Our Lady's Templemore eventually shake off Castletroy to secure knockout Harty Cup hurling

TUS Dr. Harty Cup - Group 2 - Round 3

Our Lady’s Templemore 0-16

Castletroy College 1-10

Our Lady’s Templemore qualified for the knockout stages of this year’s Dr. Harty Cup with a solid victory over Castletroy College in Toomevara on Wednesday afternoon, but they made hard work of it considering their domination throughout.

The Mid Tipperary school finished the game with 14 wides - seven in each half - and they had the accuracy of Padraic O’Shea to thank for keeping the scoreboard ticking throughout the game, with his free-taking and all round play highly impressive.

In control in the second half after leading 0-8 to 0-5 at half-time, Our Lady’s took a 0-14 to 0-6 lead by the three quarter mark but a well taken goal by Barry Griffin in the 48th minute gave Castletroy College a lifeline with time remaining.

However, Our Lady’s always had them at arms length and management to find a response to each score from the Limerick school with two Padraic O’Shea points in the final five minutes proving to be enough for them to finish Group 2 in second position.

Despite the bitterly cold weather in Toomevara the conditions were ideal for winter hurling with no wind or rain of any description present but you would have struggled to tell in the first half as the game was far from fluid and lacked real excitement in attacking terms.

Defensive setups were well on top but Templemore managed to manufacture plenty of scoring chances from placed balls, and with O’Shea laser accurate on every attempt, they were in front at the break with seven of the eight first half points coming from the Brackens freetaker; Jack Marnell with their only score from play in the 17th minute.

Castletroy College had 11 Monaleen starters in the team and one of their clubmen in Matthew Fitzgerald was the main score-getter for the Limerick lads, hitting three frees as they struggled massively against a stout Templemore defense, led extremely well by Shay Gleeson at full-back.

After half-time, Our Lady’s hit the ground running and two early scores from Mark Conroy and Jack Marnell in the 32nd minutes had them ahead by double scores and in a good position, leading 0-10 to 0-5.

Matthew Fitzgerald responded with a free soon after for Castletroy but Our Lady’s had their blood up after those early scores and with Joey Quinn, Padraic O’Shea and Jack Marnell all prominent in the half forward line, the Tipp lads hit four in a row between the 39th and 46th minute, the latter three mentioned all on target along with a Philip O’Dwyer score set up brilliantly by Sean Stapleton.

In reality, the game should have been over at this point as Templemore were completely in control but some wayward shooting and poor decision making in the scoring zone kept Castletroy in touch and when Barry Griffin showed great perseverance to goal after a powerful run in the 48th minute, the game was back to four points with plenty of time remaining.

The worry on the Our Lady’s sideline was that the goal might have un-nerved the players but the defensive solidity was the foundation of this win for the Tipp outfit, Shay Gleeson, Niall Delaney, and Bill Collier all brilliant on the day.

Padraic O’Shea landed to scores in the final ten minutes for Our Lady’s with Castletroy looking for the comeback points and it was just enough to keep their opponents at a distance as they held on for a well-deserved three point win and secured a place in the knockout stages in the process.

Scorers: Our Lady’s: Padraic O’Shea (0-10, 0-8f, 0-1 65), Jack Marnell 0-3, Philip O’Dwyer, Joey Quinn, Mark Conroy all 0-1 each.

Castletroy College: Matthew Fitzgerald 0-6f, Barry Griffin 1-1, Robert O’Farrell (0-3, 0-2f).

Our Lady’s: Cormac Bourke (JK Brackens); Tommy Burke (JK Brackens), Shay Gleeson (Moneygall), Darragh Hoare (Drom & Inch); Mark Conroy (Drom & Inch), Niall Delaney (JK Brackens), Billy Collier (JK Brackens); Cormac Cahill (Drom & Inch), Cian Broderick (JK Brackens); Jack Marnell (JK Brackens), Padraic O’Shea (JK Brackens), Joey Quinn (Loughmore Castleiney); Philip O’Dwyer (Upperchurch Drombane), Sean Stapleton (Clonakenny), Chris Dunne (Gortnahoe Glengoole.

Subs used: Richie Morris (Loughmore Castleiney) for Stapleton (50); Kieran Martin (JK Brackens) for Broderick (63).

Castletroy College: Eoin Murrihy (Ahane); Louis Ferland (Monaleen), Denis Blackwell (Ahane), Marcus Southern (Monaleen); Conor Gavin (Monaleen), Cian Scully (Monaleen), Harry McDermott (Monaleen); Peter Scully (Monaleen), James Rennisson (Ahane); Conor Ryan (Monaleen), Robert O’Farrell (Kildimo Pallaskenry), Barry Griffin (Monaleen); John Joe O’Halloran (Monaleen), Matthew Fitzgerald (Monaleen), Cillian Clifford (Monaleen).

Subs used: Dara Moloughney (Ahane) for O’Halloran (41); Cian McCarthy (Monaleen) for Clifford (54); Anton Donoghue (Ahane) for Ryan (54).

Referee: Jim Lees (Newport)