try {
  cfg =  new  Configuration();
  cfg.addResource("business/myobject.hbm.xml");
  cfg.setProperties(System.getProperties());
  sessions = cfg.configure().buildSessionFactory();
}  catch ( Throwable t ){
  // и здесь обрабатываете тот факт, что приложение не стартовало.
} 

java.sql.SQLException: Server connection failure during transaction. Due to underlying exception: 'java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect'.
Attempted reconnect  3  times. Giving up.
        at com.mysql.jdbc.Connection.createNewIO(Unknown Source)
        at com.mysql.jdbc.Connection.<init>(Unknown Source)
        at com.mysql.jdbc.NonRegisteringDriver.connect(Unknown Source)
        at java.sql.DriverManager.getConnection(DriverManager.java: 525 )
        at java.sql.DriverManager.getConnection(DriverManager.java: 140 )
        at com.mchange.v2.c3p0.DriverManagerDataSource.getConnection(DriverManagerDataSource.java: 66 )
        at com.mchange.v2.c3p0.WrapperConnectionPoolDataSource.getPooledConnection(WrapperConnectionPoolDataSource.java
 76 )
        at com.mchange.v2.c3p0.impl.C3P0PooledConnectionPool$ 1 .acquireResource(C3P0PooledConnectionPool.java: 66 )
        at com.mchange.v2.resourcepool.BasicResourcePool.assimilateResource(BasicResourcePool.java: 787 )
        at com.mchange.v2.resourcepool.BasicResourcePool.acquireUntil(BasicResourcePool.java: 548 )
        at com.mchange.v2.resourcepool.BasicResourcePool.access$ 000 (BasicResourcePool.java: 35 )
        at com.mchange.v2.resourcepool.BasicResourcePool$AcquireTask.run(BasicResourcePool.java: 972 )
        at com.mchange.v2.async.ThreadPoolAsynchronousRunner$PoolThread.run(ThreadPoolAsynchronousRunner.java: 148 )