EDITORIAL: Thank you, Brendan Ryan! No one deserves to lift the Harty Cup more than you!

Cashel Community School’s Harty Cup triumph on Sunday in Semple Stadium will be remembered and talked about for decades to come.

The match itself will become a storied tale of remarkable defensive determination and sheer grit in attack.

Every puck of the ball will be spoken about and remembered forever.

Books will be written about this Cashel team and what they’ve won.

It’s hard to comprehend the enormity of what the team, management and the school achieved in lifting the coveted trophy after a hard-fought win over rivals Thurles CBS.

At the homecoming for the team in Cashel Community School on the Dualla Road on Sunday evening, principal John Gallagher remarked that Cashel were the first community school to ever win the Harty Cup.

And what a way to win it, in Semple Stadium and against another Tipperary school.

Manager, Brendan Ryan, told the hundreds that had gathered to welcome the boys home that this year’s Harty Cup team has immense character and he paid tribute to the other teams over the years who helped Cashel get to where they are now - Harty Cup champions for the first time in the 106-year history of the competition.

He described the team as a very special group of young men who have achieved the impossible.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s hard to believe that Cashel Community School are Harty Cup champions. We dreamed of just playing in it and now we’ve won it,” the manager said after the game.

Brendan has been trying for over 20 years at Cashel Community School not just to win the Harty Cup competition, but to even compete in the Munster Schools ‘A’ hurling competition.

So well done to you, Brendan. For all you helped these young men to achieve.

The entire school community, the eight clubs the players come from, the parents and family members of the 46-man panel, all owe you a huge debt.

Thank you, Brendan.

Thank you for helping to give these Harty Cup heroes legendary status for the rest of their lives.