JUST a few weeks ago, St Mary’s caused quite a stir in university circles as they bridged a 28-year gap since their last Sigerson title.
Move over the Ranch, because on St Patrick’s Day there will be another St Mary’s in town. My alma mater will attempt to create history by bringing the biggest prize in colleges football back to Magherafelt for the very first time.
This will evoke some great, and some not so great, memories for me personally.
I loved my seven years at the Convent, with football being one of the primary reasons I looked forward to going to school every day.
But, to be truthful, we were far from being a superpower on the Ulster colleges’ scene.
For the first five years of my time there, we always played in the B competitions, with fairly limited success.
To his credit, big Harry Shivers was a one-man band for a long time, but fortunes took a turn for the better when Derry’s All-Ireland-winning captain Henry Downey came to teach at the school.
Although he would become a real role model and an idol of mine, it is fair to say, we didn’t get off to the best of starts.
My first encounter with Henry was in the school corridor and it was quite a humbling one as he tore strips out of an immature teenager who should have known to keep his big mouth shut.
It was the day after Skibbereen had beaten Lavey in a tempestuous All-Ireland club
semi-final in 1993.
You know what they say about poking a bear? Well, Henry had a quare shiner on him and, as he walked past a few of us, I indulged in an act of bravado and complete immaturity.
As if he wasn’t pissed off enough, I thought I would add insult to injury by whispering “Up the Skibbs.”
Stupid move. Henry had a tongue on him sharper than a samurai sword and on this occasion he was in no form for mincing his words. After asking me who the hell I thought I was, he continued by asking had I any idea what it was like to lose an All-Ireland semi-final?
“No you don’t, cos you never played in one you wee so and so.”
Just before he handed me back my posterior, he left me with the promise that as long as he was taking teams in the school, I would never ever play on any of them.
It was a good lesson for me in the art of sportsmanship.
Thankfully he didn’t follow through on his threat and the next year we would go on to win the McLarnon (our third in-a-row) and the All-Ireland B competition for the first time ever.
Henry was the best motivator I ever came across in all my days playing football and those of us who played under him lived on his every word.
During a team talk, he never failed to leave the hairs standing on the back of your neck and the froth foaming from your mouth.
The following year of 1995, we still had practically everyone available, backboned by class acts such as Johnny McBride, Paul McFlynn and Joe Cassidy. So the school took the plunge and entered the McRory Cup for the first time ever.
St Colman’s, Newry beat us by a point in the quarter-finals that year but it was a big step forward.
The following year, most of that team had moved on so the expectation was that we might be out of our depth and the reality that B football was our level would be hammered home.
But, a bit like the team of this year, we defied all the odds, playing some great football to set up a first all-Derry MacRory final against St Patrick’s, Maghera.
Those who are old enough to remember will know that the 1996 final made the news headlines for all the wrong reasons.
It was a day to forget for me personally after getting sent off and subsequently being handed a hefty suspension.
But, the defeat aside, the school was now established as an A college, capable of holding its own against the big guns.
It would be another seven years before St Mary’s returned to the final and, once again, their nemesis St Pat’s, Maghera denied them.
So, as we look forward to tomorrow week, could it be a case of third time lucky for the Convent?
If they do manage to lift it, I will be delighted to say that this year there is a very strong Antrim representation, both on the pitch and on the sideline.
There are six Creggan and three Moneyglass boys on the panel, with seven of them featuring in the victory over Bessbrook the last day.
The team is also managed by my good friend and former Antrim player Kevin Brady, who has the team absolutely flying.
Both teams are very evenly matched with serious talent on either side.
St Colman’s possess some great talent too and Rian O’Neill, Cian McConville and Eoghan McDonnell are just three players to keep an eye on, while the St Mary’s trio of Declan Cassidy, Liam Quinn and Kevin Small are also ones to watch.
This final is sure to be very close, and maybe, just maybe, third time will be a charm for St Mary’s.
