On a bitterly cold St Patrick’s Day, Thurles CBS produced an amazing comeback in the final 20 mins to overcome Presentation College Athenry in the All Ireland Colleges Senior Hurling final to win the Croke Cup and warm the hearts of their followers.
Trailing by 8 points, after Athenry scored a crucial 2nd goal in the 40th minute of the match, the Thurles boys regrouped and diligently set about chipping away at their Galway opponents lead. Remarkably Thurles CBS out scored their opponents by 12 points to 3 in the last twenty minutes.
Thurles CBS started the match very strongly and were dominating all over the field and led by 6 points to 1 point after 14 minutes. This prompted some changes and an early substitution by Athenry who managed to draw level by half time, after an opportunistic free by Aaron Niland, was deflected to the net against the run of play.
Thurles started the 2nd half very positively with an excellent Kieran Rossiter score – the Durlas Og player would end up with 4 points from play and a deserved player of the match accolade. However with Athenry gaining superiority in the middle sector and their forward line led by the rampaging Jason Rabbitte, Athenry went into a deserved 2-14 to 0-12 lead, with twenty minutes to go.
However, in a testament to the character of the Thurles CBS panel, led by manager Niall Cahill of Urlingford Emeralds, there was no panic and Thurles CBS fought for every ball, and set about eating into the Athenry lead. Hard running, dominant defending and excellent stickwork were the keys to the fightback with finishes from Rossiter, Cillian Minogue, the imperious Euan Murray and substitute James Butler, adding to the free taking of Cormac Fitzpatrick and the all round workrate of every single player in the Blue and Gold of Thurles CBS.
The winning score came from a free by Cormac Fitzpatrick after Kieran Rossiter was tripped bearing down on goal. The final whistle brought scenes of jubilation from the travelling Thurles support. Holycross-Ballycahill’s Robbie Ryan had the honour of lifting the Croke Cup after his hardworking display on the field, and he delivered a passionate and rousing speech, thanking all those who helped this special group of young men in their journey to Dr. Harty Cup and Croke Cup successes.
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