Nenagh CBS 2-12; De La Salle 0-11
Two-time winners De La Salle College bowed out of the Harty Cup at the quarter final stage for the second successive season on Wednesday last against Nenagh CBS in Clonmel.
De La Salle had the better of the early exchanges and lead by three points with just six minutes played, thanks to a hat-trick of points and a Colm Morris pointed effort from play. Kevin Seymour hit Nenagh’s solitary score in the opening minutes.
But the North Tipperary side were able to fight their way back into contention thanks to a goal from John O’Brien and a flurry of points via their attack saw them go in 1-6 to 0-8 up at the break.
Of their eight scores in the opening half all but one of them came from the stick of Pauric Mahony and all seven came from placed balls, a telling statistic on a day when their best wasn’t good enough.
But De La Salle did give themselves some hope early in the second half and with a third of the second half played the two sides were on level terms. Alas, this was to prove as good as it was going to get for the 2007 and ’08 champions.
Throughout the hour Nenagh CBS were the better team and DLS couldn’t deprive them of the win that has set up a semi-final place against Thurles CBS.
While De La Salle had the likes of Pauric Mahony, Jake Dillon, Aidan Walsh, Eoin Madigan and Eamon Murphy trying hard, they found the going tough, against the likes of Eoin Hogan and Jason Forde leading the Nenagh attack.
Nenagh CBS were by no means a two-man team on the day.
With players such as David Reddan in goal, John O’Dwyer at full back and Brian Stapleton in the midfield, it appears that Tipperary will be strong challengers to take the Munster Minor title from Waterford later this year.
Despite De La Salle misfiring on the day, they were never totally out of contention of winning the game up to the 58th minute when Eoin Hogan planted the ball in the back of the De La Salle net to record a second and crucial Nenagh goal in the game.
Nenagh CBS: D. Reddan; J Peters, J O’Dwyer, J Loughnane; M Flaherty, D Quinn, P Gill; B Stapleton, C Canning; J Forde, K Seymour, J O’Brien; T Gallagher, E Hogan, M Tuite.
Subs: N. Gleeson for Loughnane; P. Butler for Canning; D Walsh for Tuite; J. Minogue for Peters.
Scorers: J Forde 0-8 (0-4 frees, 0-2 s/l); J O’Brien 1-1; E Hogan 1-1; T Gallagher and B Stapleton (f), (0-1 each).
De La Salle: P Cooke; S O’Keeffe, A Walsh, D Sutton; K Walsh, J Dillon, D Kearns; C Morris, E Madigan; J Byrne, E Murphy, H. Barnes; R Spencer, JP Purcell, P Mahony.
Subs: B Fitzgerald for Spencer; A O’Sullivan for Purcell; J O’Donoghue for Byrne; L Flynn for Morris.
Scorers: P Mahony 0-8 (all frees); E Murphy 0-2; C Morris 0-1.
Referee: D Copps (Cork).
