Gearoid Maher, left, and Sam Dooley of Coláiste Phobal Ros Cré, Tipperary, with Alex Begley and Conor Kelly, right, of Grennan College Thomastown, Kilkenny, ahead of their Masita All-Ireland Post Primary Schools D Hurling Final during the Masita All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Finals Captains Call at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
The sun is shining and Grennan College, Thomastown are making hay.
They’re a relatively small school but they’ve harvested a very rich crop of talented young sportsmen.
It’s not often you have the chance to win two All-Ireland titles in two different sports with pretty much the same group of players, but that’s the opportunity that now presents itself to the Kilkenny school.
Last month the school’s senior boys soccer team won the John Murphy Senior ‘B’ National Cup Final.
On Friday, they’ll contest the Masita GAA Post Primary Schools Niall McInerney Cup (All-Ireland Senior D Hurling) Final against Scoil Phobal, Roscrea.
“Everyone in the school is just delighted to have this opportunity,” says Eoghan Hennessy who coaches the school’s hurling team.
“Things like this give everybody a lift. Everyone in the schools is just buzzing.
“This bunch of lads are a really sporting group. When a group comes along that are just talented you have to make the most of them I suppose."
There are also representatives from Tullogher-Rosbercon, Rower-Inistioge, and Gowran on the panel, but most of the Grennan College team is made up of players from the local Thomastown club.
Seven of them were part of the Thomastown panel that last year won the club’s first senior Kilkenny championship for 78 years, so they already boast an impressive sporting pedigree.
That experience of having played together since a very young age is one that has made them a formidably well-oiled machine in Grennan College colours.
“Around 10 of these lads played together in the primary school, they're all best friends, and they know each other inside out,” says Hennessy.
“They came from first year together and are all in sixth year now at the moment. They know what to say to each other and how to get this lad or that lad going. Does he need a kick in the arse of does he need to be talked to with an arm around the shoulder.”
Grennan College captain, Alex Begley, accepts the Cup after his team's victory in the Leinster Final.
That instinctive understanding they’ve developed over the years has made them an easy team for Hennessy and his fellow coaches to mentor.
“The most pleasing thing from our perspective is how they problem-solve on the pitch,” he says.
“They're an unbelievable bunch of lads in that sense. In two or three of the games we've been down by three, four or five points at half-time but you don't have to say much to the lads because they know what needs to be done and they're able to put the head down and just dig in.
“They just pull it around themselves. We might say a few words but they can gauge themselves and really work at it and do what needs to be done. They're really good in that way.”
Post Primary Schools All-Ireland Finals tend to be a journey into the unknown for both teams.
Hennessy is expecting Scoil Phobal, Roscrea to be formidable adversaries, but he has a lot of faith in his own charges.
“You'd see the programmes from matches they’ve played and they’ve a few Roscrea and Offaly boys so they're coming from strong hurling counties,” he says.
“I know it's quite a big school and they have won a bit down through the years so we know it's not going to be an easy task, it's going to be a tough game.
“We just hope that if your boys can play as well as they can, we'll be there or there abouts. That's all we can hope for.
“Whatever the outcome will be, will be, but I think if we play as well as we can, we can win it.”
Friday, March 14
Masita GAA Post Primary Schools Niall McInerney Cup (Senior D Hurling All-Ireland) Final
Scoil Phobal Roscrea v Grennan College, Thomastown, Carlow IT, 1pm
You can watch a live stream of the match here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3WZoDiRZqc
