Cashel Community School's journey comes to an end at the hands of St Kieran's

Croke Cup All Ireland PPS Senior Hurling Semi-Final

Cashel Community School 2-9

St Kieran’s College 3-13

Cashel Community School went crashing out of the Croke Cup All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship in St Brendan’s Park, Birr earlier this afternoon as they were beating by a classy and impressive St Kieran’s College outfit in the first of Saturday’s semi-finals.

Despite a barnstorming beginning to the game from Cashel which seen them lead by 1-4 to 0-1 after the opening ten minutes, it was St Kieran’s who won the day as some sloppy Cashel defending was punished towards the end of the first half with the impressive Harry Shine, Donagh Murphy and Ted Dunne supplying the goals.

The Harty Cup champions started the second half well and a Billy Power goal in the 43rd minute had them back to within three points, but St Kieran’s simply had to much quality all over the field for the Tipperary school; particularly up front as they had a far bigger spread of scorers on the day.

And Cashel couldn’t have gotten off to a better start in the game, with Ronan Connolly again placed at full forward, causing early havoc scoring a point within twenty seconds of the game starting.

Ger O’Dwyer was hugely prominent here, supplying that early point for Connolly and O’Dwyer won a free a minute later which gave Connolly his second of the day in as many minutes with Cashel looking feral in the early passages of play.

It continued to flow the way of the Harty Cup champions and despite Kieran’s getting up and running in the eighth minute with a lovely point from play by Harry Shine, Connolly couldn’t be contained as a long range delivery from a Ger O’Dwyer free was fetched excellent by the King Cormacs man, and he produced a deft finish past the onrushing Kieran’s goalie to raise a green flag and give his side a shock but deserved 1-2 to 0-1 lead after nine minutes.

The sheer intensity of the Cashel tackling and work rate - which has been a hallmark of their year to date - was bamboozling the Kieran’s players and Cashel had extended their lead by the 14th minute with two points from play, first coming from Bobby Power who pounced on a mistake at the back to gather the ball and point from close range, along with another from play by Connolly with hard work from Oisin O’Donoghue supplying the effort.

Kieran’s must have been surprised by the intensity of the Munster champions as they struggled to land a blow in the opening quarter, but they had too much class in their ranks for it to be anything other than a blip and they eventually made their way into the contest in the next ten minutes.

In the 16th minute a point from wing back Padraig Naddy had their second of the day and this was closely followed some twenty seconds later by a opportunistic goal from Donagh Murphy who pounced on a dropping ball as the Cashel goalie and defence muddled their signals with the Carlow sneaking in and lashing home.

That really lit the fire under the Kilkenny school and they had taken the lead in the next five minutes after a brilliant Ted Dunne score in which he drop shot the ball in tight space inside the 21 and it got worse for Cashel in the 20th minute with a lucky rebound from a Donagh Murphy point effort rebounding off the post into the path of Dunne who buried the ball into the top corner; Kieran’s now in front 2-3 to 1-4.

That whirlwind of concessions could have derailed Cashel but they settled the nerves in the next few minutes to settle them again; a brace of Ronan Connolly points levelling the game by the 25th minute.

Oisin O’Donoghue was operating as the spare man at the back for Cashel to good effect early on, but the Kieran’s full forward line was causing all sorts of problems now, as the scores began to flow towards the end of the half with Aaron McEvoy, Jeff Neary, and Dunne again finding scores to put Kieran’s three up; and that lead was doubled in added time with more indecision from Tommy Breen in goal letting Harry Shine pounce again on a high ball into the square and he reached high to tip it into the net. Cashel with it all to do in the second half as they trailed by 3-6 to 1-6.

The second half was far less forgiven in terms of scoring as Cashel looked to keep it tight and stay in the game early, with Bobby Power’s well taken point inside the first minute of the half reducing the gap to five points.

