Hamilton HS 5-4
Mount St Michael 1-6
GOALS win games and Hamilton High School, Bandon retained their title by finding the net five times in the final of the Dr Herlihy Cup, secondary schools’ first year football, in sunny Clonakilty.
Four A teams – Hamilton High School, Mount St Michael, Clonakilty Community College and Skibbereen Community School – took part in the cup competition while the second teams of Hamilton High, Clonakilty and Skibbereen took part in the plate competition. In all eight games were played on the day, ten minutes per half.
The holders of the cup, Hamilton High, and promoted Mount St Michael qualified for the A final, with the Bandon lads favourites to win and the Rosscarbery school bidding to win their first title.
The Mount St Michael team that was defeated by Hamilton High School in the Dr Michael Herlihy Cup final.
This was a final in which size and strength definitely played a part, Bandon being far stronger overall, and they did most of the damage in the first half when they registered five goals. However, it was Ross who started the better with their full forward Charlie Moore, though lacking in size, bidding for the honour of being the best player in the competition. He opened the scoring with a point and when midfielder Luke O’Neill, brother of Cork minor Dylan, blasted in a goal, the underdogs were buzzing.
Bandon soon got a grip in the middle third, with Paul Deasy, Mattie Coffey, Tadhg O’Mahony and Odhran Madden prominent. In attack, the strong Conail Hurley and Mike Joe Foley caused major problems and they each kicked a pair of goals. Seán Whelton added a fifth and Hurley kicked their only point of the half. Moore had a point for outgunned Ross and it was 5-1 to 1-2 at half time.
To their credit, Ross never stopped trying and had the satisfaction of winning the second half, four points to three. The impressive Killian Fitzpatrick kicked two superb points and Moore added two more, while Hurley, Foley and O’Mahony kicked points for Bandon. Others to impress were Andrew Ferguson, Paudie O’Sullivan, Russel Crowley and Fionn Minihan for Hamilton High and Seán Murphy, David O’Sullivan, Oisín McCarthy and Daniel Whelton for Mount St Michael.
Following the final, the Herlihy Cup was presented to the Hamilton HS captain, Paul Deasy, by Brian Herlihy, son of the late Dr Michael Herlihy, Dohenys, after whom the cup is named. Also present in Clonakilty were Paudie Crowley, GDA, organiser; Conor Counihan, project co-ordinator for Football in Cork; Noel O’Callaghan, county vice-chairperson; Tom Lyons, Carbery junior board.
Herlihy Shield – This first year competition was for the smaller secondary schools in West Cork and was played off the previous week, with Schull Community College beating MICC, Dunmanway, in the final.
Scorers - Hamilton HS: Conail Hurley 2-2 (1 pen, 1f); Mike Joe Foley 2-1; Seán Whelton 1-0; Tadhg O’Mahony 0-1. Mount St Michael: Charlie Moore 0-4; Luke O’Neill 1-0; Killian Fitzpatrick 0-2.
Hamilton HS: Charlie Curtin, Andrew Ferguson, Daniel Dullea, Paudie O’Sullivan, Olan Shanahan, Russel Crowley, Tadhg O’Mahony, Paul Deasy, Fionn Minihan, Mattie Coffey, Odhran Madden, Alex White, Seán Whelton, Conail Hurley, Mike Joe Foley. Sub used, Billy Traynor. Coach: Alice Dunne.
Mount St Michael: Charlie Jennings, Jack Herlihy, Seán Murphy, Iarla Crowley, Luke Crowley, Fionn Coppinger, David O’Sullivan, Luke O’Neill, Oisín McCarthy, Daniel Whelton, Killian Fitzpatrick, Oisín O’Donovan, Jack O’Donovan, Charlie Moore, Dylan Cooke. Sub: Seán McMahon, Adam McCarthy, Eric Samoila. Coach: Mike Keohane.
Referee: Jack Forbes.
***
Herlihy Cup Results: Round 1 – Hamilton HS 4-4 Skibbereen CS 0-1; Mount St Michael 2-9 Clonakilty Community College 1-5. Semi-finals: Hamilton HS beat Clonakilty CC, Mount St Michael 2-8 Skibbereen CS 0-5. Final: Hamilton HS 5-4 Mount St Michael 1-6.
The Skibbereen Community School team that took part in the competition.
***
Three teams took part in the Plate competition. In the first game, Hamilton HS beat Skibbereen CS by 5-1 to 1-2 and in the second game Clonakilty CC beat Skibbereen by 3-4 to 1-2. This left a straight final between Hamilton and Clonakilty and in a fine game, goals by Daniel Morse, Sammy Ryan, Ciarán Harrington and Mícheál O’Donovan resulted in a 4-1 to 2-2 victory for the Clonakilty side. Following the final, the Herlihy Plate was presented to winning captain, Ciarán Harrington, by Brian Herlihy.
Clonakilty CC: A Murphy, C Harrington, B Crowley, R Locke, O Casey, R Harte, P Coakley, D O’Keeffe, R O’Leary, D Morse, M O’Donovan, B Malone, R Kelleher, S Ryan, R Connolly. Coach: Niall Campbell.
Hamilton HS: L Deasy, A Burns, M Grace, F Collins, S Murphy, A Murphy, S Nyhan, C Sexton, J Harrington, N O’Desmond, B Morrison, F Daly, M Nugent, A Casey, C Murphy J Bales.
The Clonakilty Community College B team that won the Dr Michael Herlihy Plate.
***
The other teams that took part in the competitions were:
Skibbereen CS A: M McCarthy, D Crowley, B Kingston, D Buckley, D Long, D McCarthy, TJ McCarthy, J O’Donovan, S Kingston, H Buckley, A Ring, C Whooley, J Crowley F Herlihy.
Skibbereen CS B: L Lomasney, A Deasy, O O’Driscoll, M Crowley, S O’Driscoll, P Crowley, J Dowdall, J Coppinger, D Limrick, R Walsh, F Deasy, C Kingston, H O’Leary, R White, D O’Donovan.
Clonakilty CC A: A Dollery, D Collins, J Lyons, T O’Brien, R Lucey, C O’Sullivan, M Kingston, O Hunt, M Afonzo, K White, R Twomey, M Lyons, E McCarthy, S Doyle, B O’Regan, R O’Driscoll.
The Clonakilty Community College A team that lost to Hamilton HS in the Herlihy Cup semi-final.
