THE site for a Lurgan school's planned new building has been damaged in a "disgraceful" arson attack just hours after it made history by winning the Hogan Cup.
St Ronan's College lifted the All-Ireland senior schools football title at Croke Park for the first time on Saturday afternoon, but hours later the Fire Service was called to a blaze at the site of its new build on Cornkinnegar Road.
It is the second time in as many months that former home of St Michael's Grammar School has been targeted by vandals.
Portadown station commander Jed Anderson said it was lucky a nearby house, the back garden of which lay 15 feet from the blaze, was not damaged.
The fire was at a line of mobile classrooms away from the main building, formerly the school's maths block, with three fire engines and 15 fire fighters required to tackle the blaze.
"The other side of the hedge behind the fire is a resident and I think he was quite concerned about his house, because the flames were quite high," Mr Anderson told The Irish News.
"If the whole block had went there would have been the potential for it to spread and scorch his house.
"It was a small fire for us and we put it out quite quickly, but our concern is that it's an unsecured site and the main school is empty so the potential for the whole thing to go is quite high now.
"We hope it gets knocked down as soon as possible as it could have been a lot worse."
Upper Bann SDLP MLA Dolores Kelly described the attack as an act of "wanton vandalism".
“Disgraceful, wanton vandalism at the site of the former St Michael’s Senior High School," she said on Twitter.
The PSNI confirmed it received a report of a fire at around 8.45pm on Saturday and enquiries are ongoing to establish the cause.
Officers have appealed to anyone with information to get in touch.
St Ronan's College is an amalgamation of St Michael’s Grammar, St Paul’s Junior High School and St Mary’s Junior High School.
The former St Michael's Grammar campus has been closed since last year, with a new £30m school building due to be constructed in its place by June 2020.
