Doughan on song as Nenagh beat Midleton

GAA: TUS Munster Post Primary Schools Senior ‘A’ Hurling – Dr Harty Cup Quarter Final

Nenagh CBS3-18

Midleton CBS2-14

Report: Shane Brophy at Canon Hayes Park, Bansha

Seen as the hardest of the four quarter finals to call pre-match, Nenagh CBS left no doubt as to who was best as they eased to a comfortable victory over Midleton CBS in the Dr Harty Cup quarter final last Wednesday.

The 2024 champions were largely untroubled, largely due to their greater efficiency as despite Midleton enjoying most of the possession and created more of the scoring opportunities, the fourteen wides over the hour to just six for Nenagh told a lot of the story.

Facing a potent Nenagh attack, the East Cork school chose to employ Tom A Walsh as a sweeper and it worked well in terms of reducing the number of scoring opportunities plus it gave them a platform to attack but it was their finishing which was the weakness in their game-plan, particularly in the first half when they shot ten wides, many of them very scoreable indeed.

However, despite their best efforts to stifle a strong Nenagh attack, the Tipp school were still able to get in for three first half goals, the first of which came in the seventh minute when the hugely influential Patrick Hackett was alert to a rebound off the post before being fouled for a penalty, converted by skipper Eoghan Doughan, as part of his 1-14 haul, scoring fifteen times from sixteen shots at the target.

The Moneygall clubman was essentially the difference between the sides as almost everything he shot went between the posts compared to a wasteful Midleton side.

Doughan scored everything for Nenagh until the eighteenth minute when his Moneygall clubmate Paddy McCormack landed a monster free for a 1-5 to 0-1 lead. The scoreline was a little false at that stage as Midleton were creating chances but weren’t being accurate until they hit a purple-patch with three on the spot from Tom A Walsh and two from Cormac Deane who was superb for the Cork side.

Despite their error count, they were back in the game on 26 minutes when Sam Ring intercepted a Paddy McCormack puckout before punishing in ruthless fashion to reduce the deficit to three points.

Nenagh’s response was impressive with Hackett involved once more as creator for Toomevara clubmate Austin Duff to bear down on goal before finishing cooly to the net. Deane and Doughan traded points before 2024 All-Ireland Minor winning hero Billy O’Brien finished a brilliant goal from twenty years following a sweeping move with Patrick Ryan to help Nenagh to a 3-9 to 1-6 advantage at the break.

With such a deficit, Midleton had to go for broke and went man for man from the start of the second half but an early missed very scoreable free from Fionn Daly continued their wasteful tone with two Doughan frees and a point from play from the industrious Paul Cahalan stretched the lead to twelve points on 36 minutes.

At that point, there wasn’t a semblance Midleton would come back but Nenagh became sloppy as the Cork side reeled off five points in a row between the 43rd and 48th minutes to get within seven with plenty of time left on the clock.

The Nenagh attack were struggling to win primary possession but Paul Cahalan came up with a big play to set up sub Luke McKeogh for a nerve settling score on fifty minutes. It was cancelled out by a Sam Ring free but Nenagh closed the game out well with Eoghan Doughan adding three more points to complete his impressive haul.

Nenagh’s defence was under pressure in the closing stages with goalkeeper McCormack forced into a fine save from Dean Murphy but was beaten by a Colm Garde shot in added time but it merely put a gloss on things for Midleton as Nenagh CBS booked their spot in the semi-finals and a mouthwatering clash with rivals and defending champions Thurles CBS.

Player of the Match: Eoghan Doughan (Nenagh CBS)

St Joseph’s CBS, Nenagh: Paddy McCormack (Moneygall, 0-1f); Diarmuid Fogarty (Kiladangan), Dara O’Dwyer (Kiladangan), Cormac Kennedy (Kilruane MacDonaghs); Emmet Jones (Nenagh Eire Og), Shane Cleary (Kilruane MacDonaghs), Johnny Grace (Burgess); Eanna Tucker (Nenagh Eire Og 0-1), Austin Duff (Toomevara, 1-0); Paul Cahalan (Burgess 0-1), Eoghan Doughan (Moneygall, Capt, 1-14, 1-0 pen, 0-8f, 0-1 ’65), Billy O’Brien (Nenagh Eire Og, 1-0); Joe O’Dwyer (Burgess), Patrick Hackett (Toomevara), Patrick Ryan (Borris-Ileigh).

Subs: James Heffernan (Nenagh Eire Og) for Kennedy (15 inj); Luke McKeogh (Ballina 0-1) for O’Dwyer (45); Riain McGrath (Kiladangan) for Tucker (45); Daniel McKelvey (Silvermines) for Cahalan (56); Charlie Kennedy (Kilruane MacDonaghs) for O’Brien (56).

Midleton CBS: Tom C Walsh; Finn Cahill, Riain O’Connell, Darragh Heavin; Senan Carroll, Colm Garde (1-1), Matthew McSweeney; Tom A Walsh (J-Capt 0-1), Alfie Hennessey; Fionn Daly (0-4f), Cormac Deane (0-5), Jacob Coleman; Sam Ring (Capt, 1-2, 0-1f), Evan Connolly, Cian Stack (J-Capt).

Subs: Dean Murphy (0-1) for Coleman (HT); Finn Connaughton for Connolly (41); Jude Devoy for Daly (50-53 blood); Daniel Guiney for Cahill (55).

Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick).