Last night I finished my look at the North Mon’s Harty Cup hurling history at 1943. At that point the school had accumulated 10 titles and it’s role as a leading hurling nursery was firmly established.
The team I picked last night was mostly made up of Glen Rovers players. That was not because the Glen is my own club; it has more to do with the way things were structured at that time. The Glen and St Anne’s were to the forefront in underage hurling in Cork during the 1920s and 30s. There were no inter-club competitions until 1939 and under-15 competitions did not begin until the early 1950s.
1943 was also the year that the Na Piarsaigh and St Vincents hurling and football clubs were formed. Christy Twomey of Na Piarsaigh captained the 1943 winning team, and from then on players from these two clubs began to feature in North Mon teams. The teams that represented the Mon between 1943 and 1955 were not poorer than the previous teams; it would be more accurate to say they did not get the same degree of luck that the earlier teams had.
The Diocesan seminaries of St Flannans, Ennis and St Colmans, Fermoy dominated the 1943 to 1954 era. St Flannans won six titles 1944, ’45, ’46, ’47, ’52 and ’54. St Colmans won two 1948 and ’49. The other championships went to Thurles CBS in 1950 and ’51 with Mount Sion, Waterford capturing their only title in 1953.
This slump was at least partially caused by the economic conditions that prevailed during the 1939-1945 ‘Emergency’. Because of the Emergency, the primary schools competitions went into decline during the 1940s. By 1947 only three city schools were playing in the under-14 hurling competition. The teams that were winning the Harty Cup were boarding schools where the pupils had more time to hone their hurling skills. It was around this time too that new secondary schools began to emerge throughout the city and this diluted the pool of talent available to the Mon.
Throughout that time however, some great players represented the Mon. Joe Twomey, Johnny Clifford, Val Dorgan, Sean O’Sullivan and Eamonn Goulding were stars of that era. The Mon had great hopes that the 1951 team would bring them back to glory. Unfortunately, Sullivan’s Quay ambushed them when Blackrock’s Jimmy Brohan fired over a late winner in a 1-3 to 1-2 upset of the century. The Mon would have to wait another four years for the famine to end.
The dam of frustration finally burst in 1955. The excitement of the Harty final victory was excellently captured by Plunkett Carter in his brilliant Harty Cup Special in the Evening Echo of March 2007. The mid-field dominance of captain Noel Lynam and Pat Finn were the foundation on which the game was won but there were also magnificent contributions by goalkeeper Sean O’Brien, Sean O’Riordan and Dick O’Shea.
The next Harty Cup came in 1960. This was another special win for the North Mon because the team went on to win the schools first of five All-Ireland colleges titles. The All-Ireland colleges championship began in 1944 and St Flannans were the first winners. The competition was suspended after the 1948 final and was not contested again until 1958.
The late John Sutton was the captain of that team, and Brian Dillons’ Pat Curley scored 1-4 in the All-Ireland final. Other stars were Corny Mulachy, Dave Moore, and Billy Fitton. One feature of the 1960 team was that it did not feature any player from Glen Rovers on the side.
The Harty was retained in 1961 but the All-Ireland title was surrendered to St Kierans of Kilkenny. During the 1960s players like Tomás Buckley (Glen Rovers) and Michael Ellard (Na Piarsaigh) starred for the Mon but failed to win Harty medals. It was 1970 before the Mon won the title again. By then both the academic and the hurling scene had changed greatly. The introduction of free secondary education in 1966 allowed thousands of children to stay in school and sit the Leaving Certificate. This had a duel effect on the Mon’s Harty Cup prospects; it increased their hurling pool but it also increased that of their rivals in the same competition.
The 1970’s was the first year that colleges hurling competitions were played with teams of 13 players. The Mon team was backboned by the midfield pair of captain Des O’Grady and Mick Corbett. The goalkeeper, Dave O’Brien (Blarney) was one of the Mon’s best ever keepers and Kieran O’Connor and Ger Hanley (Passage) were also very prominent.
There was a very competitive club hurling scene in Cork during the 1970s and the Cork minor hurling team won six All-Ireland championships between 1970 and 1979. However, the Mon could not get the ‘rub of the green’ required to capture the Harty again until 1980. Once again the teams that lined out during that era featured some marvellous players. Most prominent of these were Pat Horgan (Glen Rovers), John O’Sullivan (Na Piarsaigh), Tom Cashman (Blackrock) and Richie O’Mahony (Glen Rovers).
The 1980s was a great era for the Mon with four titles. The first came in 1980. Tony O’Sullivan (Na Piarsaigh) was the scoring star of the team, but there were others, including Tomás Mulcahy (Glen Rovers), Martin Lyons (Blackrock), Paul O’Connor (Na Piarsaigh) and the captain Jim Murray (Na Piarsaigh). The team went on to win the All-Ireland. Just as twenty years earlier, the Harty was retained in 1981 but the All-Ireland was lost. Teddy McCarty (Sarsfields) won his only Harty medal that year.
Titles number 17 and 18 were won in 1985 and ’86. Kieran McGuckin (Glen Rovers), Frank Horgan (Erins Own), Tony O’Keeffe (Erins Own) and Christy Connery (Na Piarsaigh) were the stars. The ’86 side also won the All-Ireland when they defeated Community College Birr after a replay.
The Mon’s last Harty triumph was in 1994. Brian Hurley (St Finbarrs) was the goalkeeper and captain. The back line also contained Kevin Egan (Delanys) and Sean Óg Ó hAilpín (Na Piarsaigh).
No further Harty Cup triumphs have come the way of the Mon since. There are many reasons put forward for this. It is not within the remit of this work to speculate on them other than to say that the North Mon is now 200 years in existence and all institutions are bound to experience the swings of fortune in various aspects of their work over such a period.
Finally, it is important to mention the people who made the hurling legacy of the Mon possible; the Christian Brothers. These columns have been about the players and the contribution they made to hurling in the North Mon and in Cork. It was the interest and time of the Brothers who nurtured and facilitated the thousands of boys to express their personalities through the medium of hurling. It has been the integrity and character of Cork that has benefited and not just hurling per se
After all that it is time to put down my suggestion for the greatest North Mon team of 1944 to the present day era. If these players won a Harty Cup medal the year is in brackets. Seán O’Brien (1955), Christy Connery (1985), Jim Murray (1980), Teddy O’Brien, Tom Cashman, Pat Horgan Sean Óg Ó hAilpín (1994), Mick Corbett (1970), Joe Twomey, Teddy McCarthy (1981), Martin Lyons (1980), Tomás Mulcahy (1980), Eamonn Goulding, Tony O’Sullivan (1980), Ger Hanley (1970).