Templemore are primed for Harty semi-final against Flannan's
GAA: Munster Post Primary Schools Senior 'A' Hurling - Harty Cup Semi-Final Preview
By Michael Dundon
OUR LADYS SS TEMPLEMORE
v
ST FLANNAN'S COLLEGE, ENNIS
MacDonagh Park, Nenagh
Saturday 25th January
Throw-in @ 1.00pm (E.T.)
As Our Lady’s Secondary School Templemore gear up for their Dr Harty Cup semi-final against St Flannan’s College of Ennis on Saturday, team manager Noel Fogarty knows that a big performance from his side is absolutely necessary to get the better of the Clare standard-bearers.
More than most, Noel knows a thing or two about what it takes to win a Harty Cup. As a pupil attending the then Templemore CBS, he was a member of the team that brought the trophy to the school for the first time in 1978 when they beat St Flannan’s before going on to annex All-Ireland honours at the expense of St Peter’s of Wexford.
Now teaching at Our Lady’s, a merger between the CBS and Convent of Mercy in the town some years back, Noel has been heavily involved with hurling in the school for years and was a key man on the sideline in 2017 when Templemore last won the Harty Cup before again going on to win the All-Ireland title.
This year he and his management colleagues have steered their charges through the choppy waters of the round-robin qualifying process before negotiating an even more taxing assignment in the quarter-final against neighbours, Thurles CBS.
Noel confesses that Our Lady’s “sailed close to the wind” in that win over Thurles, JD Devaney’s injury time goal edging them home by a point.
“We certainly got out of jail there but we should never have found ourselves in that position”, he says of the thrilling quarter-final at The Ragg.
However, the St Flannan’s challenge presents an even more-searching examination of the credentials of the boys from Our Lady’s.
“The are a very capable and dangerous side,” Noel said.
“They have seven of the Clare minor hurling squad that lost to Limerick in last year’s Munster final and it is going to take a big performance from us to beat them. However, if we play to our potential we should be there or thereabouts at the finish.”
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