Confident Nenagh are enjoying the ride

By Shane Brophy

Having won the Harty & Dean Ryan Cups this school year, there is a pep in the step of all associated with hurling in St Joseph’s CBS Nenagh, and they have more to look forward to on Saturday week when they take on St Raphael’s College, Loughrea in an All-Ireland Senior ‘A’ Hurling semi-final.

They booked their place in the last four after comfortably overcoming the challenge of Kilkenny CBS in the quarter final in Rathdowney on Saturday, showing no mental hangover from winning a first Harty Cup just weeks previous, with selector Jack Peters admitting that getting back into action quickly prevented that from happening.

“Prior to this game some people were saying it was unfortunate to be drawn into a quarter final instead of a semi-final, but if you play that match four weeks after a Harty final, we could have been a lot flatter, so it is great to get the game under our belt. We are in a good position now,” said the Kilruane native who won the Croke Cup as a player in 2012. “It took us a while to get going, it was fairly dead out there, even the atmosphere was very eerie, but the lads are very mature, and every match we have played they have come up against different scenarios and they have dealt with it so well.”

One of the most pleasing aspects of the recent performances has been the lessening of the importance of Darragh McCarthy to their wins with more players stepping up in terms of leadership and scoring contributions with eight different players on the scoresheet on Saturday, including three of the subs.

“It is great to see as there is a lot of pressure on Darragh naturally but when he sees the other lads lifting it, people aren’t waiting for him to do it,” Peters added.

“It takes the weight off his shoulders as well as not all the pressure is on him to come up with the scores. Mason (Cawley), Ciaran (Foley), Cian Connolly made three or four unbelievable interceptions. He nearly have to be carried off the field.”

He added: “It was great to see the impact off the bench again; Joe O’Dwyer came on a scored 1-1 and really lifted the team, Darragh Treacy got a goal as well and was involved in the goal in the Harty semi-final and final as well. Then there is Austin Duff, and he is good enough to start on the team, but he offers so much off the bench which rejuvenates the team.

“They are giving us such a headache for the semi-final as we have a panel of 42 with players pushing really hard, from where a few months ago you wouldn’t have even thought but they are making huge progress in training.”

And you can only imagine the hunger and intensity in training over the next two weeks as Nenagh CBS build-up for an All-Ireland semi-final but the simple approach they are taking to each game won’t change.

“We are not thinking any further than keeping this run going for as long as possible because the lads are really enjoying this,” Peters revealed.