AS WITH any school, St Mary’s, Magherafelt get their teams in cycles. Given their small playing numbers, though, their cycles are longer than some of the more illustrious names that compete for the Danske Bank MacRory Cup.
Finalists in 1996 and 2002, narrowly beaten semi-finalists in 2011; they have been close on occasions, but would look upon those years as missed opportunities as they continue to crave that breakthrough title.
Last year, they won just one league game, beating the only team to be eliminated pre-Christmas, St Macartan’s, Monaghan. Their campaign ended with the snow piled high around the fringes of the Mid Ulster Sports Arena, eventual finalists Dungannon comfortable in dismissing the Convent challenge.
There are improved hopes for this year’s crop, however, and manager Kevin Brady is aiming to make it beyond the play-off as a modest starting point.
“Realistically, we’ll end up in a play-off after Christmas. But you want to try and finish as high up the group as you can, so that you can give yourself a better path, if there is such a thing,” said the former Antrim player, who takes charge for a second year, having taken over from John McElholm.
Brady will be assisted by the long-serving Eunan Conway and they are hoping the start of their latest cycle comes through this campaign.
Their captain Conor McGrogan and vice-captain Ben McKinless were both part of the Derry minor side that reached the All-Ireland semi-final earlier this year. Ballinascreen dual star Peter Lagan, the squad’s other vice-captain, was unfortunate to miss out on that squad as well, while in Declan Cassidy (Bellaghy), David McErlain (Magherafelt) and Kyle Johnston (Cargin), they have the core of a decent team.
The not-so-small Kevin Small – an Antrim minor in 2015 – is a big unit at full-forward and has his Creggan team-mate Liam Quinn to come in off the current Rannafast team. They were both on the club’s minor side that was recently beaten by St Enda’s, Glengormley in the Antrim final.
Mark Megarry has also gone underneath the radar in GAA circles. The Cookstown man’s underage exploits in Gaelic football have been limited, partly owing to injury, but he has a blossoming soccer career. He is already on the fringes of the first team at Irish League outfit Dungannon Swifts.
“He’s suffered very badly with dislocated shoulders, he kept dislocating both of them. This time last year, he had two operations, one on each shoulder,” said Brady, who hopes to be able to use him in around the middle of the park.
Their early group stage performances may bear little resemblance to what they will look to do as the year goes on. The current Rannafast team have been the second best at their age group the whole way through, but have been unable to shake St Patrick’s, Maghera in encounters at Corn na nÓg, D’Alton and Brock level.
They did overcome St Pat’s to reach last year’s Rannafast final, in which they were beaten by Macartan’s, but that was a year early. When this year’s Rannafast campaign ends, Brady expects to be able to call upon talents such as Guiseppi Lupari and Simon McErlain – a younger brother of David, both nephews of Derry minor boss Damian. Their father Brian played for Derry and won a Sigerson Cup at Queen’s.
Adam Connolly, a Kildress native whose brother Jonathan passed through a couple of years back, is another with the talent to trouble opposition defences.
“With that competition in full swing, we’re letting them play there and once they break, I’ll talk to John and bring some players in based on how they do in the Rannafast. There will be a fair smattering of players from that, even though they will be a bit young. Two or three of them will probably push hard to make the first 15,” said Brady.
He is likely to keep Ben McKinless between the posts, where he has already debuted for Derry U21s, in spite of the Ballinderry man playing some of his club football out the field.
They have ended up in a group with Maghera, whom they meet in their second outing of a newly formatted home-and-away round robin, from which the groups will be retained next season. They’ll also face Armagh, Dungannon and Enniskillen prior to Christmas and Brady’s hope is that, with his squad embellished by the time the festive break comes, they will be in a position to challenge strongly in any potential play-off.
Victory there would be a big first step on the latest cycle.
