Harty Cup, 6 Twists Today.
1. Tipp power base re-asserts itself: three survivors and a serious statement from Nenagh and Thurles
From a Tipperary point of view, Round 3 could hardly have gone much better.
- Nenagh CBS 7-18 Cashel CS 0-08
- Thurles CBS 4-26 Scoil na Trionoide Naofa Doon 3-13
- Our Lady’s Templemore 1-17 Gaelcholáiste Mhuire 1-15
Nenagh did exactly what the maths demanded. Knowing that scoring difference against St Flannan’s might decide top spot in Group 1, they went hunting goals from the first whistle on the UL North Campus and hit 7-18 in a ruthless dismantling of Cashel. Five goals before half time, then two more after the break, told you everything about intent and depth.
Captain Eoghan Doughan led from the front with 2-08, four of those from placed balls and a 65. Paul Cahalan and Hugo Healy struck early majors, while Emmet Jones and Patrick Ryan added the last two green flags. Nenagh’s half-time lead was nineteen points, and Cashel did not score at all in the final quarter. This was not just about topping the group, it was about sending a message that the 2023 champions are back in knockout mode.
Thurles CBS, the reigning champions, were in a different situation. Their place at the summit of Group 3 was already secure, yet they still went at Doon with full intent. A 4-26 to 3-13 win in Limerick saw them finish the group with three wins from three and a +31 differential across the campaign.
They spread the scoring load nicely:
- James Butler 1-05
- Leelan Donoghue 1-04
- Tomás Ryan 1-02
- Larry Collins 1-00
- Jack Cahill 0-05 (all frees)
- Eoghan Hickey 0-05
Three first-half goals, from Donoghue, Ryan and Butler, gave them a 3-10 to 2-06 interval cushion. Even when Doon hit back with goals from Diarmuid Crowe, Conor Kenny and George Maher, Thurles always had another score in them. It was exactly what you expect from defending champions, they managed the game, punished errors, and never allowed it to drift into a dead rubber.
Templemore’s route was more fraught, but no less impressive. Against a Gaelcholáiste Mhuire side who knew a draw would send them through, Our Lady’s trailed by seven at one point, then by two entering the last four minutes. They still found a way, reeling off the last four points to win 1-17 to 1-15.
Jack Bevans hit 0-10, all from placed balls, and kept his nerve with the match-winning free as the clock ticked to 60 minutes. Seán Walsh supplied the Templemore goal, while Cian Broderick, Philip O’Dwyer and Padraic O’Shea all chipped in with key plays down the stretch. It was a classic Templemore performance, gritty, patient and clinical when the pressure was greatest.
The bottom line is stark: Tipp send three schools to the last eight, and all three arrive with very different but equally compelling credentials.
2. Banner resurgence: Tulla and St Flannan’s both come through a minefield
Clare will be very happy with how this phase has shaken out.
- St Joseph’s Tulla 2-21 CBC 1-13
- St Flannan’s 1-19 Ardscoil Rís 0-18
In Group 4, Tulla went in against a CBC side already eliminated, which is often the most dangerous kind of opponent. Manager Terence Fahy referenced last year’s experience, when they were ambushed by a team already gone, and he got the reaction he needed. After trailing 1-02 to 0-01 early on, Tulla settled, levelled by the 16th minute, and gradually took over.
By full time they had outscored CBC by 1-07 to 0-03 in the last quarter to win by 2-21 to 1-13 and secure top spot, unbeaten in the group.
Key details:
- Matthew Corbett 0-11, with 0-07 from frees and some outrageous scores from play, including one off his knees in the first half.
- Captain Michael Vaughan 1-02 from midfield, his goal arriving in that late surge, set up by Aodhán O’Driscoll.
- James O’Donnell 1-02, showing a real instinct inside.
Tulla had been absent from the knockout stages for a few seasons. To come through a tricky group, top of the pile and unbeaten, puts them right back into the Harty conversation.
St Flannan’s, meanwhile, had to survive a much tighter affair in Clarecastle against neighbours Ardscoil Rís, effectively a winner-takes-all tie. They led from the fifth minute, yet never shook Ardscoil off until Harry Doherty finally buried an injury-time goal to seal a 1-19 to 0-18 victory.
Doherty’s numbers and influence stood out:
- 1-06, four from frees and one 65, plus the match-winning goal.
- He and Eoin O’Connor shot Flannan’s into a 0-06 to 0-03 lead.
