A chance at playing in Croke Park is up for grabs for two Tipperary schools this afternoon.
Both Thurles CBS and Cashel Community School are in All-Ireland semi-finals in Birr today.
The double-header gets underway at 12.45pm when Cashel Community School take on St. Kieran’s College, Kilkenny.
The Kilkenny side have reached the Croke Cup final every year since 2014 and Cashel manager Brendan Ryan is aware of the task at hand today
“Look, they are serious.
“They have two Ballyhale Shamrock seniors who started against Dunloy, Killian Doyle midfield, he started against Tipp in the National League only three weeks ago.
“They have four players that started in the 2020 All-Ireland minor final when Kilkenny lost to Galway.
“They are a serious team but look it’s fifteen against fifteen and our lads as you say have stepped up, in most games they’ve played this year they have been underdogs against quality opposition and they have stepped up and performed and I’m hoping they will do the same again on Saturday.”
The second semi-final gets underway in Birr at 2.30pm and sees Thurles CBS play Presentation College Athenry.
The Galway side has Aaron Niland in their ranks, who scored 2-11 against Tipperary in last year’s All-Ireland minor semi-final.
Thurles manager Éamonn Buckley says the chance to play in Croke Park is a huge motivation for all teams playing today:
“There’s a massive carrot for all four schools.
“To get to play in Croke Park on St. Patrick’s day, that’s probably the stuff that all the boys and we all have been dreaming about since you were children to play in Croke Park especially on St. Patrick’s day.
“It’s a massive carrot so hopefully we won’t be lacking for motivation to try and get in to a final again and hopefully we will have the right attitude and if we apply ourselves right, we will have a chance again on Saturday.”
We’ll have live updates from both matches throughout the afternoon here on Tipp FM.
