Colleges Hurling- Harry Shine returns from injury as St Kierans claim big victory

Any suggestion that St. Kieran’s recent defeat in the Leinster final was indicative of either a lack of quality or a loss of form was well and truly blown out of the water this afternoon at McDonagh Park in Nenagh, as Brian Dowling’s side produced a sumptuous display of hurling to demolish St. Raphael’s of Loughrea and send out a clear warning sign to Harty Cup winners Cashel Community School, who will be the side that will try to prevent St. Kieran’s from getting back to the Croke Cup final in a fortnight’s time. 

St. Raphael’s, who narrowly lost the Connacht final to Presentation Athenry but who also lost 2022 Galway minors Cullen Killeen and Vince Morgan to injury since that provincial decider, looked lost for long stretches of this afternoon’s contest, even in the first half when they hurled with the aid of a strong wind. 

Eoghan Mulleady and Bobby Feeney popped over early points for the Galway school but St. Kieran’s were physically dominant in the middle third of the field, while Ed McDermott led the charge in terms of imposing themselves on the game up front. 

The James Stephens player shot two of his four points in the opening ten minutes, showing great physical power and accuracy on both occasions, and by moving 0-5 to 0-2 in front against the wind, they put St. Raphael’s on the back foot straight away. 

Jeff Neary and Aaron McEvoy hurled a lot of ball through the middle third with Killian Doyle also proving very influential as he dropped off from his position at wing forward to get stuck into the donkey work in that vital midfield sector, while further back down the pitch, the full back line was essentially untroubled for the entirety of the first half. 

St. Raphael’s potted some nice scores from distance, the pick of the bunch being Shane Concannon’s cleanly-struck effort from midfield, it could be argued that not one of their first four points would have gone over without the aid of the wind, while things were about to get a lot tougher for them. 

0-7 to 0-4 after 15 minutes left them with a lot of work to do, but by half-time they had a mountain of Tibetan proportions to climb, having fallen nine points adrift. A penalty goal from Harry Shine was a hammer blow, but Aaron McEvoy was also racking up scores from frees and from play, pushing the lead out to 1-14 to 0-8.

Shine’s penalty wasn’t particularly well-struck, but it still evaded Shane Murray in the St. Raphael’s goal, and was just reward for some tenacious work from Ted Dunne close to goal. Dunne didn’t light up McDonagh Park by the metric of his contribution on the scoreboard, even if his second point late in the second half would be at home on any highlight reel, but his imposing physical presence and his astute use of the ball when in possession was a fulcrum around which St. Kieran’s built their prolific attack. 

Bobby Feeney and Paddy Mac Carthaigh were on target with some excellent points for St. Raphael’s after half-time as they tried to work their way back into the contest, picking off three of the first five points of the second half. Try as they might however, St. Kieran’s just had power and class in every position, and that soon began to tell. 

Between the 40th and 55th minute the boys in black and white hoops outscored their opponents by 1-8 to 0-1, and it was notable that even as they emptied their bench, taking off some of their star performers, players like Rory Glynn, Matthew Kelleher and Anthony Ireland Wall picked up where their predecessors left off, picking off points and keeping standards very high right up until the final whistle. 

Donagh Murphy’s whipped ground pull from 25 metres, taking advantage of defensive confusion in the St. Raphael’s back line, resulted in a second goal, while McEvoy brought his tally to an even dozen points when he cut through and blasted a goal chance narrowly over the bar in the closing minutes. 

Admittedly, St. Raphael’s energy levels and their resistance in general had fallen off a cliff at this stage, and while they picked off a couple of late points – one of which probably should have at least tested Stephen Manogue in the St. Kieran’s goal – the loss of two Connacht final starters, as well as long term injury absentee Oscar O’Gorman, meant that they simply didn’t have anything left on the bench to try and freshen things up, or turn the tide in even the slightest fashion. 

Elsewhere this afternoon, Thurles CBS edged out Coláiste Eoin by 2-17 to 2-14, meaning that they will face Presentation Athenry in the other semi-final, with both games provisionally fixed for Saturday, March 4th. 

Teams and Scorers

 St. Kieran’s: Aaron McEvoy (0-12, 0-7f), Donagh Murphy (1-2), Harry Shine (1-1, 1-0 pen), Ed McDermott (0-4), Niall Shortall (0-2), Ed Dunne (0-2), Killian Doyle (0-1), Tom McPhillips (0-1), Rory Glynn (0-1), Anthony Ireland Wall (0-1) and Matthew Kelleher (0-1). 

 St. Raphael’s: Leon Connaire (0-4, 0-3f), Bobby Feeney (0-2), Paddy Mac Carthaigh (0-2), Eoghan Mulleady (0-2), Shane Concannon (0-1), Shane Murray (0-1f) and Diarmuid Mac Carthaigh (0-1). 

St. Kierans: Stephen Manogue; Bobby Murphy, Bill Hughes, Timmy Kelly; Tom McPhillips, Killian Corcoran, Pádraig Naddy; Jeff Neary, Aaron McEvoy; Ed McDermott, Harry Shine, Killian Doyle; Niall Shortall, Ted Dunne, Donagh Murphy.

Subs: Anthony Ireland Wall for Shortall (45), Rory Glynn for McDermott (45), Cathal Hickey for McPhillips (51), Seán Hunt for Doyle (51), Matthew Kelleher for (Shine (53).

St. Raphael’s: Shane Murray; Gavin Maher, Conor Headd, Donnacha Campbell; Luke McInerney, Shane Concannon, Daniel Keane; Stephen Keane, Niall Dillon; Marcus Burns, Paddy Mac Carthaigh, Eoghan Mulleady; Diarmuid Mac Carthaigh, Leon Connaire, Bobby Feeney.  

Subs: Niall Keane for Burns (57), Niel Botes for D Mac Carthaigh (58), Cormac Cooney for D Keane (58), Joe Dervan for Dillon (60), Bryan Fleming for Feeney (60). 

Referee: Eamon Stapleton (Limerick)