- Before half time, contributions from Patrick Finneran and Graham Ball helped open a 0-14 to 0-09 cushion.
Ardscoil came at them hard with the wind in the second half, cutting the gap back to two at 0-19 to 0-17 as John O’Connor and Alex Kearns led the comeback. But the Clare school got big moments off the bench from Ben Talty and John Barry, and when the game teetered on a knife edge, it was Doherty again, fielding a Leon Talty puckout and rifling into the left corner.
That goal did more than win a group game, it tipped the entire balance of Group 1. With Nenagh racking up a 31 point victory elsewhere, Flannan’s had to win to survive. They did, and Ardscoil exit the group stage for the first time since 2019.
Clare counties now provide two quarter-finalists, Tulla and Flannan’s, which is a strong return in what has become an intensely competitive Harty landscape.
3. Cork’s mixed bag: one contender standing as giants fall
Cork’s day was a strange mix of strong individual displays, heavy scoring and deep disappointment.
Cork representation in the quarter-finals is now down to a single school: Midleton CBS. They topped Group 2 with a controlled 2-14 to 0-12 win over De La Salle, managing both the elements and the game situation expertly. At the same time:
- CBC went down heavily to Tulla in Group 4, 2-21 to 1-13, already eliminated before throw-in.
- Gaelcholáiste Mhuire An Mhainistir Thuaidh saw their campaign end in agonising fashion, losing 1-17 to 1-15 to Templemore when a draw would have been enough.
- St Colman’s Fermoy produced a ten point win, 3-19 to 1-15, over Clonmel, yet still bowed out on head-to-head and standings.
Midleton’s performance in Fethard Town Park was quietly impressive. Playing with a strong wind in the first half, they built a 1-09 to 0-04 lead by the break, the key moment coming when Sam Ring flicked an Alfie Hennessey delivery to the net. Goalkeeper Tom C Walsh scored 0-03, including a point directly from a puckout, underlining how well they used the elements.
After the break, they refused to retreat into their shell. Instead they pushed Tom A Walsh out the field, let Colm Garde drive forward from centre back, and kept De La Salle at arm’s length. When Dean Murphy was fouled for a late penalty, Fionn Daly rattled in the deciding goal to finish with 1-06, 0-04 of those from frees.
Elsewhere, Cork schools were left wondering what might have been.
Gaelcholáiste Mhuire, semi-finalists last season, showed huge character to turn a 1-09 to 0-07 half-time deficit into a 1-15 to 1-13 lead entering the last few minutes in Fethard. Craig Ó Súilleabháin and Gabhán Ó Ceallacháin were superb, combining for 0-10 between them, while Lucas Ó Muirthile sparked the revival with the early second-half goal. They had the draw in their hands, then lost it in the closing three minutes, and will feel this one stung badly.
St Colman’s, too, could hardly have done more. Against Clonmel, they played into a stiff wind in the first half and still went in 1-09 to 0-06 up, built on a 1-08 to 0-02 lead after 24 minutes. Cormac Barry finished with 0-12, eleven of those from frees and one from a 65. Ruairc Donovan and Denis Fitzgerald both raised green flags, Fitzgerald’s goal a trademark surge from wing back. Yet Midleton’s win elsewhere meant Colman’s big margin was irrelevant in the end.
CBC’s campaign simply never caught fire. Already eliminated before they faced Tulla, they started brightly with an early goal from Darragh Rowley to lead 1-02 to 0-01, but faded badly, landing only 0-03 in the final quarter while Tulla ran riot. They will refocus on the Dean Ryan Cup final against Ardscoil, but their Harty year ends flat.
For a county that often expects multiple contenders in January, Cork now go into the quarter-finals with only Midleton flying the flag, and that is a notable shift in the balance of power.
4. Waterford edge quietly into a strong position, with Lismore’s Cummins lighting up Group 3
Waterford’s schools have come out of Round 3 very nicely. De La Salle had already secured qualification before losing to Midleton, and Blackwater CS Lismore powered into second in Group 3 with a commanding 2-19 to 0-12 win over John The Baptist Community School, Hospital.
The headline act in Castlelyons was one man: Ben Cummins.
- 1-14 in total
- 0-07 frees and 0-02 from 65s
- A first half sequence where he hit eight scores on the spin, including the first Lismore goal
- Another six points in the second half as Hospital wilted into the wind
Cummins’ first-half goal saw him blaze through from a Darra O’Brien pass and finish low past the keeper, pushing Lismore into a six-point lead at 1-07 to 0-04. When Leo Mulhall added a second goal, snapping on a loose ball in the square, the Waterford school looked to be out of sight.
