Refreshed Nenagh focused on achieving more

GAA: Masita All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior ‘A’ Hurling – Croke Cup Semi-Final Preview

By Shane Brophy

St Joseph’s CBS, Nenagh

v

St Kieran’s College, Kilkenny

Kelly O’Daly Park, Rathdowney

Saturday, 7th March

Throw-in @ 12.00pm (E.T.)

Referee: Anthony Kinahan (Offaly)

Nenagh CBS coach/selector Jack Peters has bittersweet memories of the only time they played St Kieran’s College in an All-Ireland semi-final.

The Kilruane MacDonaghs clubman was centre-back on the team in 2012 but missed out through through injury for the game played on St Patrick’s Day at The Ragg when Nenagh CBS, coming off the back of the bitter disappointment of losing a Harty Cup final to Colaiste na nDéise, shocked the Kilkenny hurling nursery with a 0-17 to 0-14 victory, going onto win the Croke Cup for the first time two weeks later.

Future three-time All-Ireland winner Jason Forde scored all bar three of Nenagh’s scores in a man of the match performance, on a team that also contained future Tipperary dual star Steven O’Brien.

“We were down and out after the Harty final,” Peters recalls, who is now a teacher in the school.

“We had a huge amount of belief as a group as well that after so much pressure being on us (Harty final) the shackles were off that day at the Ragg; no one gave us a chance.

“They are great memories but it would be nice now in 2026 to push on with this group as well because we feel we have unfinished business after 2024.”

Peters was referring to the All-Ireland semi-final of two years ago when Nenagh were defeated by an injury time burst from St Raphael’s of Loughrea in Tulla, which denied them a place in the final, which now has the St Patrick’s Day date in Croke Park which used to belong to the club finals.

“Once the Harty Cup was won, you could see those lads were switched on straight away,” admitted fellow coach/selector Paul Butler.

“They knew there is another level to this and they were up for going to that level. We didn’t have to do a lot from that end of it to motivate them, they were ready to go.

“They know they are up against a very traditional side in St Kieran’s who have 24 All-Ireland titles but we are not so much looking at them as concentrating on ourselves and are looking forward to it.”

Lengthy break

After playing three games in the space of three and a half weeks post-Christmas to win the Dr Harty Cup, Nenagh haven’t played a competitive game in five weeks, during which time St Kieran’s College have played twice, the Leinster final win over Kilkenny CBC and the All-Ireland quarter final win over Loughrea. However, Butler does feel it will be too much of a concern.

“It has been a very long time but we have a lot of lads with the Tipp 20’s and the Tipp minors, which is a good complaint, so they have been kept busy,” he revealed.

“We have been trying to work on ourselves in the meantime, playing our own challenge matches, against our own under 17’s and the Limerick 20’s.

“It hasn’t been as long as we thought it would feel but it has been a long time to manage.”

The prolonged break did give Nenagh a chance to enjoy the celebrations from winning a second ever Harty Cup title.

“Any time you win a Harty Cup it is huge,” Butler added.

“It was massive for the school. We always felt we should have had more Harty’s with the standard of players that have gone through the school but that wasn’t the case so when there is a good crop of players there you are trying to make hay when the sun shines.”

Jack Peters agreed: “There are nine lads with two Harty medals now, so for those lads especially they must be pinching themselves to be in this position.

“It was really nice because winning it once is great but a lot of other schools have done that but it is nice to say that you have moved up another level as well.

“We have a really strong hurling community with lots of good clubs where there is a lot of immense work going on at underage, and indeed, in Tipperary as well where there is a fierce feelgood factor around hurling in general as well with the last four winners of the Harty being all Tipperary schools, the county minors and under 20’s are thriving off the back of that and the clubs are seeing the benefit with the standard going to another level.”

Ultra-competitive

As Paul Butler mentioned, the Croke Cup is almost a new competition with players who might not have been in contention to contribute to the latter stages of the Harty Cup campaign, now having the opportunity to work their way into the plans of the management which has led to a rise in standards in training.

“The competition is crazy for places,” Butler revealed.

“There are fellas that have seen no game time that on other years would have been starting every match. Obviously, that is a headache when we are trying to pick the team but the team we started the first day against St Flannan’s has changed a nice bit and the team we start next Saturday could be different from the Harty final.”

He added: “We had three goalkeepers at the start of the year, which is almost unheard of to have that level of competition for the goalkeeping spot.

“Shane (Cleary) and Dara (O’Dwyer) can swap from full back and centre back, and you can put Patrick anywhere, it doesn't seem to bother him which is unusual at this level.

“We are blessed with the lads we had, they are super guys and there is a super atmosphere in the group.”

In terms of the challenge St Kieran’s College will provide in Saturday’s semi-final, the Kilkenny kingpins looked to be on their way out in the quarter final when they trailed 0-16 to 0-11 going into the final ten minutes of normal time before reeling off 2-7 without reply.

“It takes a very good team to do that in bad conditions,” Peters said of the contest played in Toomevara.

“They are similar to Flannan’s in that they hit you in bursts so we have just told the lads that momentum is such an important thing in hurling so if we use that and get our leaders to step up when another team is getting on top, to slow it down and try to deal with it as best we can as game management is so important with this group.”

Butler added: “They are an extremely physical team, they are huge men but Flannan’s were bigger than us as well, physically, but we play it around a different way to suit our own style.

“Kieran’s are there every single year and the standard they set is unbelievable; they are the equivalent of Flannan’s in Munster so we have to go up another level to get to the next stage.”