Clonakilty Community College lift the Herlihy Cup
Ahamilla was the venue for the Herlihy Cup competition on Tuesday last, played in sunshine but
biting wind. The competition, running since 2014, is for 1st year footballers in the post-primary schools in
the west of the county. There are four sections in the competition, the cup for the top four schools, the
shield, the plate and a plate for second teams of the top four. The shield and plate were run off in
Dunmanway last week, while the cup and seconds’ plate took place in Ahamilla.
The cup, presented by the Herlihy family, commemorates the late Dr. Michael Herlihy, an outstanding
GAA man with Dohenys down the years. Since 2014, the dominant winner of the cup has been Hamilton
Hight School and they were actually striving for five-in-a-row on Tuesday. Competing against them in
Section A were Clonakilty Community College, Skibbereen Community School and Mount St. Michael
Rosscarbery. In the Seconds’ Plate were Hamilton High, Clonakilty, Skibbereen and Macroom De La
Salle.
Each team, 15 a-side, played the other in a round-robin system with each game lasting twenty
minutes. The top two in each competition played in the finals, 20 minutes. Four games took place
simultaneously in four full pitches and the four referees were James Kingston, Carbery Rangers; Tadhg
Sheehan, St. Mary’s; Leonard Cooke, Clonakilty and Pat Lawton, Barryroe.
Dr. Herlihy Cup Competition
The attempt by Hamilton High to win five in a row was halted when they lost to both Clonakilty and
Skibbereen in the group stages, while beating an injury-hit Rosscarbery side. Skibbereen won all their
three games, Clonakilty won two and Ross failed to register a win. This meant Skibbereen and Clonakilty
qualified for the Cup final.
Results – Skibbereen 2-7 Hamilton High 1-5; Clonakilty 4-6 Rosscarbery 0-3; Hamilton High 1-7
Rosscarbery 1-4; Skibbereen 3-4 Clonakilty 1-6; Skibbereen 2-4 Rosscarbery 1-1; Clonakilty 3-9
Hamilton High 1-1.
Dr Herlihy Cup Final – Clonakilty Community College 4-3 Skibbereen Community School 1-5.
Having beaten Clon in the qualifying group, unbeaten Skibbereen had high hopes of winning the Herlihy
Cup for the first time but came up against a much-improved Clon side. Playing with the strong breeze,
Clon had the opening points from Ciarán McCarthy and Cathal Calnan but Skibb were more then holding
their own and responded with a point from Liam O’Driscoll. Cormac Whelton pointed for Clon but when
Ogie Hourihane billowed the net following a great run from Ryan Jennings, Skibb were in the lead and
Clon looked in trouble. They got their act together before the break when Liam Ahern set up Danny
Forristal for a goal and Finbarr O’Mahony followed with a second after cutting through the defence. It
was 2-3 to 1-1 at half time, Skibb with the breeze in the second half. Skibb’s task was made more difficult
when Clon struck for the first score of the second half, a goal from Ryan Whelton, and even though they
fought back with a 2-point free from the impressive Senan Whooley, they were knocked for six when
Whelton finished off Clon’s fourth goal. The Skibb lads never gave up against a tigerish Clon defence and
they finished with the last two scores of the game, a point from Ryan Jennings and a converted 45 from
Whooley. It finished 4-3 to 1-5. Best for the winners were Charlie Hennessy, Harry O’Reilly, Cormac
Whelton, Liam Ahern, Finbarr O’Mahony, Danny Forristal and Ryan Whelton while Ryan Jennings,
Kingsley.
Clonakilty: Conor Cashman, Andy Twomey, Ewan Bell, Dylan O’Brien, Donncha Deasy, Charlie
Hennessy, Harry O’Reilly, Cormac Whelton, Liam Ahern, Ciarán McCarthy, Finbarr O’Mahony, Danny
Forristal, Ryan Whelton, Fionán Twohig, Cathal Calnan, Jake McAdams.
Skibbereen: Michael Young, Sé O’Brien, Liam O’Sullivan, David Long, Fionn Daly, Tadhg Ronan,
Charlie Óg McCarthy, Padraig O’Donovan, Liam O’Driscoll, Liam Foley, Senan Whooley, Ryan
Jennings, Luke Carstairs, Shane Óg Hourihane, Paul Kingston, Frankie Collins.
Referee – James Kingston, Carbery Rangers.
Seconds’ Plate
Skibbereen 2nds were again the dominant team in the group stages as they won all three games to qualify
for the final. Clonakilty won two games to reach the final, with Macroom beating Hamilton High to take
third place in the group.
