Árdscoil Rís classmates become rivals in Sunday's Munster final showdown

LIMERICK and Clare senior hurlers may be foes on the field this weekend, but there was a point where several of them were teammates lining out in the Árdscoil Rís colours on their Dr Harty Cup squads.

The Limerick secondary school has a rich history of producing not only top class Limerick hurlers but also Clare ones as well. Names like Declan Hannon, Cian Lynch, Mike Casey of Limerick and Clare players like Diarmuid Ryan, Ian Galvin all attended the school. Ardscoil's first ever victory in the Harty Cup back in 2010 was driven by the likes of Declan Hannon and Cathal McInerney with teacher Liam Cronin at the helm.

The Cappamore native still remembers fondly the memories from that year and how the first Dr Harty win spurred the school on for years after.

He stated: “Declan Hannon was in fifth year at the time and we also had Clare's Cathal McInerney as one of our joint-captains, so there was huge ability from both counties and it was evident even then that those players were going to go on and do great things.

“You could just see the drive and determination that those young guys had from such a young age and it was just incredible to see them develop throughout their time at school here.”

Cronin was directly involved with the 2010, 2011 and 2018 winning Harty Cup teams but like any other school everyone is drafted in to help when the competition gets serious.

“We have a small enough group of hurling teachers in the school and when you get to finals it's all hands on deck really. Of course it was fantastic to get to work hands on with the likes of Declan and Cathal in 2010, but even Cian Lynch's year in 2014 was an incredibly successful year as well and the whole school really got behind them.

“It was unfortunate for the likes of Cathal O'Neill, Colin Coughlan and Aidan O'Connor as Covid-19 stopped the Harty Cup for them.”

Despite the disruption in games during the Covid-19pandemic, Ardscoil Rís have been able to capture five Harty Cup titles since 2010 and an All-Ireland Colleges Croke Cup win in 2022, with recent Limerick championship debutante Shane O'Brien featuring on that team.

Liam Cronin, like many other teachers in the school, has kept a keen eye on his past pupils. He was able to do this even more so while being part of the Clare senior hurling management for three years.

“Anyone that is interested in hurling will always keep up with it and after being in the Clare set-up I would have a good handle on the lads up there too.

“There is some incredibly talented hurlers on both sides of the border and while we have seen it first-hand here at Ardscoil you would also be watching to see what those lads did at third level either with or against each other and it's great to see their progression from schools hurling into the inter-county setups, it really isn't surprising to see them feature then on the senior panels.”

This Sunday's highly anticipated Munster hurling final is a tough one to call and after coaching a good number of the current Limerick and Clare senior teams Liam has found it hard to call a winner.

“It really is impossible to call. I suppose there has always been an intense rivalry between Limerick and Clare.

“We are lucky in Limerick that we have a generational team at the moment and equally I think it's unfortunate timing for Clare as Limerick have just slightly got the edge on them, but this Sunday's game will be a cracker again.”

THE ARDSCOIL RÍS LINK:
LIMERICK: Mike Casey, Declan Hannon, Will O’Donogue, Cathal O’Neill, Aaron Gillane, Cian Lynch, Conor Boylan, Jason Gillane, Colin Coughlan, Aidan O’Connor, Shane O’Brien, Peter Casey.
CLARE: Paul Flanagan (Teacher), Diarmuid Ryan, Ian Galvin, Colm O'Meara and Paraic O'Loughlin.