Ardscoil Rís power into Harty Cup semi-final with brilliant final quarter against Our Lady’s Templemore

The Limerick outfit booked their place in the last four with a classy second half performance against a gutsy Templemore outfit.

Ardscoil Rís are back in the Dr Harty Cup semi-finals after they beat Our Lady’s Templemore 1-22 to 1-17 in UL this afternoon. The City outfit are just one game away from a seventh final since 2010 as they lost in last year’s decider before going on to win the All-Ireland title.

In UL, Fintan Fitzgerald starred for the winners, hitting 0-10 over the course of the hour with four of those coming from play including three in the first half where Ardscoil struggled.

Michael Collins hit 0-5 from play in the second half alone as the City side turned the screw in the final quarter. With a quarter of an hour to play, Templemore led by four points but Ardscoil finished in style as they outscored their opponents 1-9 to 0-3 in the final fifteen to book their passage into the last four.

It was Daire Neville who struck for the decisive goal on 45 minutes, finishing well after Matthew O’Halloran had set him free. Neville’s goal reduced the deficit back to a single point before Fitzgerald, Collins and Marc O’Brien had them in front for the first time. Fitzgerald, Collins and Mikey Gavin all found the target in the last quarter as they eased to the finish line with Templemore finding little in retort.

Ardscoil Rís will have Cashel CS for company in the semi-final after they came through their last eight tie with a 1-13 to 0-13 win over CBC Cork. These sides met in the first round where a late Shane Gleeson goal proved the difference for the Limerick outfit.

Thurles CBS will meet Midleton CBS in the other semi-final on Saturday January 21.

It was all Our Lady’s Templemore in the early exchanges in UL as they raced into an early 0-3 to 0-1 lead with Paddy Phelan accurate from placed balls.

Points from Fitzgerald and Shane Gleeson had ASR briefly level before Jamie Ormond pushed the Tipp side back in front. They extended that margin to four when Ciaran O’Shea struck for the first goal of the game.

Gleeson and O’Brien made it a one point game with five minutes to the half but the Tipp outfit finished strongly with Ormond taking over the frees and continuing in Phelan’s lead with wing back James Ryan delivering an inspirational score. All that had them 1-10 to 0-9 in front at the interval.

Neville had Ardscoil off the mark early in the second period but Templemore were five clear when Ormond pointed after 36 minutes.

A Diarmuid Stritch score did reduce the margin back to three on 43 minutes and while Templemore had the next score, they were powerless to stop the eventual Ardscoil Rís avalanche that followed.

Scorers for Ardscoil Rís: Fintan Fitzgerald (0-10, 6frees), Michael Collins (0-5), Daire Neville (1-1), Marc O’Brien (0-2), Diarmuid Stritch, Shane Gleeson, John O’Keeffe and Mikey Gavin (0-1).

Ardscoil Ris: Eoin Deegan (Cratloe), John O’Keeffe (Na Piarsaigh), Sean McMahon (Smith O’Briens), Sean Morrissey (Dromin Athlacca Banogue); Jamie Moylan (Cratloe), Cian Scully (Dromin Athlacca Banogue), James Finn (Na Piarsaigh); Mikey Gavin (Ballybrown), Diarmuid Stritch (Clonlara), Shane Gleeson (Adare), Fintan Fitzgerald (Mungret St Pauls), Matthew O’Halloran (Sixmilebridge); Michael Collins (Clonlara), Daire Neville (Cratloe), Marc O’Brien (Cratloe).

Subs Used: Eoin Begley (Clonlara), Eoin Carey (Cratloe), Sam Hickey (Adare), Patrick Kearney (Adare)