Goals prove crucial as Árdscoil Rís succumb to Nenagh CBS in Dr Harty Cup

“WHEN you concede four goals at crucial stages, you make it very difficult for yourself,” was the reaction of manager Niall Crowe in Newport on Wednesday when Árdscoil Rís fell to a 4-18 to 1-19 defeat to Nenagh CBS in their second Group Two Dr Harty Cup group fixture.

“We did make a great recovery after half-time to get back to within three points of them but that third goal of theirs proved to be the turning point.”

With Cashel CBS losing to St Flannan's in the group's other tie, the result leaves Árdscoil Rís almost certainly needing a win in their final outing against the Ennis side if they are to progrees to the knockout stages of Munster's elite post-primary hurling championship.

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And if they are to get their campaign back on track, they'll be hoping for a more focussed first half where they not only stung for a goal within three minutes that cemented a Nenagh lead that was never lost.

Then when Ardscoil were just adding some momentum to a second quarter recovery, they conceded another goal off a breakaway attack that sent them back to square one.

Fired up after throwing away a match-winning lead in their opening tie to drop a point against Flannans, Nenagh CBS were in no mood to let lightning strike twice and their ravenous attack, dripping with Tipperary under-age stars, made the most of the opportunities coming their way.

Maybe on another occassion Ardscoil's defence might have held them at bay, but they just lacked enough finishers in a forward unit in which Jack Cosgrave remained a constant threat.

Nenagh flew out of the blocksand took an instant lead when Patrick Ryan intercepted a short puckout, saw Evan Ryan block Joe O'Dwyer's shot on goal before Eoghan Doughan sent over the '65'.

The North Circular Road side hit back with a point when Jack Cosgrave got Ardscoil off the mark. The Northside school inched closer after Ryan's reply when John O'Keeffe converted a free and Cosgrave followed up from play.

The margin remained at two points as Doughan's long free for the Tipp side was matched by Cosgrave sending over his third.

Coming up to the quarter mark, Nenagh's pressure on the opposition's clearance began to yield dividends as three points inside a minute, Paul Cahalan's pair and one from Dara O'Dwyer, added weight to their lead.

Ian O'Brien and Cosgrave replied with scores for Ardscoil but, after Doughton and O'Keeffe swapped frees, the climb grew steeper for the Limerick school when Cahalan collected Patrick Hackett's lay-off and drilled his side's second goal into the far corner of the net.

The gap widened further as O'Keeffe's score was overtaken by two points from Doughton and Malachy McKenna's reply by another Doughton free.

Emmet Jones' point for Nenagh was cancelled out by another O'Keeffe score in added time which reduced the Premier school's half-time lead to seven points, 2-11 to 0-10.

Moving Cosgrave to midfield paid instant dividends for Ardscoil on the restart, drawing fouls for O'Keeffe and Cosgrave to punish.

After Doughan replied from a free for Nenagh at the other end, Ardscoil's recovery continued when Cosgrave, from play, and from a '65' and O'Keeffe's pointed free brought them to within three points of their opponents.

However, once again, their fragility at the back was exposed when Ryan shook off the challenges and laid off the sliotar for Éanna Tucker to put a bulge in the net.

Coming up to the three-quarter mark, points from Conor Ryan, of Ahane, and Cosgrave got the North Circular Road students moving again.

However, Nenagh came again and while Doughan's pointed free in reply was cancelled out by an Ardscoil score from sub Shane Waters, the response stalled on another Doughan free being followed by a score from Hackett.

Conor Ryan (Ahane) first time  point after collecting the puck-out only served to fire up the subs in blue jerseys now flooding in.

Points from Doughan, Cahalan and Doughan again from a free had already shoved Ardscoil's task beyond the bounds of possibility before Patrick Ryan rained the final blow down on them by breaking several tackles and then rounding off his day with an imperious one-handed flick for the Tipp side's fourth goal.

With just honour to play for, the Limerick school wound themselves up for an injury time offensive and their resilience was rewarded when Alex Kearns's free right on the final whistle pierced the Nenagh defence for a goal that may yet have some score difference bearing on which teams progress from the group to the quarter-finals.

SCORERS: NENAGH CBS: Eoghan Doughan 0-11 (8 frees, 1 '65'), Patrick Ryan 2-1, Paul Cahalan 1-3, Éanna Tucker 1-0, Dara O'Dwyer, Emmet Jones, Patrick Hackett 0-1 each; ÁRDSCOIL RÍS: Jack Cosgrave 0-8 (1 free, 1 '65'), John O'Keeffe 0-6 (6 frees), Alex Kearns 1-0 (free), Conor Ryan (Ahane) 0-2, Malachy McKenna, Shane Waters 0-1 each.

ST JOSEPH'S CBS, NENAGH: Paddy McCormack (Moneygall); Diarmuid Fogarty (Kiladangan), Daniel McKelvey (Silvermines), Cormac Kennedy (Kilruane MacDonaghs); Emmet Jones (Nenagh Éire Óg), Dara O'Dwyer (Kiladangan), Shane Cleary (Kilruane MacDonaghs); Hugo Healy (Kilruane MacDonaghs), Austin Duff (Toomevara); Éanna Tucker (Nenagh Éire Óg), Eoghan Doughan (Moneygall), Paul Cahalan (Burgess); Patrick Ryan (Borrisoleigh), Patrick Hackett (Toomevara), Joe O'Dwyer (Burgess). SUBS: Billy O'Brien (Nenagh Éire Óg) for Joe O'Dwyer (half-time), Cillian Healy (Kilruane MacDonaghs) for Hugo Healy (48 minutes), Charlie Kennedy (Kilruane MacDonaghs) for Austin Duff (54 minutes), Diarmuid O'Donoghue (Burgess) for Shane Cleary (57 minutes), Eoin Grace (Silvermines) for Eoghan Doughan (59 minutes).

ARDSCOIL RÍS: Marcus Murphy (Na Piarsaigh); Eoin Hennessy (Patrickswell), Jack O'Halloran (Sixmilebridge), Evan Ryan (South Liberties); Adam Fitzsimons (Na Piarsaigh), Eoin Brosnan (Na Piarsaigh), Conor Ryan (Adare); David O'Keeffe (Na Piarsaigh), Conor Ryan (Ahane); John O'Connor (Ahane), Jack Cosgrave (Ahane), Malachy McKenna (Pallasgreen); John O'Keeffe (Murroe-Boher), Rian Hogan (Murroe-Boher), Ian O'Brien (Cratloe). SUBS: Shane Waters (Na Piarsaigh) for Rian Horgan (half-time), Aaron Kelly (Cratloe) for John O'Keeffe (49 minutes), Alex Kearns (Na Piarsaigh) for Ian O'Brien (55 minutes), Jamie McMahon (Clonlara) for Conor Ryan (Adare) (61 minutes).

REFEREE: Tom McGlinchey (Newport).