THEY THINK IT’S ALL OVAL
It was rugby or nothing at CBS Cork until Donal made way for hurl new ball game
WHEN Donal O’mahony set about introducing hurling to Christian Brothers College, Cork about 15 years ago, the school sat at the top of the Munster Senior Cup roll of honour.
Rugby wasn’t quite the only show in town, but it was by far the code the school most strongly identified with, with its alumni boasting the likes of Donal Lenihan, Donncha O’callaghan and Tomas O’leary.
Hurling, despite its strong tradition on Leeside, didn’t exist in the school until O’mahony, now deputy principal and a Cork senior selector, intervened.
“As everyone knows it’s one of the most famous rugby schools in the country,” he says.
“We started from a low ebb. You’d go up to the field and we’d only have a couple of fellas and progressed to where we got to a Harty cup semi-final this year.
“Ard Scoil Ris beat us by three points and went on and won the Harty cup so we are progressing very nicely and have fellas banging down the doors now to play hurling which is great.
“When I went to Christians I saw the opportunity there was for hurling, there were a lot of good hurlers in there and the principal, Dr Larry Jordan, was very supportive of it and it’s been a great journey.”
The rugby hasn’t suffered as a result. They still share the record number of Munster Senior Cup wins with city rivals, Presentation Brothers, having last won it two years ago and were only narrowly beaten in this year’s final by Glenstal Abbey.
“We have shown both sports can co-exist because I don’t think the rugby has ever done better since the hurling started,” O’mahony explains.
Three members of the Cork senior hurling panel that face Limerick in Sunday’s All-ireland semi-final came through the school - Robbie O’flynn, Billy Hennessy and Michael O’halloran - while there are a handful more on the under-21 and minor panels this year.
One of the school’s more famous past pupils is Ireland soccer international David Meyler, WHEN Limerick beat Tipperary in the opening round of the Munster Championship, Declan Hannon was keen to keep things in perspective.
Championship wins over their neighbours are rare so a number of supporters streamed onto the pitch afterwards, some engulfing Hannon, who wasn’t prepared to get caught up in the hoopla. son of the current Cork manager John, whom O’mahony works under in the county set up and even played under when he was a Cork minor in the early 90s.
“Dave (below, with John) was there at the start when we started the hurling so that’s when I got to know John in a different environment, when he was at parent-teacher meetings and things like that. “I remember going and watching him with the school out in Blarney one day. He looked good but if
“Yeah, that was the first round of the Championship, we had three games, at least, to go,” he pointed out. “Limerick supporters are fantastic, they travel the length and breadth of the country to support us.
“We are really appreciative of that, they do give us a real boost. At the end of the day we have to focus on the game, there is no point in us thinking how the lads you asked me at that stage was he a Premiership soccer player, I’d have said no.
“But he had the guts and the strength of character and the ambition to win that probably got him to where he was and he had a fantastic work ethic.
“It’s no surprise to see where that came from if you’re talking to John, his work rate is phenomenal.
“He came into the dressing room after the Munster final now, I got a nice photograph with David and my son.
“He was a very good hurler but it was unfortunate at the time that we weren’t playing hurling at a very high level in the school. But he was there at the start and was very supportive of the hurling in the school.”
David had a fantastic work ethic. It’s no surprise to see where that came from when you’re talking to John
are getting on in the terrace or on the train journey up. We have enough on our plate to be dealing with training, getting ready for Cork the next day. We have our own job to do and that is what we are focusing on.”
When Limerick played Cork in their next fixture, Hannon (left) got to empathise with the fans’ plight as he mainly had a watching brief having been forced off through injury but he’s ready for Sunday’s semi-final.
“It is going to be a ferocious challenge, Cork are unbeaten this year, they are the form team, they have been the most consistent out of any of the teams in the country. So it is going to take a mammoth effort.
“If we are there or thereabouts come the last 10 or 15 minutes we will be giving it everything.”