The next ten or so minutes were a real slog though, with heavy hits and attritional play a real feature with neither side coughing up any scoring opportunities of note, but Cashel were pushing to their best level and found their way back into contention, with the impressive Dylan Fogarty lamping a high ball from a free into Ronan Connolly and when they ball broke off him, the diminutive figure of Bobby Power rushed onto the ball and expertly finished off his hurley to the back of the net.

That goal came in the 43rd minute and it cut the gap to three points but it didn’t faze the Kilkenny school in the slightest as they had taken the edge off that concession with the next two points from a Harry Shine free and a well struck effort from Killian Corcoran to reopen a four point gap just two minutes later.

Cashel were managing to keep in touch but they were going to need to open up and push forward more, as the entirety of the match had Ronan Connolly as a lone soldier in the full forward line with three players around him at all times; however two frees from the Cashel man either side of a Harry Shine placed ball had the match back to three points with five minutes of normal time left.

However, as is normally the case in these games, the tradition behind St Kieran’s seemed to always give them a response to a Cashel question, and they dominated the remainder with four further points, with three coming from Harry Shine and a first of the day for Anthony Ireland Wall.

Cashel kept going to the end as they shoved Ger O’Dwyer and Dylan Fogarty into the forward line in an effort to save their challenge, but it never looked likely as the Cashel Community School lads were sent out at the semi-final stage.

Despite the loss, Cashel can be very proud of their efforts in the game as it mirrored their outstanding attitude in every game in their run to Harty Cup glory and they could hold their heads high leaving Birr after the game.

Scorers: Cashel CS: Ronan Connolly (1-6, 0-3f), Bobby Power 1-3.

St Kieran’s College: Harry Shine (1-6, 0-5f), Ted Dunne 1-2, Donagh Murphy 1-0Jeff Neary, Padraig Naddy, Aaron McEvoy, Killian Corcoran, and Anthony Ireland Wall all 0-1 each.

Cashel CS: Tommy Breen (Boherlahan Dualla); Cian Ryan (Golden/Kilfeacle), Jack Quinlan (Fethard), Ciarán Byrne (Golden Kilfeacle); Darragh Spillane (Fethard), Ger O’Dwyer (Rosegreen), Dylan Fogarty (Boherlahan Dualla); Shane Buckley (Knockavilla Donaskeigh Kickhams), Eanna Ormond (Golden Kilfeacle); Ben Currivan (Golden Kilfeacle), Oisín O’Donogue (Cashel King Cormacs), David McGrath (Cashel King Cormacs); Bobby Power (Boherlahan Dualla), Ronan Connolly (Cashel King Cormacs), Adam Daly (Knockavilla Donaskeigh Kickhams).

Subs: Padraig Dalton (Golden Kilfeacle) for Ormond (43); Anthony Walsh (Cashel King Cormacs) for McGrath (51); Ross Darcy (Boherlahan Dualla) for Ryan (61); Jack Dalton (Golden Kilfeacle) for Quinlan (63); Robbie Darcy (Boherlahan Dualla) for Power (63).

St Kieran’s College: Stephen Manogue (James Stephens); Bobby Murphy (The Harps), Killian Corcoran (Ballyhale Shamrocks), Timmy Kelly (Bennettsbridge); Bill Hughes (Bennettsbridge), Jeff Neary (Graigue Ballycallan), Padraig Naddy (Young Irelands); Tom McPhillips (Dicksboro), Killian Doyle (Emeralds); Anthony Ireland Wall (Danesfort), Harry Shine (Dicksboro), Aaron McEvoy (Graigue Ballycallan); Miall Shortall (Ballyhale Shamrocks), Ted Dunne (Graiguenamanagh), Donagh Murphy (Mount Leinster Rangers).

Subs: Ben Whitty (Danesfort) for Shortall (HT); Rory Glynn (Clara for B Murphy (47); Sean Hunt (St Martins) for Ireland Wall (56); Sean Keenan (Dicksboro) for Doyle (59).

Referee: Niall Malone (Clare)