One day in the sun

“WITHOUT our past, how will people know who we are” – John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath.
Every once in a while, a coach or manager will come along who can change the fortunes of a hurling team, be it a school team, a club or county. Such people are unique, gifted and very special. In 1960, Ennis CBS was very fortunate when Br Jim Hennessy was appointed to their teaching staff.

A native of Waterford and a huge hurling enthusiast, he gave the school a sporting lift. Br Hennessy quickly set about getting the best out of a local group of town and country pupils to compete in the Dr Rodgers, the Rice Cup and Dr Harty Cup competitions.
In 1961, the Dr Rodgers Cup was won by Ennis CBS with wins over Nenagh CBS, Clonmel High School, Rockwell and Coláiste Iognáid Rís. It was the first title to come to Ennis CBS in 20 years, the Dean Ryan Cup having been won at the expense of Midleton in 1941.
The following year, the Rice Cup U-14 All-Ireland Championship was won with a splendid victory over Templemore on a scoreline of 9-5 to 2-2. To this day, Br Hennessy is held in the highest esteem by all who knew him. Pat Coffey, who played at all levels for the school, praises Br Hennessy for getting everyone out hurling and giving everybody a chance.
“He was passionate about hurling. In 1961, we won the Dr Rodgers Cup, beating Sullivan’s Quay (Coláiste Iognáid Rís) by one point. They had Charlie McCarthy, the future Cork great, on their team. Some of us were very young. I was only 14. With the nucleus of a very strong Harty Cup team in 1961, which went to the semi-final, Jim set about winning the title in 1962.”
Br Hennessy was influenced by the powerful ground striking of the great Waterford teams of 1957-1963. He introduced this style of hurling to Ennis CBS. The job of the wing and corner-forwards was to cut the ball into the centre for the full or centre-forwards to finish. Hennessy’s vision was best realised when Ennis demolished the holders North Monastry by 6-8 to 2-3 in the semi-final in 1962.
In the build-up to the latter stages, Ennis defeated St Molaisse’s (Portumna), Thurles and Kilkenny CBS in challenges. This CBS team tended to go for goals. Pat Coffey, supported by Flan Quigney, scored four against St Colman’s in the Harty Cup semi-final of 1963 and Michael Hanrahan and Vincent Loftus were also prolific.
Gary Stack, a superb overhead striker and a member of both of Rodgers and Harty Cup sides, bemoaned the loss of Toddy O’Loughlin, Tony Kelly, Pat Brennan, Hughie Malone, Derry Dinan and John Nevin, the latter transferring to St Flannan’s, but gives great credit to Br Hennessy and Br Lee for building a winning team in 1962, despite these losses.
Gary went on to say that at half-time in the 1962 final against St Flannan’s, “It didn’t look like we’d win because we had to go out against a very strong wind in the second half. I remember he said to us, ‘Do ye want to be the first Ennis CBS team to win the crown’. He had it drilled into us that we could win.”

