Slow start proves to be Our Ladys' undoing in the Harty Cup loss to Ardscoil Rís

TUS Corn Dr. Harty Cup - Group 2 - Round 2

Our Lady’s Templemore 0-16

Ardscoil Rís 0-24

A slow start to this game proved to be the undoing of Our Lady’s Templemore in this TUS Corn Dr. Harty round two clash in Kilcolman, as the Tipperary school fell to defeat against a strong Ardscoil Rís team on Wednesday afternoon.

Clare underage hurler Michael Collins did the damage for the Limerick school, particularly early in the game. He hit four out of eight points in the first quarter, and they sprinted into a 0-8 to nil lead, making great use of the wind.

Our Ladys took far too long to match their opponents' pace, and while they did pull the game back to five points at one point in the second half, they never threatened the goals they needed to truly spark a comeback; Ardscoil Rís always found the scores to knock the stuffing out of the Tipperary students.

It would take Our Ladys 15 minutes to register their first point of the game through a classy Philip O’Dwyer effort, which somewhat settled them into the game.

Cormac Bourke came to his side’s rescue a few minutes later when he denied Sean Arthur from close range with a close-range effort, and he soon turned scorer when he picked off a massive long-range free against the wind to make it 0-8 to 0-2 after 18 minutes.

Michael Collins was running amok for Ardscoil at this stage though and had his fifth point from play scored by the 26th minute as the teams went score for score for the remainder of the half, with Our Lady’s glad to hear the half-time whistle come as frees from Padraic O’Shea along with points from Eoin Boyle and Jack Marnell kept the Templemore school in the hunt. 

Templemore had the wind to come as they trailed 0-14 to 0-6 at the interval.

Despite that slow start, Our Lady’s were definitely at the pitch of the game thereafter and the eight-point deficit would ultimately prove to be their downfall, but they traded equal blows with Ardscoil again early in the second half with Padraic O’Shea’s free-taking the main source of scores for them.

Trailing 0-19 to 0-11 by the 46th minute, Our Lady’s upped the ante and drew frees from the Ardcoil Rí defence and with O’Shea in fine form, hit three placed balls in a row to make it a five-point game with ten minutes plus stoppage time to come.

However, that would be as close as they would get to Ardscoil Rís, with the Limerick school shifting to a higher gear in response to those scores and they proceeded to pick off five points in a row with Clare duo Eoin Begley and Michael Collins again to the fore for their side.

That flurry effectively ended the contest but Our Lady’s did manage to notch the last two scores of the game which could prove crucial in terms of qualification via scoring difference. 

However, due to Castletroy College’s win over Coláiste Choilm yesterday, it will likely be a winner-takes-all clash with the former for a place in the knockout rounds.

Scorers: Our Lady’s Templemore: Padraic O’Shea 0-8f, Philip O’Dwyer, Eoin Boyle 0-2 each, Jack Marnell, Joey Quinn 0-1 each, Cormac Bourke, Niall Delaney 0-1f each. 

Ardscoil Rís: Michael Collins 0-7, Sean Arthur 0-4, Patrick Kearney 0-3f, Oisin O’Byrne, Ian O’Brien, Darragh Gleeson 0-2 each, Eoin Begley (0-2, 0-1f), John O’Keefe, Eoin Brosnan 0-1 each.

Our Lady’s Templemore: Cormac Bourke (JK Brackens); Tommy Burke (JK Brackens), Shay Gleeson (Moneygall), Niall Delaney (JK Brackens); Mark Conroy (Drom & Inch), Cormac Cahill (Drom & Inch), Sean Walsh (JK Brackens); Cian Broderick (JK Brackens), Padraic O’Shea (JK Brackens); Jack Marnell (JK Brackens), Eoin Boyle (Borris-Ileigh), Richie Morris (Loughmore Castleiney); Philip O’Dwyer (Upperchurch Drombane), Sean Stapleton (Clonakenny), Joey Quinn (Loughmore Castleiney).

Subs used: Sean Burke (JK Brackens) for Morris (HT); Billy Collier (JK Brackens) for Broderick (59).

Ardscoil Rís: Darragh Jordan (Na Piarsaigh); Conor Ryan (Adare), Sean Morrissey (Dromin Athlacca), Adam Fitzsimons (Na Piarsaigh); Eoin Brosnan (Na Piarsaigh), Jack Cosgrave (Ahane), Darragh Gleeson (Adare); Conor Ryan (Ahane), Malachy McKenna (Pallasgreen); Sean Arthur (Newmarket-on-Fergus), Oisin O’Byrne (Crecora), Michael Collins (Clonlara); Eoin Begley (Clonlara), Ian O’Brien (Cratloe), Patrick Kearney (Adare).

Subs used: Evan Ryan (South Liberties) for Fitzsimons (43); John O’Keefe (Murroe Boher) for Kearney (50); Gavin O’Brien (Kilmallock) for O’Byrne (59); Jack Hickey (Clonlara) for Arthur (61).

Referee: Peter Carroll (Burgess)