premier Munster school's competition after losing out in the final last year but face a stern test against a historical powerhouse at this level in Wednesday’s quarter-final.

After coasting through their group before Christmas, Thurles look in rude health and are showing really impressive form heading into this game.

They topped their group with wins over St Colmans Fermoy, St Josephs Tulla, and Pobalscoil na Trionoide of Cork with big winning margins in two of the games.

Victory over perennial challengers St Colmans at the start of October set the Thurles school up perfectly, coming out as five-point winners in a fiercely fought contest before recording a nine-point win over Tulla which qualified them with a game to spare.

A thrashing of Cork’s Pobalscoil na Trionoide in the final group game in November with 31 points hit in the game ensured they went into the Christmas break with confidence ahead of the quarter-final in the New Year.

There is a nice blend of playrs from last year’s panel along with newcomers who have really added greatly to the team, particularly in the forward division which is doing huge damage having averaged just over 25 points a game so far.

The inside forward line lead by Robbie Ryan (Holycross Ballycahill) along with Cormac Fitzpatrick (Drom & Inch) and Liam Corcoran (Moycarkey Borris) have been in top form and will be integral in this game against St Flannans.

That said, the CBS are far from reliant on those three and have class across the board with Evan Morris (Holycross Ballycahill) and Padraig O'Dwyer (Killenaule) in the spine of the defence while David Costigan (Moycarkey Borris), Darragh Kelly (Éire Óg Annacarty) and James Doyle (Holycross Ballycahill) have been in good form throughout the competition so far, and with plenty of depth off the bench to boot, they have to tools to go all the way this year if they produce their best.

However, they face their biggest test so far in this Wednesday’s quarter-final as they face up against the kingpins of this competition in St Flannans Ennis who top the roll of honour with 22 titles in their illustrious history.

Granted, a lot of those titles would have been won during their boarding days but they have won this competition as recently as 2020 and have another strong team this year.

They have four players who were part of the Clare minor panel that won the All-Ireland title in 2023 in Fred and James Hegarty, Harry Doherty, and Jack Mescall, and given they were narrowly pipped by Nenagh CBS in the recent Dean Ryan Cup (U17) Munster final, they will have plenty of talent available to them in Meelick.

Added to that mix is a Limerick minor from 2023 in Bruff’s Tadgh Body who is their scorer-in-chief and has already whipped over 0-24 in their group victories over Castletroy College, De La Salle, Waterford, and Coláiste Choilm Ballincollig with the only tight game coming in the win over the Waterford outfit.

That game sparked big controversy back in October when a scoreboard controversy at the end of the game meant that St Flannan’s were declared the winners after De La Salle thought they had snatched a draw.

That point allowed them breathing space and with a comprehensive win over Ballincollig in the last round, they qualified while De La Salle went out. All in all, this will be a good game - weather permitting - between two huge hurling institutions.