Harty Cup: Flanagan earns share of spoils for Hospital in Limerick derby

It wasn’t the final act of the contest but another Hospital effort fell short, with Charlie Cronin’s long range effort well taken by goalkeeper Michael English.

In what was at times a tense hour of hurling, both sides were left frustrated with the result. Doon, who needed maximum points after their opening round loss, wanted to try to take the win, while Hospital will argue they had the momentum, having scored six of the final seven points of this contest.

Forging a 1-11 to 0-7 interval lead, wind assisted Scoil na Tríonóide will have been thrilled with their hunger, tackling and work rate but their shooting left them down at times. Overall, they hit eleven wides, including seven in the opening stanza.

For Hospital, they were looking for back-to-back victories but failed to click into gear until the closing stages. Instead, the relied on Flanagan’s accuracy while they had a better second half in front of the posts.

The games only goal arrived on the sixth minute. Brian Buckley, who earlier opened the scoring, made a superb break. He ghosted beyond a number of defenders before feeding Conor Kenny. The Doon clubman saw his powerful effort hit the net for an early four point advantage.

There was two quick replies, Flanagan with both, one from a free and another off a pass from Diarmaid Hurley. The South Limerick school were struggling to create much more than this and instead a run of five scores put the men Doon into a seven point advantage.

The score of the half arrived from wing-back and captain, Sean McDonnell of Doon, who cut through the middle to fire over.

Diarmuid Crowe, Buckley and Sean Hayes were among the chief tormentors as they consistently turned the ball over in the middle third. It was still seven by the interval as Flanagan and Crowe traded frees in stoppage time.

In a stop-start second half, only a run of four points in five minutes showed the real quality in the Hospital ranks. They had former Limerick man Paul Browne on the sideline and they will have been frustrated by the concession of a number of frees in the middle third.

That aforementioned run of scores, saw them level the game for the first time. Flanagan (two frees), Charlie Cronin and then Shane Tracey fired over.

The final scores saw Crowe, three minutes from time and then Flanagan, on 62 minutes, land pressure frees.

Both schools will need a result in their round three tie to keep progression in their own hands, with Hospital, now on three points, favourites to emerge with CBC from this group.

Meanwhile, Ardscoil Rís have ascended to the top of Group 2 in the Harty Cup after a comfortable 0-24 to 0-16 victory over Our Ladys Templemore in Burgess.

Clare minor Michael Collins was firing on all cylinders, contributing a crucial seven points to the Ardscoil cause.

Ardscoil looked dominant in the first half as Templemore continued to turn over the ball easily against the Limerick defence.

The Limerick side were eight points to the good after just 15 minutes including great scores from Sean Arthur, Oisín O'Byrne and Ian O'Brien but Templemore clawed it back briefly with three points on the trot to make it 0-9 to 0-3 after 20 minutes of play.

Jack Marnell put over the Tipperary schools last point of the half. Ardscoil Rís finished the half strongly with two more points from Patrick Kearney and Eoin Brosnan to make it 0-14 to 0-6 at the break.

A fearless Templemore side were not demotivated by the scoring deficit though. Midfielder Padraic O'Shea closed the gap to five-points as he fired over five frees during the second period.

However, Ardscoil weathered the Templemore storm, finishing strongly as Michael Collins, Eoin Begley and Sean Arthy all contributee to the final tally of 24 points.

Scorers for Scoil Na Tríonóide Naofa: D Crowe 0-5 (frees); C Kenny 1-0; B Buckley, D Coughlan 0-3 each; S Hayes 0-2; S McDonnell 0-1.

Scorers for John the Baptist, Hospital: H Flanagan 0-11 (0-10 frees); D Hurley, C Cronin 0-2 each; G McCaffrey, S Tracey 0-1 each.

Scoil Na Tríonóide Naofa: M English (Cappawhite); S Ryan (Doon), T Costello (Cappawhite), P Crowe; S McDonnell (Doon), E Richardson (Doon), M Berkery (Cappamore); D Crowe (Doon), D Coughlan (Doon); M Ryan Bob (Doon), B Buckley (Cappawhite), S Hanley (Doon); C GAntley (Cappawhite), S Hayes (Cappawhite), C Kenny (Doon).

Subs: F Roche (Doon) for Richardson (blood 21-22); M Ryan (Con) (Doon) for Hayes (58).

John the Baptist, Hospital: T Ryan (Garryspillane); N McNamara (Pallasgreen), S Treacy (Staker Wallace), A Gleeson (Hospital Herbertstown); S O’Dea (Hospital Herbertstown), D Heavey (Garryspillane), J O’Shea (Garryspillane); R Hanly (Ballybricken Bohermore), G McCaffrey (Hospital Herbertstown); C McNamara (Hospital Herbertstown), H Flanagan (C) (Garryspillane), P Hennessy (Bruff); M Hanley (Ballybricken Bohermore), D Hurley (Hospital Herbertstown), C Cronin (Bruff).

Subs: S McElligott (Caherline) for Hennessy (42); C Shanahan (Bruff) for M Hanly, S Ryan (Ballybricken Bohermore) (both 47);

Referee: Sean Carey (Ahane).