Late Nenagh magic give them first Dr Harty Cup title

Ardscoil Rís 0-21 St Joseph’s CBS Nenagh 2-16

Stoppage-time winners are a thing of magic and certainly if they win a first ever Harty Cup, they are that and more. Andy Hoolan’s game-winning contribution allowed all the emotions spill out for St Joseph’s CBS Nenagh, who turned the tables on Limerick’s Ardscoil Rís.

Trailing by two points, the wing back whipped to the net beyond a crowd of bodies to deliver the Holy Grail of Munster Schools Hurling for the Tipperary side. Thankfully for Ardscoil Rís they have another crack at the All-Ireland starting with a quarter-final in two weeks time.

For the third year on the trot, the famous competition has had a brand new winner. Nenagh had previously lost four finals, the most recent was in 2012.

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The sides were rarely separated by more than a score in Ennis with parity at half-time. It was 1-8 to 0-11 with Nenagh getting the opening goal from early sub, Austin Duff. Fintan Fitzgerald and Danny Chaplin were prominent for Ardscoil Rís, who made plenty of the early running.

There was virtually nothing to separate the sides during an end-to-end second period. Ciaran Foley and Darragh McCarthy were key to the eventual winners while Marc O’Brien and Eoin Begley were accurate for the Limerick school.

The sides were level seven times in the second half alone, with 3,000 in attendance at Cusack Park for the pinnacle of hurling in the province. Ardscoil had won their first five finals, but lost out two years ago, to Tulla.

As the clock ticked towards the final minutes, Nenagh led by just a McCarthy point. But there was a trio of points to flip the advantage to Liam Cronin’s side. The last of those, from sub Patrick Kearney arrived with seconds of the additional two points.

However, as Donach O’Donnell’s side had done against Charleville CBS in the semi-final, the found some magic, this time Hoolan finding the net after Fionn O’Brien initially denied Brian O’Meara with a top drawer save.

St Joseph’s CBS Nenagh: S Grace; C Grace, C Connolly, G McGrath; J Doran, J Hackett, A Hoolan (1-0); C Foley (0-2), M Cawley (0-3), D McCarthy (0-7, four frees); J Mulcahy, D McCarthy, Z Keller; A O’Connor, D Quinn, E Doughan (0-3).

Subs: A Duff (1-1) for Quinn (25); D Treacy for Keller (48); J O’Dwyer for Mulcahy (51).

Ardscoil Rís: F O’Brien; J O’Keeffe, S McMahon, S Morrissey; J Finn, J Moylan, D Scully (0-1); R McNamara, M O’Halloran; D Stritch, F Fitzgerald (0-5, one free), M Collins (0-3); D Chaplin (0-2, two frees), M O’Brien (0-5, one free), E Begley (0-2).

Subs: D Gleeson (0-1) for O’Keeffe (half-time); P Kearney (0-1) for Chaplin (39); B O’Meara for O’Connor (55), J Cosgrove for Stritch (58), S Arthur for Collins (63).

Referee: C McAllister (Cork)