Tralee CBS make hurling history

By John Harrington

A special chapter in the history of Kerry hurling was inked on Tuesday when Tralee CBS became the first school from the Kingdom to win a match in the Dr. Harty Cup.

The fact that it came against 2023 champions, Cashel Community School from Tipperary, made it an ever more notable achievement.

Spearheaded by the tireless Mark Ryall, ‘The Green’ have made a huge effort in recent years to develop the game in the school and a win likes Tuesday’s is a great endorsement of that work.

“It's unbelievable, I suppose, to think back where we've come from in terms of winning Munster 'E' titles in 2018 and 2019,” Ryall told GAA.ie

“It was a mighty day to be fair and a cracker of a game that could have went either way.

“It was great for the boys to be involved in a day like that because the standard at that level is huge. You're playing against unbelievable players, they're all able to play, so it's huge to be able to compete at that level.

“Our boys have a lot of work put in all the way up along from first year to get to that level so they’re over the moon with the win.

“I said to the boys afterwards in the dressing-room, we probably won't appreciate it until we're ten years down the road and we can look back then at it.”

The nature of the victory added to the sense of achievement as Tralee came from five points down with five minutes to play by scoring an unanswered salvo of 2-4 to win by 2-17 to 1-15.

It says a lot about the self-belief of Ryall’s young charges that they never doubted their ability to find a way to win the game.

“I was asked after the game how we prepare them for the challenge of taking on a Tipperary team, but I suppose they've been playing a lot of those teams since first, second year, all the way up along.” He says.

“I've always said to them, if you're putting on a school jersey, going out and playing a football game, you nearly expect that you're going out to win every day you go. So it should be no different in hurling.

“I suppose that's kind of the belief we've instilled into them. You respect every team you go, don't get me wrong, but they're not fearful of any team going out either. Once they give 100%, if you're good enough on the day, you're good enough, and if you're not, then you're not.

“But they don't stop. The boys don't stop. I suppose we've been lucky enough in recent years that we've gotten a couple of generations of players with that sort of attitude on the pitch. They just don't stop.”

Last year Tralee CBS reached both the All-Ireland Senior ‘A’ Schools Football Final and Senior ‘B’ Schools Hurling Final with a number of players involved in both teams.

A good chunk of the Harty Cup team that defeated Cashel on Tuesday will also play for the footballers again this year.

‘The Green’ are truly a great tonic for the misguided notion that young players should focus on one code from an early age rather than be encouraged to succeed in both.

“We get on very well together,” says Ryall of the relationship between the hurling and football teams in the school. “They train a lot together. They're in the gym a lot together. They do recovery together.

“The footballers will have them now for a couple of days training. Those who don't play football will continue training hurling and we'll be probably training above in Caherslee side by side.

“I think it's gone too far in terms of fellas focusing on just one code, if I'm being totally honest. There's only a very few that can play senior with their county.

“That's an achievement in itself for all of those and you wish them all well at that, but there's a huge number up along that don't make it at senior. It's just a pity that they're not playing the other code so they could maybe represent their county in if they kept playing both.”

Ryall has also coached the Kerry senior hurlers for the past two years and he believes that wins like last Tuesday’s are important building blocks that Kerry can build on in the coming years to raise their level.

“It's huge,” he says. “Some of the young fellas who played on Tuesday we would expect will represent the Kerry seniors in a year or two's time.

"Those lads who would have played in the Harty Cup a couple of years ago for the school, the likes of Hugh Lenihan and Liam Og O'Connor, are already in with the Kerry seniors now at the age of 19/20.

“It’s a great help for them making the jump to senior inter-county if they’ve played at the highest level of schools hurling because not fearing anyone else has to be part of the culture.

“Our first years are in every Friday morning at half-seven, and they're trained into that culture of it.

“You need them to understand that part of it as well, that there are sacrifices to be made, and our young fellas are not afraid to make a sacrifice.

“Anything you ask them to do, they do it. That's a huge thing over the last number of years, I suppose. It's massive in developing character with the lads as well.”

Tralee CBS will next play De La Salle and then Thurles CBS in the group phase of the Harty Cup.

They came into the competition as the ranked underdogs in their group, but after Tuesday’s win over Cashel will rightly believe they can set their sights high now.

“Yeah, look, it's a shot to nothing, I suppose,” says Ryall. “It's about getting a performance now against De La Salle. We'll worry about that first and then worry about Thurles after.

“Hopefully all the players will come through in the next couple of weeks because you need a bit of luck with injuries and stuff as well. We'll have a good crack at De La Salle and then we'll see what the story is.”