Nenagh CBS aim to get to the final game
The Nenagh CBS train makes the relatively short trip to Tulla in East Clare next Saturday as they take on Connacht champions St Raphael’s College, Loughrea, with a place in the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior ‘A’ Hurling final at stake.
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. RAPHAEL’S COLLEGE, LOUGHREA
Dr. Daly Park, Tulla
Saturday, 2nd March
Throw-in @ 2.00pm (E.T. & Result)
Referee: Eamonn Stapleton (Limerick)
Not only that, the final is in Croke Park on St. Patrick’s weekend which is a tantalising prospect for both schools, but for Nenagh CBS manager Donach O’Donnell, there has been no talk of that whatsoever.
“You have to look at the game in front of you, you can’t even think about Croke Park,” he said.
“It is irrelevant at the moment; our focus is next Saturday and trying to beat Loughrea and if we don’t, we are finished for the year.”
Nenagh CBS are being swept along by a wake of momentum at the moment, Munster ‘A’ champions at junior and senior level, but arguably their most impressive win to date was their All-Ireland quarter final win over Kilkenny CBS which showed the maturity of the panel who had just two weeks to come down from the high of the emotional first Harty Cup win.
“The fact that the games are coming every two weeks is good as it gives us just enough time to recover and focus on the next game,” O’Donnell said.
“For large period of that game we did very well. A bit of tiredness crept in near the end and a bit of mental fatigue and they got back to four points with ten minutes to go and we ended up pulling away.”
Maturity was also shown in how players see the game going themselves, epitomised by captain Darragh McCarthy’s struggles on the frees.
“We discussed it on the line to see would be switch free-takers because he was having an off day, but Darragh did it himself,” O’Donnell revealed.
“He handed the ball to Eoin Doughan and gave him a pat on the back, so when you see that maturity in a young fella, it is a great sign of a player and a team.”
McCarthy was seen as central to Nenagh’s hopes of success this year but game on game, more players are stepping up to take the pressure off him, while the depth of the panel has also grown, shown by the impact off the bench of the likes of Austin Duff, Darragh Treacy and Joe O’Dwyer in recent games.
“The core group there of the older fellas are real leaders and they show the way for the younger guys,” O’Donnell added.
“We work so hard for each other. It doesn’t matter who is being marked, another player is going to show up for him, and if someone is under pressure there is a teammate to dig him out.
“I don’t think any of our subs have come on and not produced a performance, at any stage, through the championship. We know we can trust them.
“These guys are training for a long time and are playing at that pace in training all the time so if they are showing up in training that we know they are capable of playing at that level. It is not as if they are untested, fine they are untested in game situations, but they are training at that pace all the time and our training is at a high level at the moment.”
Nenagh CBS have one injury concern ahead of the game with wing forward Jack Mulcahy being treated for a hamstring injury which saw him subbed off early in the win over Kilkenny CBS
Their opponents St Raphael’s College Loughrea defeated a highly rated Presentation Athenry in the Connacht final a month ago, and despite not having a game since, they will be well-prepared under the guidance of former Galway and current Dublin coach Franis Forde.
“At this stage, there are only four teams left so they have to be decent,” said the Nenagh manager.
“They beat Athenry in the Connacht final, which is a big thing, so we have to be ready for them. They have a lot of good free-scoring forwards with a strong defence and a good midfield.”