Harty Cup: The Mon pull off stunning comeback to reach quarter-finals
picture: School Keane By Blackwater At Mhuire's David Clash Cup Harty Jamie Tackled Shane Their Lismore Gaelcholaiste During Barry Hegarty Castlelyons Of Is Munity
Seán Óg Ó hAilpín wasn’t attempting a play on words when he said that the one key ingredient for Harty hurling is heart itself.
Ó hAilpín is one of several recognisable and massively regarded figures serving on the Gaelcholáiste Mhuire sideline.
Wednesday, though, was not about their marquee management. Wednesday was all about the students inside the whitewash and the heart they repeatedly tabled from the final quarter onward.
Gaelcholáiste Mhuire trailed 3-7 to 0-7 after 43 minutes of this Harty Cup preliminary quarter-final. They trailed by six with seven minutes of normal time remaining. They trailed by two almost four minutes into injury-time.
How they forged extra-time was by clipping a pair of points in the fourth and fifth minute of stoppages. It brought their unanswered tally to six across the previous 10 minutes. It meant they had now clipped 10 of the game’s 11 last scores. From nine in arrears to level at 3-8 to 0-17.
To extra-time, and with the strong breeze still behind them, they continued their sequence of unanswered white flags. Six-in-a-row became 10-in-a-row to leave them four in front - 0-21 to 3-8 - at the quick turnaround.
Ben Cummins’ seventh free two minutes into the second period of extra-time was Lismore’s first score in 24 minutes. A foul on Callum Ó Cofaigh enabled Craig Ó Súilleabháin restore Gaelcholáiste Mhuire’s four-point cushion two minutes from the finish.
Another Cummins free reduced the deficit to a score. They needed a goal. They bombarded the Mon goalmouth. Mon goalkeeper Josh Ó Gabhláin threw his entire body over the sliotar at one point. Whatever it took. Somehow, they got there. A famous come-from-behind win. 15 of the game’s last 18 scores went the way of the winners.
The aforementioned Craig Ó Súilleabháin was central. Of their six-in-a-row at the end of the opening hour, five belonged to him. Of their four-in-a-row during the first period of extra-time, three were his.
Donal Ó Scannláin and Lucas Ó Muirthile deserve mention for frees won. Darragh Ó Conaill was responsible for the equaliser deep in second-half stoppages. Callum Ó Cofaigh was outstanding as a lone inside figure against the breeze in the second period of extra-time. He held up possession, won a converted free.
At the far end, Cian Ó Gealbháin produced a superb block on a Stephen Murphy point attempt in second-half injury-time that surely would have sealed the result for Lismore. We think it was the same defender who kept out a Cummins goal attempt, from a free, in extra-time.
Prior to hitting a run of form and white flags at the beginning of the final quarter, Gaelcholáiste Mhuire cut a frustrated and wasteful side.
"The one thing you need, and it's named after the cup... HEART, the Harty Cup" 🗣️
— Clubber (@clubber) December 4, 2024
The best interview you'll see this year!
Séan Óg spoke after an INCREDIBLE game in the TUS Dr. Harty Cup saw @gcmhuireag win after Extra Time 👏
📺 Full game available on https://t.co/8RTIDVIpju pic.twitter.com/wO8yXfZqjz
A Ben Cummins free went all the way to the net on eight minutes. David O'Farrell put the sliotar back in the same net less than 30 seconds later to propel the Waterford students into an early 2-1 to 0-1 lead.
That lead had grown to 2-6 to 0-4 at the break, and while the Mon struck the opening three points of the second half to suggest a counteroffensive was in the offing, they were hit with a gut-punch of a third Lismore goal. Cummins with the penalty conversion on 37 minutes after O’Farrell was hauled to the floor.
Lismore would manage only two points across the remaining 28 minutes of the second half still to be played. Their opponents hit 10 in the same period. A seismic shift in momentum, a stunning win for a school on the way back up.
A first Harty quarter-final since 2018 to look forward to in January.
C Ó Súilleabháin (0-16, 0-11 frees, 0-3 ‘65s); S Ó Dálaigh, D Ó Conaill (0-2 each); L Ó Muirthile, J Ó hÉigeartaigh (0-1 each).
B Cummins (2-8, 1-8 frees, 1-0 pen); D O’Farrell (1-1); A Cummins (0-1).
J Ó Gabhláin (Glen Rovers); M Gayfer (Glen Rovers), J Ó Brosnacháin (Glen Rovers), E Ó Murchú (Mayfield); S Ó Dálaigh (St Vincent’s), C Ó Maonaigh (Na Piarsaigh), C Ó Gealbháin (Na Piarsaigh); E Ó Cróinin (Na Piarsaigh), T Ó Bruadau (St Vincent’s); D Ó Scannláin (Na Piarsaigh), C Ó Súilleabháin (Na Piarsaigh), L Ó Muirthile (Na Piarsaigh); D Ó Conaill (Whitechurch), C Ó Cofaigh (Na Piarsaigh), J Ó hÉigeartaigh (Whitechurch).
S Mac Seoin (St Vincent’s) for Gayfer, G Ó Ceallacháin (Glen Rovers) for Ó Bruadau (both 40), C Ó Riain (Carraig na bhFear) for Ó Cróinín (44), C Ó Briain (Whitechurch) for Ó Murchú (60), G Ó Duibhir Ó hArrachtáin for Ó hÉigeartaigh (72, injured).
B Murphy (Cois Bhríde); C Lynch (St Oliver's), D O'Brien (Ballysaggart), G Kenneally (Ballyduff Upper); S Barry (Lismore), H Quann (Lismore), B Bourke (Ballyduff Upper); J McDonnell (Cois Bhríde), J Hickey (Modeligo); C Lineen (Lismore), B Cummins (Lismore), H O'Donovan (St Oliver's); A Cummins (Lismore), S Murphy (Tallow), D O'Farrell (Lismore).
A Murphy (Cois Bhríde) for O’Donovan (35); R O’Dwyer (Lismore) for Murphy (46 mins, inj); C Nicholson (Cappoquin/Affane) for Lineen (56).
T Loughnane (Tipperary).