Unique final
The 1962 final was quite unique. Following terrific wins over a fancied Limerick CBS team and North Monastry before 9,000 patrons, Ennis CBS went into the final as underdogs against St Flannan’s, who were slight favourites because of their outstanding winning tradition. They had already won eight senior Harty Cup championships.
Michael Hanrahan of St Michael’s Villas, one of the star forwards of the CBS team, recalls, “It was very exciting, The closest I can come to it would be the euphoria surrounding Clare’s win in 1995. The weeks leading up to the final were unbelievable. Being stopped in the street by well-wishers, looking for a progress report on the team. Everybody in the Villas was interested in it because of the fact that Des Guerin and I were on the team. Mrs Leahy made blue and yellow caps and scarves for the CBS. She was a great woman.
“You couldn’t walk 10 or 15 yards without being stopped by Flan Hynes, Con Ryan, Tommy Pilkington or Tommy Coote. Practically everywhere you went, you were treated as a celebrity. Frank Coffey, father of Sean, was also a very generous benefactor to our team. He paid for our hurling gear. They were totally co-ordinated. Shortly after the Harty final, Brendan O’Reilly of RTÉ came to Ennis to interview a few of us. I was in awe of Brendan because of his athletic prowess. Brendan had his homework done and he asked me about my broken finger from the Harty final.”
A record crowd of over 9,000 paying patrons swarmed into Cusack Park to witness one of the tensest Harty finals. “After much fumbling and messing, the CBS only got into their stride in the second quarter, building up a reasonable lead by the interval,” wrote The Clare Champion of the day.
The newspaper went on to say that “Rarely, if ever, have such scenes been witnessed as were in the dying minutes when St Flannan’s gradually whittled down their opponents’ lead to the minimum. Dickie Pyne and Tony Loughnane, the Flannan’s danger men, were competently handled by the CBS defence but it was the quick thinking of Paddy Flynn that denied Flannan’s two goals in the second half. Withstanding onslaught after onslaught, the CBS defence stood up to a constant buffeting from Flannan’s and it took a brilliant save two minutes from time by Michael Hayes to give a deserving victory to the CBS after some desperate efforts since the 1955/56 season to enter the final.”
There is no doubt that the 1962 all-Ennis Harty Cup final captured the imagination of the county. Twenty-one years later, Marie Barrett penned a wonderful athmospheric account of that day for the Irish Independent. She recalled the streets of the town being thronged.
“Crowds flowed towards Cusack Park with the precision and strength of a Norman invasion. Footpaths were ignored, cars were dismissed and streets became a human river in full flow. I can still remember in my shocked innocence and can also see the smashed splinters of the big black umbrella of a local respectable teacher.
“He had hurled so ferociously off the field, with both directions and damnations, that all that remained of his umbrella was a battered and battle-scarred tangle of cloth and metal – symbolic of our torn nerves. The details of the score and scoring I fail to remember but the final result I will never forget. We won by a point – and the Brothers were victors and our heroes for life.”
The vital moment came two minutes into the second half when goalkeeper Michael Hayes (Clooney) pulled down a high ball and cleared to the right wing, where it was crisply whipped into the path of Jim McMahon, who rounded Eamon Boland to blast the ball past Pat McGrath, putting the CBS 11 points up, playing against the wind. But from then on it was all Flannan’s.
After the final whistle, Paddy Flynn, Tony Vaughan, Vincent Loftus and many other players were carried shoulder high to the top of O’Connell Street. Sportsmanship prevailed that the CBS players didn’t go down the Limerick Road but turned back into the town in respect of the defeated team.
Fr Seamus Gardiner of St Flannan’s has less enthusiastic memories. “The defeat in 1959 to Abbey CBS from Tipperary town was unexpected. The 1962 final is famous because of the clash with neighbours Ennis CBS. The build-up was enormous and naturally with our record, the groundswell of popular opinion was for a CBS first ever victory. Everybody loves the underdog.
“CBS won on a scoreline of 4-2 to 2-7 to the great delight of the neutrals. For Flannan’s, of course, the cliché ‘It’s good for hurling’ was scant comfort and many students remember the long silent walk in from the park to the college.”
Later that year, St Flannan’s had some compensation, when captained by the very popular Ennisman, John Nevin (possibly one of the first day boys to be honoured with the captaincy of St Flannan’s), they defeated St Kieran’s, Kilkenny by 5-10 to 6-5 in the annual Old Croke Cup competition.
In the following years, both Ennis colleges remained very strong. In 1963, Ennis CBS defeated Limerick CBS and St Colman’s, Fermoy by big margins to reach the final with their great rivals, St Finbarr’s. A remarkable feature of that year’s campaign was that Seanie Barry scored 3-5 against St Flannan’s in a narrow victory and the Bride Rovers clubman repeated the same scoreline against Ennis CBS in the final at Thurles.
It was to be St Finbarr’s day on a score of 4-9 to 4-3. My only memory of the game is Conor Smyth’s goal in the opening minute and the constant rain that lashed down. As a disappointed seven-year-old, I missed the school bus home but thankfully two of our school teachers, Cyril Brennan and Michael Hayes (St Joseph’s) found me and drove me home.
The following season, Limerick CBS finally defeated Ennis CBS in a rousing game at Newmarket by 3-9 to 4-2. The difference was Br Hennessy was now attached to Limerick CBS and he knew the strengths and weaknesses of every Ennis player. Their opponents that year in the Harty Cup final was St Flannan’s and after a cracking hour’s hurling, Limerick CBS, under the guidance of Br Burke and Br Hennessy, emerged victorious by 6-10 to 4-7, the win giving Limerick hurling a huge facelift. It was the beginning of a glorious era for Limerick CBS.
The importance of competitive colleges hurling cannot be over-stated. With due consideration to the classroom, most of my vivid school memories concern colleges hurling at all grades with fleets of buses pulling out from Lifford Road and New Road to take hundreds of scholars to Bansha, Emly or Tipperary town. My abiding memory takes me back to a beautiful autumn afternoon in 1968 when going to play the North Mon at Emly. After a slow start, Ennis came from behind to win by 2-11 to 3-4. On our way home, the bus drivers, prompted by the exuberant bunch of Leaving Cert students of 1968/69 drove into the grounds of St Flannan’s during study time. They had lost their game with Coláiste Chríost Rí, the holders. All good humoured fun, of course.