Danske Bank MacRory Cup final feature
St Patrick’s Day 1pm in Athletic Grounds Armagh
St Mary’s Magherafelt v St Colman’s Newry
The Irish News school feature on St Colman’s before the start of the Danske Bank MacRory Cup competition back in October focussed on the onus on each management and team in the newry school to carry on a rich footballing tradition.
Essentially each MacRory management team was basically the “keepers of a footballing tradition” and for almost half a century that team has been headed by players who had lived the Violet Hill tradition.
Nearly six months ago, St Colman’s were not considered the main MacRory contenders for 2017 as they hadn’t featured strongly through the year groups, yet nearly every other MacRory coach finished off their list of probable contenders by suggesting that “St Colman’s will be there or thereabouts”. And they are, with only one obstacle left, St Mary’s Magherafelt, in their quest for a 20th title!
As this year’s campaign progressed, so too has a campaign for them to mark the “College’s” first ever Hogan title in 1967, with another MacRory title.
Manager Cathal Murray insists that this has not filtered through to the players.
“As coaches, and former MacRory players here ourselves, we have been trying to develop this group of lads on their own merit. The possibility of winning a MacRory Cup final has never been discussed until after we beat St Ronan’s in the semi-final at the end of February.
“We have no control over what happens outside the panel, on social media or whatever, and that is why it is important for our players to keep their feet on the ground and focus on the task in hand.
“I was a MacRory Cup player with St Colman’s and we progressed through the school in the early 1980s believing that we would win MacRory Cups because teams before us had done it.
“But that was not arrogance; because teams before us had done it, because our coaches Ray Morgan and Pete McGrath had taken winning teams, we all dreamed of continuing that line.
“It never meant that we had more of a right to win it than any other school, only that if we did the hard work and built on each individual game, we could get there.”
Indeed Murray’s playing quest for the top honour in schools’ football finished in failure, a 2-6 to 0-8 defeat to Abbey CBS in the 1987 decider in Lurgan marking the end of his school career.
That final defeat of 30 years ago was also a turning point in St Colman’s long association with the MacRory Cup final.
They first reached the final in 1945, but despite five points from captain Martin Walsh, thankfully still with us in his 90th year, they fell by 4-10 to 1-12 to St Patrick’s Armagh, the first of four in a row for the Cathedral City school.
St Colman’s however didn’t lose another final until 1987, collecting their first two in 1949-50, both captained by Sean Blaney and featuring two future Down All-Ireland stars of the early 1960s, Kevin Mussen and PJ McElroy.
The recently deceased Leo Murphy featured alongside Dan McCartan in another double win of 1957-58 and there were further titles in 1960 and 1963 before the 1967 team ushered in a three-in-a-row.
Current Ulster Schools’ chairman and former Armagh captain and All-star Jimmy Smyth played in defence and attack during that 1967 campaign, while John Purdy and Peter Rooney went on to win All-Ireland senior medals less than 18 months on from their Hogan success.
Indeed Paddy Turley had already pocketed an All-Ireland senior medal as a substitute BEFORE he won his third MacRory title, as captain of the 1969 side!
Past pupil and 1963 MacRory medallist Ray Morgan then succeeded Fr John Trainor as head coach in the mid 1970s and a second Hogan arrived in 1975, followed by more MacRory success including three medals for Greg Blaney, son of the school’s first winning captain Sean – and the only father-son combination to captain successful teams.
By 1987, St Colman’s had won 14 finals without a defeat since 1945 and also had three Hogan titles. That all-Newry final of 1987, in which Cathal Murray featured at half-forward, changed everything however and over the next 12 years the Violet Hill seat of learning lost six MacRory finals. But amazingly they still collected another three Hogan Cups!
At the moment, they sit at the top of the class, on Friday looking to extend their record to 20 titles from 27 final appearances, and Cathal Murray, currently part of Eamon Burns’ Down backroom coaching staff, believes that anything achieved comes off hard work.
“Each year we have a new crop of players. Each year we do our best and the players do their best. Sometimes that best is good enough to take us all the way, sometimes not.”
“There is no big secret, just hard work, taking each game as it comes and not getting too carried away. That’s the St Colman’s tradition.”