Results – Skibbereen 8-4 Hamilton High 2-2; Clonakilty 2-3 Macroom 0-5; Skibbereen 6-5 Clonakilty 3-
3; Macroom 2-3 Hamilton High 2-1; Clonakilty 2-9 Hamilton High 1-5; Skibbereen 6-4 Macroom 0-5.
In the final, Skibbereen proved too strong for the Clon lads. With Eddie O’Donovan kicking 2-1and
Conor Duggan 2-2, overall, Skibb led by 3-2 to 0-1 at half time. Clon improved in the second half
limiting Skibb to 1-2 and the final score was a win for the Skibb side by 4-5 to 0-2. Dominic Seymour and
Fionn Moore also kicked points for Skibb, while Liam Byerley and Ryan Deasy had the Clon points.
Skibbereen 2nds: T.J. French, Evan O’Donovan, Elliot Sellars, Eddie O’Donovan, James Browne,
Christopher Crowley, Stephen Harnedy, Charlie McCarthy, Paddy Sheehy, Ethan Atalay, Dominic
Seymour, Conor Duggan, Fionn Moore, Donncha White, Ryan Atalay.
Clonakilty 2nds: James Doyle, Andrew Sexton, Tadhg O’Dowd, James Bonner, Paddy Dineen, Ryan
Keohane, Ryan Deasy, Danny Sutton, George Baker, Donagh Harte, Paddy O’Regan, Darragh O’Gorman,
Alex Coughlan, Liam Byerley, Vincent Beechinor.
Referee – Tadhg Sheehan, St. Mary’s.
Presentation
James McCarthy GDA was the main organiser of the blitz, with Billy Murphy GDA, and he thanked all
the schools who took part on both days. The competition had gone from strength over the years and new
schools were getting involved. He thanked the referees for their support and said the medals, as good as
any in the county and unique because you can only play in the competition once, would be given out in
the winning schools during the week.
David Whyte, chairman of the Carbery Junior Board, who run the competition, thanked all those
involved, especially the teachers who promote Gaelic games in the schools, and the host club, Clonakilty.
Present to present the cup to winning Clonakilty captain, Cormac Whelton, was Barry Herlihy, son of
the late Dr Herlihy. He also presented the plate to the winning Skibbereen captain, Conor Duggan.
Other Teams
Hamilton High A: Ollie Kiely, Ted O’Sullivan, Josh Ferris, Darragh Ahern, Jack Finn, Tom Connolly,
Paddy Coakley, Liam Verling, Niall Guinane, Cian McElwaine, Callum Crean, Rua Murphy, Jack
O’Donoghue, Tiernan Crewe, Paschal McCarthy, Conor O’Regan, Gearóid Long.
Hamilton High B: Ciarán Kiely, Jack Cantillon, Gerry McCarthy, Ben Duggan, Ewan Mullaly, Luke
McCarthy, John Smithers, Matt Feheney, Tom O’Mahony, Darragh Sleator, Sam Bambury, Josh Murray,
Billy Flynn, Peter O’Flynn, Ronan Linehan, Adam O’Mahony, Robbie Walsh.
Rosscarbery: Johnny O’Loghlin, Aidan O’Mahony, Finn Murray, Jake O’Callaghan, Killian Hurley,
Conor Collins, Luke Callanan, Jack Sutton, Conor Murphy, Isaac Power, James O’Shea, Mícheál Hayes,
Donagh Calnan, Cathal Crowley, Dane Brazier Scannell, Finn McMahon, Cathal McCarthy, Stephen
Moloney Hayes, Seán Whelton, Tyler Collins, Cormac Regan, Eoin Timmies, Liam Fargnoli, Liam
Herlihy, Seán O’Donovan, Alex Giles.
Macroom: Aaron O’Sullivan, Aidan Shannon, Blake Deasy, Cian Kelleher, Ciarán Lynch, Ciarán
O’Leary, Donncha O’Callaghan, Dylan O’Regan, Eddie Flynn, Francis Lynch, Jack McNally, Jayden
Crowley, Jeremy Butler, Joseph Curtin, Josh Moore, Kyle Young, Mark O’Donoghue, Nathan Barrett,
Noah Kelleher, Odhran O’Regan, Oisín Harrington O’Callaghan, Olan Faller O’Sullivan, Pádraic Lehane,
Sam Desmond, Tom Minehane, Tiernan Knight Desmond, Cian O’Leary.
THANKS TO : TOM LYONS
