AS usual, the Herlihy Cup competition for first-year students of secondary schools in West Cork provided a feast of football. This year, for the first time, both De La Salle College Macroom and Kinsale Community School were invited to take part.
Held over three days, the opening day was an open blitz to decide the gradings for the actual competition. This year there were four different grades – A, B, C and D – with a number of schools providing a second team. Nine schools, fielding 14 teams, and a total of 250 players all took part, with each team guaranteed three games of 20 minutes duration.
Mícheál Herlihy presents the Dr Michael Herlihy Memorial Perpetual Cup to Hamilton High School captain Shane Casey.
Day Two in Dunmanway on May 6th saw the B, C and D competitions being played with some tremendous contests. Skibbereen Community School fielded two teams, Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí had two teams, St Brogan’s Bandon had one team as their first team was involved in a PPS final, Schull Community School had one team and Mount St Michael Rosscarbery had one team. One hundred and fifty players took part. In the Grade B final, Bantry 1 beat Skibbereen 1 by two points in a real thriller; in the Grade C final, Schull beat Rosscarbery and in Grade D final, Skibbereen 2 beat Bantry 2.
Day Three on May 13th in Clonakilty saw the Grade A teams – Hamilton High School Bandon, Clonakilty Community College and De La Salle Macroom – providing a feast of football in beautiful conditions. Unfortunately, Kinsale were unable to attend on the day. All three schools brought second teams, so two competitions were played side by side.
The Hamilton High School team that defeated Clonakilty Community College in the Dr Michael Herlihy Cup A grade final at Clonakilty. (Photos: Paddy Feen)
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GRADE A
Hamilton High were defending champions and they got the defence of their title off to a winning start when beating Clonakilty by 7-5 to 5-5 in a top-class game. Jack Allen, who was to emerge as top scorer on the day, kicked five goals, with Donncha Hurley and Sean Evans getting the other two. For Clon, the strong Conor Cullinane and Rory Collins raised green flags.
Clonakilty took on newcomers, Macroom, in the second game and with Cullinane again dominating, they led by 1-3 to 0-2 at half time and by 4-4 to 3-5 at the final whistle. Ethan Coughlan and Cullinane were the goal scorers for the winners, with Owen O’Callaghan and Lenny O’Leary replying with Macroom goals.
The Clonakilty Community College team that lost to Hamilton High School in the Dr Michael Herlihy Cup A grade final.
Macroom then had to beat Hamilton High to remain in the competition and they put in a gallant display before losing by 4-6 to 2-3. Jack Allen hit all four goals this time for Hammies, with Lenny O’Leary and Matthew Dunton getting Macroom goals. This pitted Hamilton High and Clonakilty against each other again in the final, for the right to take home the Dr Herlihy Cup.
In this cracking final, Jack Allen for Hammies and Conor Cullinane for Clon were again the key figures but, whereas Allen had good support on the scoring front, Cullinane had to shoulder much of the responsibility himself. It was only in the closing minutes that the winners managed to pull away on the scoreboard to win 7-10 to 5-2.
The De La Salle Macroom A grade team that competed in the Dr Michael Herlihy Cup.
Hammies got off to a flier with early goals from Allen and Ewen Hourigan but Cullinane pulled one back for Clon. James Moore had a green flag for Hammies but Cullinane again replied. With Allen, Hourigan and Evans all adding points, Hammies had 3-7 on the board by half time. Cullinane and Simon Keohane had points for Clon as Hammies led by 3-7 to 2-2 at the break.
Cullinane and Keohane had early goals to cut the lead to two points as play swept from end to end. Allen and Cullinane again swapped goals but it was Hammies who finished stronger with goals from Allen (2) and Moore to run out clear winners.
Clonakilty Community College's Adam Griffin goes past Hamilton High School's Sam Jennings during the Dr Michael Herlihy Cup final.
