This article is from page 48 of the 2005-09-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 48 JPG
WHAT do Seanie McMahon, Stephen McNamara and Colin Lynch have in common? Not a ten marker when eve- ry hurling aficionado knows that they are All-Ireland men.
The ten-marker is that they are all All-Ireland men who went to Rice Col- lege in Ennis, but who never played Dr Harty Cup hurling with the renowned Christian Brothers academy.
All because, during their school days top flight Harty hurling ceased to be in the school hugging the Fergus River in Ennis. Indeed, it ceased to be there for 30 years, a three-decade gap that will be bridged this Wednesday when the school once again toes the Harty hurl- ing line against Kilmallock.
The last Dr. Harty Cup game the CBS played was in 1975 when they went down heavily to a Pat Horgan inspired North Monastery from Cork. The Mon went on to win the title — the CBS went down to the lesser grades of colleges hurling.
Now, their re-emergence as a top flight hurling school will re-kindle memories of a great association with the blue riband of colleges hurling in the province. That association reached its zenith on a March day in ’62 when the CBS boys crossed the Fergus wa- ters to Cusack Park and slayed mighty St. Flannan’s by 4-2 to 2-7 in the fi- ee
St. Flannan’s are still mighty as last
season’s 21st Harty Cup success and subsequent Croke Cup triumph proved. They open the defence of their titles against once mighty North Monastery and nothing other than a big win will be expected from the James O’Connor and Con Woods coached side.
Completing the triumvirate of Clare schools contesting the Harty Cup are St. Caimin’s from Shannon. And, if Rice College’s return to the top flight after a 30-year hiatus is noteworthy, the same can be said of St. Caimin’s.
This will be their maiden voyage, a journey first undertaken by a Shan- non school in the late eighties when St. Patrick’s Comprehensive were new kids on the Dr. Harty block.
St. Pat’s famously reached the final in 1989, only to go down by 0-9 to 0-5 to St. Flannan’s in what was only the second all-Clare final in the 90 year history of the competition.
In recent years, St. Caimin’s have amalgamated with St. Pat’s for Harty Cup purposes — this year they are go- ing it alone and face Ballingarry in Nenagh.