Thurles CBS safely into final four after leading start to front against St Flannans
The Tipperary school had seven points to spare in Meelick
TUS Dr Harty Cup Munster PPS U19A Quarter-Final
Thurles CBS 2-21
St Flannans, Ennis 1-17
Thurles CBS confirmed their place in the final four of this year's TUS Dr Harty Cup after a surprisingly comfortable victory over St Flannans of Ennis in Wednesday's last-eight clash in Meelick.
This was a dominating performance from the Tipperary school who led from start to finish in this game with the foundations of this win coming from their pacey and lethal forward division, with the starting set of forwards all scoring on the day in what was comfortable for Thurles despite a close contest being expected in the build-up.
In the end, Thurles' firepower was too much to handle for St Flannans with Cormac Fitzpatrick and Robbie Ryan in prolific form. At the same time, Padraig O'Dwyer at centre back and James Doyle at midfield all excelled in a magnificent team performance with every player in white jerseys holding their own.
To be fair to Flannans - who were always chasing the game - they did bring the game back to three or four-point deficits on a few occasions in the second half, thanks in large part to the sharpshooting of former Limerick minor hurler Tadgh Boody but they never really threatened to take off at any stage and Thurles always had the ammo in reserve to keep a healthy lead.
Despite concerns on Tuesday about the expected overnight drop in temperature around the country, the conditions were as close to ideal as you can get at this time of the year and it certainly suited both teams, with plenty of tidy hurlers populating the respective starting teams on the day.
Ground conditions were still pretty solid after the previous night's freeze and Thurles used it to good effect in the opening minutes of the game as points from Robbie Ryan and Cormac Fitzpatrick gave onlookers a flavour of what was to come as they took the lead early.
Flannans found their range in the next three minutes as Tadgh Boody's first of the day from a free sailed over soon after, while Clare minor panelist Harry Doherty fired over a fine effort to level proceedings quickly after that fast Thurles salvo.
From an early stage though, Thurles were looking the slicker outfit and they hit the next four points in succession after those Flannans scores, David Costigan, Cormac Fitzpatrick (free), and Jack Hayes (2), the latter slipping over a close-range effort after David Costigan was denied a goal by Cian Howard in the Flannans goal in the 13th minute.
The Thurles half-back line was cleaning up any deliveries into their sector and Flannans looked to be way off the pace, but they injected some much-needed adrenaline into their efforts in the 15th minute when Luca Cleary's defensive splitting run ended with the full forward whipping on the dropping ball after Evan Morris had dispossessed him temporarily, but he showed good composure to lash the ball low past Harry Loughnane.
It didn't exactly swing the momentum as Thurles CBS continued to go about their business as Robbie Ryan was proving to be a thorn in the side of the Ennis school, scoring two carbon copy points in the 19th minute as he was dropping into midfield and the half-forward line to good effect and picking off a pair of scores from distance, while Bill Flanagan hit his first of the day just before those Ryan efforts.
Indeed, Flannans were living off scraps and only for some wayward Thurles shooting, it could have been a lot worse for the Clare school as Tadgh Boody was the only scorer for the remainder of the half for the boys in blue where he hit three points from placed balls.
Despite the poor shooting on occasion from Thurles, they did take a decent lead in at the break as Cormac Fitzpatrick (2 free), another from Robbie Ryan and a fine effort from deep from the industrious Euan Murray had the Tipp school in front 0-13 to 1-5 at the break and in complete control.
Flannans would need a quick start to get back into the game and despite being so far off the pace in comparison to their opponents, they had the game back to three points after just three minutes of the restart with Ronan Kilroy first and a major from Fred Hegarty from the sideline putting them firmly back in contention.
Cormac Fitzpatrick and Tadhg Boody didn't miss a single free all day for their teams which is a credit to their accuracy and traded placed balls soon after, but Thurles struck a pretty decisive score in the 37th minute as Darragh Kelly split open the Flannans defence with a run before offloading a hand pass to Jack Hayes in the 21 and despite Hayes mis-controlling, Fitzpatrick was quick to the break and whipped the ball to the back of the net.
That was a big score in the context of the game and with Boody and Fitzpatrick trading five points between them in the next ten minutes, Thurles kept their five-point lead intact with some 12 minutes of play left on the clock.
Cormac Fitzpatrick was putting on a show now as he extended his side's lead to seven with three points (2 from play) and despite Tadgh Boody's exception of placed ball shooting keeping Flannans with a grip of the Thurles coattails, they were never going to find the scores necessary as a late David Costigan goal on the stroke of the hour mark confirmed the victory for the Tipperary school, who will now go on to face Ard Scoil Rís in the semi-final.
Thurles CBS: Harry Loughnane (Roscrea); Paul Noonan (Thurles Sarsfields), Evan Morris (Holycross Ballycahill), Jack Lahart (Holycross Ballycahill); Keith Loughnane (Durlas Óg), Padraig O'Dwyer (Killenaule), Eugene O'Dwyer (Boherlahan Dualla); Euan Murray (Durlas Óg, 0-1), James Doyle (Holycross Ballycahill); David Costigan (Moycarkey Borris, 1-1), Darragh Kelly (Éire Óg Annacarty, 0-1), Bill Flanagan (Moycarkey Borris, 0-1); Cormac Fitzpatrick (Drom & Inch, 1-10, 0-6f, 0-1 65), Jack Hayes (Moycarkey Borris, 0-2), Robbie Ryan (Holycross Ballycahill, 0-5).
Subs used: Toby Corbett (Upperchurch Drombane) for E O'Dwyer (48); Ryne Bargary for Flanagan (54); Darragh Carr (Sean Treacys) for Costigan (61); Kieran Purcell (Thurles Sarsfields) for Lahart (61).
St Flannans: Cian Howard (Éire Óg Ennis); Ian Williams (St Josephs Doora Barefield), Fiachra O Braoin (Sixmilebridge), Paddy Nagle (St Josephs Doora Barefield); Francis Meaney (St Josephs Doora Barefield), James Hegarty (Inagh Kilnamona), Evan Price (Clarecastle); Joseph Casey (Kilmaley), Jack Mescall (Inagh Kilnamona); Tadgh Boody (Bruff, 0-14, 0-11f, 0-1 65), Fred Hegarty (Inagh Kilnamona, 0-1), Ronan Kilroy (Banner, 0-1); Kieran McDonnell (Ballyea), Luca Cleary (Éire Óg Ennis, 1-0), Harry Doherty (Clarecastle, 0-1).
Subs used: Marco Cleary (Éire Óg Ennis) for Meaney (HT); Robert Loftus (Éire Óg Ennis) for F Hegarty (56, inj).
Referee: John O'Halloran (Limerick)