Hamilton High School: Daniel O’Regan, MacDara O’Mahony, Rory Murphy, Cillian Craig, Donncha Coomey, Ciarán Guinane, Shane Casey, James Ryan, Ewen Hourigan, Sam Jennings, Seán Evans, Jack Keohane, Charlie McLaughlin, Jack Allen, James Moore, Alex Kearney, David Harrington, Donncha Hurley, Danny Foley.
Clonakilty Community College: James Coleman, Will Coleman, Cillian Deasy, Denis O’Reilly, Ian Canapini, Ross Collins, Adam Griffin, Oisín McCabe, Jake Burke, Tim Crowley, Ronan Dunne, Matthew Hayes, Ethan Coughlan, Conor Cullinane, Simon Keohane.
Referee: Niall McIntyre, GDA.
Hamilton High were completing four in-a-row and the previous day, they had beaten Spiorad Naomh in the Cork colleges’ U14 football final, involving a number of their first years players.
The first Macroom team to take part in the competition included Ruairí O’Shea, Seán Carroll, Maciej, Seán Burke, Brian Lloyd, James O’Brien, Ryan Kelleher, Darragh O’Shea, Seán MacSúilleabháin, Matthew Dunton, Seán Twohig, Oscar Hickey Grace, Lenny O’Leary, Owen O’Callaghan, Fionn Desmond and Oisín McCarthy.
Mícheál Herlihy presents the trophy to Golam Uddien, captain of the Hamilton High School B grade team after their victory.
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GRADE B
In the seconds’ competition, again it was Hamilton High School, Clonakilty Community College and De La Salle Macroom taking part. Once more, Hammies got off to a flier in this competition, recording a 5-5 to 3-1 win over Clonakilty. Aaron Harrington (3) and Colm O’Sullivan (2) raised green flags for the winners, with Daniel Walsh and Ruben Whooley kicking Clon goals.
The Hamilton High School B team celebrates after their victory in the Dr Michael Herlihy Cup B grade competition.
It was Macroom against Clonakilty then, with Macroom registering their first win of the day on a score of 2-2 to 1-0. This meant the last game between Hamilton High and Macroom was a straight final.
This final saw Hammies at their very best, much too strong for the opposition. With the slight breeze, Hammies had goals from Donagh Crowley (2) and Seán Prendergast, with Prendergast, Crowley, Kieran Daly, David Kingston and Seán O’Brien kicking points to lead by 3-6 to nil at the break.
The De La Salle Macroom B grade team that competed in the Dr Michael Herlihy Cup B competition.
The second half was much more closely fought, with Joe Spillane kicking a goal for Macroom. A James Duggan goal, and Colm O’Sullivan and Prendergast points finished the scoring for the Hammies as they ran out 4-8 to 1-0 winners to complete the double on the day. Callum Hurley and Aaron Harrington also did well for the winners, while Evan McBride, Alex O’Callaghan, Darragh McNulty, Daniel O’Leary and Joe Healy tried hard for Macroom.
Hamilton High School: Golam Udien, James Duggan, Joey Doyle, Sonny Duane, David Kingston, Donagh Crowley, Fionn Daly, Aaron Harrington, Callum Hurley, Seán Nyhan, Eddie Hough, Jake Lawless, Cathal Bryan, Seán Prendergast, Colm O’Sullivan, Eoin White, Conor Walsh, Jack Tobin, Conor O’Driscoll, Sean O’Brien.
De La Salle Macroom: Keenan Deasy, Peadar Creedon, Alex O’Callaghan, Ciarán O’Sullivan, Daniel Kelly, Evan McBride, Ruairí Lucey, Joe Spillane, Darragh McNulty, Isaac Cunnane, Daniel O’Leary, Joe Healy, Jayden Ring, John Casey, Luke Kelly. Referee: Billy Murphy, Beara.
The Clonakilty Community College B team that competed in the Dr Michael Herlihy Cup.
Following the games, Michael Herlihy, son of the late Dr Michael Herlihy, Dohenys, after whom the trophy is named, presented the cup to winning captain, Shane Casey. He told the players that they would always remember their footballing days in school as some of the best in their lives. Organisers of the competition were Cork GDAs, James McCarthy and Paudie Crowley.
