Thurles CBS secure Harty Cup semi-final place with hard-earned victory over De La Salle

TUS Dr Harty Cup Quarter-Final

Thurles CBS 2-13

De La Salle College 0-15

Thurles CBS dipped into their vast reserves of champion resilience to finally fall over the line and book passage to the last four of the Dr Harty Cup on Wednesday afternoon, after an almighty arm-wrestle with a game and strong De La Salle team in Castlelyons.

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A game that was not for the faint of heart, a James Butler goal in second-half stoppage time finally gave the defending champions the breathing room to hold out through five minutes of added time and set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with Nenagh CBS in the coming weeks.

It is fair to say that De La Salle will be kicking themselves for letting this one slip, particularly after their second-half performance in which they did the lion’s share of the hurling. But the Waterford side never took their chances on the day, and the loss of free-taker Jamie Shanahan late on was sorely missed, with some late free chances going begging with the game in the melting pot.

For their part, Thurles will be happy to get out of Castlelyons with the win, and they had Euan Murray, Cillian Minogue, Ryne Bargary and James Butler to thank for the win, with the foursome producing big moments across the game when the whole unit was far from full capacity for large swathes of the contest.

A closely fought first half saw the CBS go in with a narrow lead - against the run of play - with James Butler’s goal in the 29th minute well taken, but there was a blatant free on De La Salle defender waived away by referee Cathal McAllister in the build-up that left the Waterford school perplexed.

Shane Power was the best player on the field in the first half and led by example, hitting three points from play, while the sharpshooting from Jamie Shanahan kept the scoreboard ticking over for De La Salle.

Slowly though, as the half was ending, Euan Murray was upping through the gears and his 24th minute point was real class, bouncing off a De La Salle defender before slotting over from the far sideline; at a moment when De La Salle had opened a two-point lead.

Trailing 1-7 to 0-9 at the break, De La Salle came out of the blocks at pace after the resumption, missing a glorious goal chance through Andrew Power after three minutes, while also hitting three wides that were more scorable than not in that time too.

They did hit the target with two Jamie Shanahan frees by the 38th minute to take the lead, and it was concerning for Thurles, who could not get any purchase in possession and failed to even take a strike for a score inside the first ten minutes of the half.

Cillian Minogue was the man to give some inspiration, though, and his classy point on 43 minutes got his side going, and that led to two more in quick succession with Tiarnan Ryan and a class effort from Danny Barry finding the target to put them back in front.

Tiarnan Ryan was having a very quiet game, and given his contributions in previous games, there would need to be others to step up on the scoring front. With just a single point between the teams at the 50-minute mark, there was a possibility of extra time to come.

Euan Murray was everywhere in the final ten minutes, but his well-taken score after a sweet dummy in the 51st minute was eventually pegged back from substitute Jack Walsh going into added time with the slenderest of 1-13 to 0-15 in favour of Thurles.

Gratefully for Thurles, a little piece of class from James Butler sent relief flooding through the dugout and stands in the 62nd minute when the Sean Treacys man latched onto a crossfield ball on the arc before sprinting clear on goal and rifling home a low shot to all but secure victory.

There were three further minutes of added time to deal with, though, and despite De La Salle making it a one-score game with time remaining, Thurles held out and has now set up a hugely exciting semi-final clash with Tipperary rivals Nenagh CBS.

Scorers: Thurles CBS: James Butler 2-0, Cillian Minogue (0-5, 0-3f), Euan Murray 0-2, Chris Dunne (0-2, 0-1f), Danny Barry, Tony Ryan, Tiarnan Ryan all 0-1 each.

De La Salle College: Jamie Shanahan 0-5f, Shane Power 0-3, Ollie Fives 0-2, Darragh Keane, Cathal O’Brien, Mikey Maloney, Jack Walsh, Darragh Doyle all 0-1 each.

Thurles CBS: Rory Crosse (Boherlahan Dualla); Bill Fogarty (Thurles Sarsfields), Darragh Hickey (Emeralds, Urlingford), Conor Kennedy (Boherlahan Dualla); Danny Barry (Fethard), Ryne Bargary (Boherlahan Dualla), Daire Ryan (Holycross Ballycahill); Sean Griffin (Upperchurch Drombane), Euan Murray (Thurles Sarsfields); Tony Ryan (Killenaule), James Butler (Sean Treacys) Tiarnán Ryan (Holycross Ballycahill); Leelan Donoghue (Thurles Sarsfields), Cillian Minogue (Thurles Sarsfields), Chris Dunne (Gortnahoe Glengoole).

Subs used: Zach O’Keefe (Holycross Ballycahill) for Donoghue (37); Conor Kennedy (Clonoulty Rossmore) for Tony Ryan (65).

De La Salle College: Darragh Duffy (Ballygunner); Darragh Keane (De La Salle), Charlie O’Callaghan (De La Salle), Darragh Hearne (Roanmore); Eddie O’Reilly (Ballygunner), Conor Power (De La Salle), James Comerford (Ballygunner); Cathal O’Brien (Passage East), Shane Power (De La Salle); Daniel Ryan (Roanmore), Oisin Power (De La Salle), Ollie Fives (Ballygunner); Jamie Shanahan (Erin’s Own), Andrew Power (Ballygunner), Jack Power (Ballygunner).

Subs used: Mikey Maloney (Ballygunner) for Shanahan (44, inj); Darragh Doyle (De La Salle) for O Power (44); Adam Mills (Ballygunner) for O’Reilly (52); Jack Walsh (Mount Sion) for O’Brien (57).

Referee: Cathal McAllister (Cork)

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