History of the Dr. Harty Cup tells a great story:
Eamonn Cregan pictured with the Harty Cup after captaining Limerick CBS to victory in 1964.
By John Harrington
The Dr. Harty Cup is one of those GAA competitions that has a certain extra-special cachet all of its own.
Since its inception in 1918 it’s been the proving ground for generations of Munster hurling legends.
Some of the true greats of the game who would win all before them for their counties as men first made their names as boys in the Munster Post-Primary Schools A Hurling Championship.
Their stories and the story of the Dr. Harty Cup itself have now been told by Tipperary native Liam Ó Donnchú who was commissioned by Munster GAA to write the very first history of the competition.
Launched in the Derrynaflan Theatre in the Horse and Jockey Hotel in Thurles last night, over the course of its 600 pages Ó Donnchú’s book gives a great insight into why the Harty Cup, named after John Harty who was the Catholic Archbishop of Cashel and Emly from 1913 to 1946, has always meant so much to so many.
“From the very start it was really the jewel in the crown of Munster Colleges Hurling,” Ó Donnchú told GAA.ie
“It’s played when the playing surfaces and weather conditions are at their worst but the Munster public love to see young fellas hurling and love to see players coming.
“You’re always asking, have we had anyone new coming in Thurles CBS or wherever. They love to see the future and they enjoy the keen rivalries.
“It was a real status symbol for any of the Munster schools to have the Harty Cup on the sideboard. For any young fella in Munster, the Harty Cup became the Holy Grail for them to have it.
“When I was growing up in the 60s in Thurles, Tipperary were winning All-Irelands and it was easy enough to find a lad to show you one. We had lots of county medals around with the Sarsfields as well.
“But a Harty Cup was a real treasure. Even lads with all Ireland medals, they’d love to have a Harty medal. For those with them it was the most treasured possession, it’s amazing the aura that was about it.”
North Mon’s Con Murphy receiving his Harty Cup medal in 1941 from then Cork player Jack Lynch. Murphy would go on to become President of the GAA.
North Mon’s Con Murphy receiving his Harty Cup medal in 1941 from then Cork player Jack Lynch. Murphy would go on to become President of the GAA.
The Dr. Harty Cup has always been an early weather vane that gives you an idea of what the future might hold for your county in the Munster and All-Ireland senior championships.
History has taught us that vibrant hurling nurseries at Post-Primary Schools level play a vital role in a county’s ability to achieve success in the senior grade.
“People love the Harty as well because it’s a real conduit for players onto the senior county team,” says Ó Donnchú.
“You can see that in all the counties really going back along. Martin Óg Morrissey was the captain of the Harty Cup for Mount Sion in ‘53 and hurling beside him was Frankie Walsh who six years later lifted the Liam McCarthy Cup for Waterford.
“Thurles had three Harty Cups in the 1950s – 50, 51, and 56 – and the Abbey won in 59. Donie Nealon and Len Gaynor won one with St. Flannan’s. Put all that together and it culminated in the golden era of Tipperary hurling from ’58 to ’67. The nucleus of that team experienced success in the Harty Cup.
“The recent Limerick team is rooted in the success of Ard Scoil Rís. They won five Harty Cups from 2010 to 2018 when they had the likes of Declan Hannon, Shane Dowling, and Cian Lynch who captained the 2014 Harty Cup winning team.
“You go back to the four in a row winning Limerick CBS team in the ’60s and you had players like Eamonn Cregan and Eamonn Grimes and Pat Hartigan who would go on to win the 1973 All-Ireland Final with Limerick.
“You can see success coming through in all the counties if you track their success in the Harty Cup. Cork’s periods of success coincided with success in the Harty Cup but in the last 20 years though they’ve only won two, Midleton in 2006 and 2019.
“Even Tipperary’s All-Ireland success this year, you can point to the three Harty Cups they have won in the last three years with Cashel and Nenagh and Thurles. That changed the whole mood of the county. We suddenly felt we had something coming again, even if we didn’t imagine it would come as soon as it did.
“That’s the big attraction of the Harty Cup to people. They know it has a big influence on hurling in the county.”
Ó Donnchú’s history of the Harty Cup is elevated by a brilliant collection of photographs depicting Harty Final winners through the decades and the memories of their playing days in the competition from the likes of Declan Hannon, Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, Andrew O’Shaughnessy, Jamesie O’Connor, Tadgh de Búrca, Tony Wall and many more.
The common thread that runs through them all is that their experience of Harty Cup hurling mean a lot to them and played a hugely important role in their development as hurlers.
“Anyone I spoke to who hurled in the Harty Cup, it was a joyous thing for them,” says Ó Donnchú.
“It was lovely memory in their lives, a lovely part of their lives. It’s a highlight of their secondary school days, which could be tough enough at times, I’m sure.
“The days off, the trips away, the rivalry, the camaraderie, the friendships that were made. It also comes through in a lot of them that how tough it was to win and the difficulty of the training that people went through in the winter, the hardship that they went through. There was really no gain without pain.
“It really steeled them up and toughened them up. Declan Hannon talks about it a lot, for the big challenges of were to come in his Limerick career as a senior player, the Harty really stood to him.
“It gave him and his generation of Limerick hurlers a confidence that they could achieve and a belief that they were winners. That winning ethos is very important. People can get used to losing and accept losing. But the winning ethos that those Limerick lads good really stood to them. They didn’t contemplate defeat at all.”
Pictured at the the Dr. Harty Cup book launch on Wednesday December 10th at the Horse and Jockey Hotel were Left to Right: Jimmy Browne (representing sponsors TUS), Tim Murphy (Chairman Munster GAA), Liam Ó Donnchú (Author), Monsignor Christy O’Dwyer (representing Archbishop of Cashel and Emly Kieran O’Reilly) and Declan Fitzgerald (Chairman Munster GAA Post Primary Schools).
There aren’t always enough anecdotes in history books, but some of the memories of those interviewed tick that box nicely in Ó Donnchú’s tome.
“Mark Foley ended up being a dentist down in Cork because he was very much influenced by a dental injury he got in a Harty match,” says Ó Donnchú.
“He ended up overnight in one of the Cork hospitals and details it all in the book and how it was ultimately a career guidance moment for him!
“Then there was the story about Father Seanie Barry who was a great player with Cork and as a young lad hurled in the Harty Cup with St. Finbarr’s, Farranferris.
“He was getting it tough in a lot of the matches at the time and would have been very recognisable because he had a crew cut. Father Cormac McCarthy was one of the coaches on the team and came up with the ploy of having the team’s other wing-forward, who was like Seanie in build, also get a crew cut.
“When they played in the Harty Cup Final it was the other wing-forward who got all the attention early on because they thought he was Seanie Barry with the consequence that the real Seanie Barry clocked up the scores and it was too late before the other team copped they had the wrong man!”
The Harty Cup has always been the source of great lore. Ó Donnchú and Munster GAA have done the Association a great service by recording it all for posterity.
The History of the Dr. Harty Cup is sponsored by Technological University of the Shannon and now available from all good book stores.