Cistercian College, Roscrea were crowned All-Ireland 'B' hurling champions for the second time recently. School principal and team manager Hugh McDonnell reflects on the success. Better known for their exploits on the rugby field, Cistercian College, Roscrea showed that they are no slouches when it comes to hurling either when they captured the All-Ireland 'B' Colleges title for a second time on May 1 last. There were joyous scenes at Pairc Tailteann, Navan after Cistercian had withstood a late onslaught from St. Pat's, Maghera to claim their second title in five years on a 2-13 to 2-10 scoreline. The Roscrea school looked to be cruising to victory when they led by 2-10 to 0-6 at the interval, but St. Pat's came roaring back in the second half and there was as much relief as delight among the Cistercian players when the final whistle eventually sounded. "It was a great occasion for us, but St. Pat's made us fight all the way for our win" says Cistercian College principal and team manager Hugh McDonnell. "We played very well in the first half, but St. Pat's came back at us very strongly after half-time and for a while, it looked like they might catch us. But we weathered the storm and picked off three late points to secure the win." This was Cistercian's fifth time to contest an All-Ireland 'B' Colleges final. Their first three appearances ended in defeats to Nenagh CBS (1986), Shannon Comprehensive ('87) and St. Clement's of Limerick ('97). The breakthrough was finally achieved in 2000 when a team containing the likes of Conor Phelan (Kilkenny) and John O'Brien (Tipperary) got the better of St. Declan's, Kilmacthomas. "We had been knocking on the door for a while before we won our first All-Ireland 'B' title. Now we have won two in five years which isn't bad going for a school of just 300 pupils," enthuses Hugh who has been involved with Cistercian teams for the past 30 years. Cistercian College, which is a boys only boarding school, has a long history in colleges hurling. Despite being located in Co. Offaly (the local hurling club is Ballyskenach), the school competed in the first Harty Cup (Munster SH 'A' championship) in 1917. But it returned to Leinster and won 4-in-a-row of SH 'A' titles between 1919 and 1923.. Cistercian won its last Leinster Colleges SH 'A' title in 1947 and subsequently contested the All-Ireland final which it lost to St. Flannan's, Ennis. Down the years, the school has alternated between the 'A' and 'B' grades. After winning the All-Ireland 'B' title in 2000, Cistercian competed in the Leinster Colleges 'A' championship for three years and caused a big upset in 2002 when they defeated St. Kieran's College, Kilkenny in the provincial league decider. The Roscrea school has produced many outstanding hurlers in recent years, including Paddy and John O'Brien (Tipperary), Shane McGuckian (Offaly), Hugh and Noel Maloney (Tipperary), Stephen Lucey (Limerick), Redmond Barry (Wexford) and Conor and John Phelan (Kilkenny). In fact, there were 12 past pupils of the school who played in this year's Fitzgibbon Cup competition. Having just come down from the 'A' grade, Cistercian's objective at the start of the year was to reach the Leinster final. McDonnell admits that anything after that would have been looked upon as a bonus. Cistercian set out on the road to All-Ireland glory by taking part in the round-robin section of the Leinster 'B' championship. An opening round win over Colaiste Coilm, Tullamore was followed by a draw with Portlaoise CBS. Their third outing yielded a victory over Colaiste Eanna, Dublin which saw them qualify for the provincial quarter-final. There, they defeated another Dublin school, St. Declan's of Cabra, and that was followed by another good win over LSU, Banagher in the semi-final. In the Leinster final, Cistercian needed two games to get over Presentation DLS Bagenalstown by a point. Both the drawn and replayed finals were played in Nowlan Park. Against Nenagh CBS in the All-Ireland semi-final at Templemore, Cistercian could afford the luxury of 12 wides in a 0-15 to 1-11 win. Cistercian were the better team throughout, holding a 0-10 to 1-4 lead at the interval, and in Cork man Peter O'Brien, they had a match winner. But they came under sustained pressure in the closing stages and had goalkeeper Cathal Nash to thank for bringing off a fine save from Nenagh's Padraig Troy with five minutes remaining. The All-Ireland final was the proverbial game of two halves with Roscrea dominating the opening period and Derry school Maghera coming back strongly after the break. Cistercian burst out of the starting blocks and aided by goals from Peter O'Brien and Greg Delahunty, enjoyed a 10-point advantage at the interval. Maghera refused to accept defeat, however, and shortly after the restart, the Cistercian defence performed heroics to keep Mark Lynch's penalty out. But it wasn't long before St. Pat's got into their stride and two goals in quick succession from Lynch and substitute Sam Dodds brought them back into contention. The Ulster champions had the deficit down to the minimum before O'Brien finally lifted the siege with Cistercian's first point of the second half in the 57th minute. Diarmuid Brunton replied for Maghera, but two late points from O'Brien not only assured Roscrea of All-Ireland success, but also of a quick return to the 'A' grade. No fewer than 11 counties were represented on the Cistercian starting line-up, while 13 different counties were represented on the panel. Among those who are involved with their county minor sides this year are Peter O'Brien (Cork), Greg Delahunty (Laois), Ruairi Campion (Mayo - football and hurling), Peter O'Brien (Cork - football), Timmy Breen (Tipperary - football), Eamon Lee (Offaly) and Barry Connolly (Galway), who is a son of former All-Ireland winning captain Joe Connolly. Also, centre forward Austin Murphy won an All-Ireland minor medal with Kilkenny last year. Seven members of the Cistercian hurling panel also lined out for the school's senior rugby team this year. The rugby team didn't fare quite as well as their hurling counterparts, though, bowing out to Newbridge in the quarter final of the Leinster Schools competition. Cistercian haven't won a Leinster Schools senior rugby title since 1939, though they did reach the final four years ago when they were forced to give second best to Blackrock. "Our policy has always been to try to promote all sports in the school," explains Hugh, who hails from Burgess in Co. Tipperary. "We now have students from as far away as Mexico and Russia and we try to cater for everyone. But for whatever reason, hurling and rugby have been the two big sports played in the school over the years." The Cistercian College, Roscrea team which captured the All-Ireland 'B' Colleges hurling title was: Cathal Nash; Tomas Garvey, Martin Leahy, Nicholas McCarthy; Timmy Breen, Alan McIntyre, Karl Fullam; Eamon Lee, John O'Loughlin; Barry Connolly, Austin Murphy, Michael Starr; Greg Delahunty, Peter O'Brien, Ruari Campion. Tweet

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