CBS heroes capture first Harty Cup title

IN a space of 50 years, many moments of the game will have slipped the mind but one will never forget the after-match scenes and celebrations after Ennis CBS won their first and only Dr Harty Cup on March 25, 1962. The fact that it was at the expense of town rivals, St Flannan’s College, made the historic win all the more sweet.
Even though they had no previous history of meeting in the competition, their pairing to decide the winner of the Munster colleges’ premier hurling championship evoked a great sense of rivalry. Flannan’s had assumed the title of Harty Cup specialists, after winning the cup on eight occasions. On the other hand, CBS were relative newcomers to the scene, only having re-entered the Harty in 1955, after the arrival of Brother Lee as superior from North Monastery CBS, Cork, another great nursery.
He started the ball rolling and Ennis CBS – then in green and white colours – made an immediate impression. They rattled a few of the big names in their first years before being denied a place in the final. Bus and train journeys were all new to the CBS followers, who at last got their big chance in 1962 when an all-Clare team, trained by Br Seamus Hennessy, got the opportunity to put their name on the trophy for the first time. Down the years, they saw Flannan’s win the Harty with a combination of players from various Munster counties, most of then boarders. The CBS lads wanted to prove a point – that they could win with a home grown team – nine from Ennis and the remainder of the pupils from Quin, Corofin, Inagh, Newmarket-on-Fergus and Clarecastle.
The game promised to be a thriller and it turned out to be a classic, despite the bad weather. It was a game that caught the imagination of hurling people from near and far, so much so that the attendance of over 9,000 was a record for a Harty Cup final.
As a CBS past pupil, I was looking forward to cheering on the boys from the New Road but circumstances prevented me from wearing their colours. As a reporter still in my learning years, I was assigned by the late Frank O’Dea, editor, to cover the final for The Clare Champion. While I was thrilled to record a one-point win for my alma matter, I had to be fair to St Flannan’s – now with a fair sprinkling of Ennis players – and give them due credit for the part they played in making the Harty Cup final of 1962 one the greatest in the long history of the competition.
I remember covering the game from my position on the River Fergus side of Cusack Park, where most of the CBS supporters had gathered. Alongside me was another past pupil and great Clonroad neighbour, the late Tom Quinn, who had come from Dublin where he was studying to be a primary school teacher. Earlier on, in pouring rain, I collected him at Ennis Station from the special train from Dublin organised by the Dublin branch of the Ennis CBS Past Pupils Union. The train was packed with supporters and past pupils, creating a great atmosphere and buzz around Ennis before the game.
People have different abiding memories of the game but for me the one that clearly comes to mind was when CBS full-back, Tony Vaughan from Clooney and the late Tony Loughnane from Feakle, who was full-forward and one of the big danger men on the Flannan’s team, came to grips for the first time. The full-back met the situation with such ferocity that he must have frightened the lives of the rest of the Flannan’s forwards. Ennis CBS had made a statement and they were on their way to Harty glory.
The game ended in sheer excitement with the CBS side, nine points clear at half-time after playing with the stiff breeze, clinging onto a one-point lead.
Just before the end, Flannan’s came looking for an equalising or winning score and in the huge goalmouth melée, Flannan’s supporters were under the impression that the ball had actually crossed the line to give them another Harty Cup. However, the ball became stuck in the muck, goalkeeper Michael Hayes lifted and cleared and the pitch invasion was on its way.
Fifteen CBS Heroes Capture First Ever Harty Cup Title was the heading in my match report. Heroes they were, all shouldered high through the streets of Ennis, a scene not seen before or since. In contrast, it must have been a long walk back to college for Flannan’s boarders.
The historic win was celebrated well into the night but, unfortunately, I could not participate as I had another assignment, the adjudication and final results of the Doonbeg Drama Festival, a marking that kept me away from Ennis until the early hours of the morning.