PREVIEW: St Joseph’s College are hoping to add to recent Tipperary schools' success

Tipperary attention in the Munster schools competitions will not solely be focused on Nenagh CBS this weekend as St Joseph’s College, Borris-Ileigh, prepare for their own provincial schools decider in the Corn Ui Mhatuna final in Fethard Town Park on Friday.

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It speaks to the recent resurgence of underage quality coming through the county in all divisions that so many Tipperary schools have been contesting in the latter stages of Munster competition with regularity, and St Joseph’s College will continue that trend in the C grade when they take on Dungarvan CBS.

St Joseph’s College had a good start to the year with two wins and a draw in the group stage, with the stalemate coming against a strong St Mary’s, Newport team, before Christmas and with knockout wins over Borrisokane Community College in the quarter, and Glanmire in the semi, they come into this game in fine form.

Having contested B competitions in recent years, the school dropped down a grade this year and have been quite impressive, still unbeaten at this point, and with former Tipperary captain Willie Ryan of Toomevara at the helm, they have a fine support network for a talented group of players.

“Look, we’re a small school, but we have some lovely hurlers,” Ryan remarked, speaking ahead of the final on Friday.

“We have Dungarvan to face now on Friday, which is actually a repeat of the 2006 Munster B final. I think Seamus Callanan and Brendan Maher were on that team, so it is a repeat of that.

“The boys have trained hard all year to be fair to them. In Michael Collins and Billy O’Brien, we have two county minor All-Ireland winners. Shane Ryan and David Rabbitte were county minors last year, and Shane and Daniel Groome are current minors,” he highlighted.

“The lads are mad for it. Regardless of the grade, it’s a Munster final, and the lads are mad to win it.

A small pick they have, but they are fed by clubs that are producing plenty of good players underage across the grades in recent years. 13 of the starting team in the semi-final win over Glanmire were from either Borris-Ileigh or Toomevara, with Silvermines and Templederry Kenyons having a sole representative apiece.

Both Borris-Ileigh and Toomevara have become forces at underage level in North Tipperary in recent years, and with the quality at their disposal, they will have real confidence that they can claim provincial glory on Friday.

“Borris and Toome, generally, haven’t been far off finals in all the grades recently, if not in them.

“There’s great craic with that bit of rivalry between them. Anytime they face off in a North final or North semi-final, the slagging does be great between them.

“But in fairness, when the boys go out, they all row in behind one another and back each other up”.

Dungarvan CBS will be keen to spoil the party, and while Ryan admitted he and his management team are not hugely familiar with the team, he acknowledged that they do have some familiar names from recent underage success with Waterford.

“They have the Quann’s playing for them who were playing for the Waterford minors who won the All-Ireland last year. One plays corner back, and the other is midfield.

“Paddy McCarthy is centre forward for them, and he scored seven points from play the last day. He’s an excellent hurler.

“They turned over Youghal, who were favourites for the whole competition in the semi-final. They are very strong, move the ball fast, and they’re a physically big team.

“Look, we’ll have it all to do but we’ll hopefully give a good performance and see where we end up,” he finished.

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