PREVIEW: Nenagh CBS travel to Clare once again for chance to create more history

MASITA Dr. Croke Cup U19A Hurling PPS All-Ireland Semi-Final

Nenagh CBS vs St. Raphael's College, Loughrea, Saturday, March 2nd in Tulla @ 2 pm

Incentives will be in plentiful supply for Nenagh CBS with an All-Ireland final appearance in Croke Park the reward for them if they can get past a tough opponent in the form of Connacht champions St. Raphael’s College of Loughrea this Saturday.

It has been well highlighted by everyone associated with Nenagh CBS in recent weeks that their holy grail was the Harty Cup this year. Still, given the prize at stake here they will surely be highly motivated to add to their historic success last month.

Nenagh stuttered through the early parts of their quarter-final win over Kilkenny CBS two weekends ago and it seemed that they were shedding some skin from the celebrations after the Harty Cup win and eventually, went into something close to top gear in the final ten minutes to put away their Kilkenny opposition once and for all in a physical contest in tough underfoot conditions in Rathdowney on the day.

The rotation of the quarter-final places for the provincial winners would have had many in Tipperary thinking that Nenagh CBS were getting the raw deal with having to play a last-eight game, but it might have worked in their favour after all with the game likely flattening out any complacency and perhaps giving them that extra game to get back into the groove and re-focus for a tilt at All-Ireland glory.

They won’t be putting the cart before the horse though as they have to get ready for a tough contest against recently crowned Connacht champions from Loughrea, St. Raphael’s who defeated a very strong-looking Presentation Athenry team who would have had the bulk of the team which defeated Thurles CBS last year in the quarter-final in Tullamore; including teenage sensation Aaron Niland.

Led by manager and former Galway senior hurler Francis Forde, St. Raphael’s won their ninth title in January’s final against Athenry and have a flurry of county players in the squad, and the fashion in which they came from behind in the Connacht final shows their mettle as they trailed by two points at half-time in that game against a team who had beaten them well earlier in the competition as well as in the previous year’s final.

They changed tack in the second half of the game and carried possession very well and given that they aren’t a physically imposing team, it played to their advantage as they have quality hurlers all over the pitch.

In particular, they will look to the likes of Oscar O’Gorman who scored three points from wing-back in the Connacht final, while their full back line of Jason Griffin, Daniel Keane, and Gavin Maher impressed in curtailing a strong Athenry forward line in that game.

For Nenagh, they will once again look to Darragh McCarthy to lead the way for them as the Toomevara man is fit and ready despite being withdrawn late from the fray against Kilkenny CBS and they will be hoping he can nail down his frees as he had a rare and unexpected malfunction on them early in that game.

However, he still contributed heavily from play, and with the team in general still in rude health they will be full of confidence that they can find their form from the Harty Cup campaign.

It will be interesting to see if there are any changes for this one from a Nenagh perspective as substitutes Austin Duff, Joe O’Dwyer, and Darragh Treacy all impressing in the second half of the quarter-final, but given the same formula has brought Donach O’Donnell’s men this far, he will probably be reluctant to change things at this stage.

This is a golden oppotunity to play in an All-Ireland Final for Nenagh CBS and given their last success in 2012 was played in Semple Stadium, they will be desperate to put their best foot forward in east Clare this Saturday afternoon.