To their credit, Hospital hung in with a superb individual display from Tiernan Ryan, who finished with 0-09, five from frees and one 65. They pared the gap back to 2-08 to 0-10 at the break. However, once they turned around into the wind, their forward threat evaporated. Lismore outscored them by 0-11 to 0-02 after half time, and what had been a tit-for-tat contest became a rout.
Lismore now carry serious attacking credentials into the last eight, with Cummins as one of the form forwards in the competition. De La Salle’s Round 3 was poor on the scoreboard, 0-12 with nineteen wides, but they will feel that their worst day is behind them and their earlier wins still show their quality.
On the broader picture, Waterford provide two quarter-finalists, Lismore and De La Salle. In a year when Limerick schools have fallen away early and Cork representation has thinned, that is a significant statement.
5. Quarter-final field paints a new map: Tipp on top, Limerick wiped out, spread across four counties
When the dust settled on Round 3, the quarter-final line-up for 7 January tells its own story.
Quarter-finalists by county
- Tipperary (3): Thurles CBS, Nenagh CBS, Our Lady’s Templemore
- Clare (2): St Flannan’s College, St Joseph’s Secondary School Tulla
- Waterford (2): Blackwater CS Lismore, De La Salle College Waterford
- Cork (1): Midleton CBS
- Limerick (0): No representative
From a macro point of view:
- Tipperary is the only county with three schools still standing. All three came through demanding groups, two of them as recent or reigning champions.
- Clare’s two schools both survived do-or-die deciders. Tulla had to avoid a slip against CBC, Flannan’s had to beat Ardscoil, and they both did.
- Waterford now has genuine depth. De La Salle’s pedigree is well known, but Lismore’s emergence gives the county a second serious contender.
- Limerick, remarkably, has no school in the last eight. Ardscoil Rís are out for the first time since 2019, Doon finish with three defeats and John The Baptist Hospital exit at the group stage.
The geographic spread also shapes the draw narrative. Tipp and Clare combined account for five of the eight spots, setting up the possibility of some ferocious inter-county subplots in January. Cork and Waterford both come with two strong city or town bases, but Midleton and Lismore will each carry a huge chunk of county expectation.
In simple terms, the shape of the Harty Cup has shifted a little further north and west, away from Limerick city and towards Tipp, Clare and east Waterford.
6. Individual stars and flying forwards set the tone for what is coming in January
If Round 3 was about qualification and survival, it was just as much about marquee players staking a claim as the standout names of this year’s competition. Across the eight games that mattered, the leading lights were at full tilt.
Some of the headline tallies:
- Ben Cummins (Blackwater CS Lismore) – 1-14, a complete forward performance with frees, 65s and a goal.
- Matthew Corbett (St Joseph’s Tulla) – 0-11, with 0-07 from frees and outrageous scores from play, including that off-the-knees point.
- Cormac Barry (St Colman’s Fermoy) – 0-12, almost single-handedly keeping the scoreboard moving, even if his side miss out on the knockouts.
- Eoghan Doughan (Nenagh CBS) – 2-08, leading a seven-goal blitz to secure top spot.
- Jack Bevans (Our Lady’s Templemore) – 0-10, all from placed balls, nerveless in the defining minutes of a winner-takes-all clash.
- Harry Doherty (St Flannan’s) – 1-06, including the late, decisive goal to sink Ardscoil Rís.
- Fionn Daly (Midleton CBS) – 1-06, with the insurance penalty in Fethard.
Around them, there was no shortage of supporting acts:
- Michael Vaughan and James O’Donnell for Tulla, each with 1-02, and Vaughan’s leadership from midfield.
- Tiernan Ryan with 0-09 for Hospital, keeping his side in touch for as long as the breeze allowed.
- Craig Ó Súilleabháin and Gabhán Ó Ceallacháin combining for 0-10 for Gaelcholáiste Mhuire in defeat.
- Thurles sharing the load with Butler, Donoghue, Ryan and Hickey all registering heavily.
A clear pattern emerges. This Harty Cup is stacked with forwards who can put up double-digit tallies on any given day. The margins in January are likely to come down to two questions:
- Who can keep that level of scoring up when the pitches get heavier and the days get shorter?
- Which defences and goalkeepers can finally put the handbrake on them?
Round 3 did not just decide who progressed, it underlined the quality and variety of attacking talent that will light up the quarter-finals.