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Midleton make final impact

Colleges Hurling Harty Cup final/Midleton 2-8 St Flannan's 0-12: St Flannan's, the favourites, looked set for victory at half…

Mon Mar 13 2006 - 00:00

Colleges Hurling Harty Cup final/Midleton 2-8 St Flannan's 0-12: St Flannan's, the favourites, looked set for victory at half-time at Leahy Park, Cashel, yesterday, as they led Middleton CBS by 0-9 to 1-1 and but for a brilliant save by Midleton goalkeeper Ciarán Cronin, the Clare school would have been beyond reach.

The Cork side came out a changed side in the second half and dominated, scoring 1-7 to 0-3 for St Flannan's and were deserving winners.

Midleton dominated the early exchanges. Captain Paudie O'Sullivan opened their account with a point from a '65 after four minutes. St Flannan's then switched into gear and Conor Tierney had their opening score from a free after seven minutes.

The Clare side were rocked by a goal from Luke O'Farrell in the 11th minute. Following a failure by the inside backline to clear, the Midleton full forward pounced to score a brilliant goal. But instead of spurring the Cork side on to greater heights, it had that effect on St Flannan's. They went on to score eight unanswered points in the remainder of the half.

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Midleton showed a new resolve on the restart and centre forward Robert White, who was outstanding, sent over a point. St Flannan's replied but Midleton slowly began to dominate and a goal from a free by Evan O'Keeffe in the eighth minute reduced the deficit to a point.

It took a while to get the equaliser but as time passed Midleton's dominance became more pronounced and it was helped by a freshening breeze in their favour. In the end they were worthy winners of the 89th Harty Cup final, and their third.

MIDLETON CBS: C Cronin; C Fogarty, A Kearney, A Walsh; S Murphy, P O'Sullivan capt (0-1), P O'Shea; B Lawton, J Keane; E O'Keeffe (1-1), R White (0-6), E Walsh; D Ahern, L O'Farrell (1-0), F Day. Sub: P Haughney for E Walsh.

ST FLANNAN'S: D Tuohy; C O'Doherty, C Cooney, S O'Reagan; D Ryan (0-2), S Hickey (0-1), E Glynn; E Barrett, M Earley (0-1); D Stack (0-1), C Madden capt (0-1), J Neylon, C Tierney (0-3), R Horan (0-2), C Nealon (0-1). Sub: J Conlan for D Ryan.

Referee: M O'Connor (Limerick).