Football

St Malachy’s, Castlewellan: aiming for the high bracket of gaelic success

BEING a Down school in the MacRory Cup brings with it a certain prestige – and the St Malachy’s, Castlewellan management know more than most that there are lofty standards to adhere to when representing the Mourne county in this particular competition.

Peter Hynes attended St Colman’s in Newry, his partner in crime on the line, Conor Fegan, was an Abbey man.

Between them, the schools have amassed 24 titles with St Colman’s leading the way with 19, so the point hasn’t been lost on the duo.

“I would have played MacRory with the college so I know all about the tradition, as does Conor who would have played in the Abbey,” said Hynes.

“The coaches would have come from two very big schools when it comes to this standard of football.

“It may not have been in the MacRory but St Malachy’s would have a great footballing tradition in the vocational competitions though.

“Down has a fantastic tradition in schools’ football across all levels and with a number of schools adding to that, it’s not just limited to two or three.

“We have been a part of that and hopefully we can add to that at MacRory level too.

“When we were involved in All-Ireland vocational finals we would have sat on to watch Hogan finals and it’s definitely something you would have loved to participate in, and now we are.”

The desire to challenge the Dublin Road school has always been at the forefront of Hynes’s philosophy.

In 2008 and 2009 they took home All-Ireland vocational honours after wins over St Brogan’ and Ashbourne respectively, and over the next two years they watched St Colman’s do the same at Hogan Cup level.

With top players such as Paul Devlin, Phillip Bonny, Danny Savage and Conor Poland amongst their ranks, Hynes always wondered how they would fare against the likes of the Violet Hill men.

Last year’s merger between the Ulster Schools and the Ulster Vocationals opened the door though and Hynes, the Armagh-Down representative on the Ulster Schools’ committee, said that they were delighted to take the step having played at MacLarnon level for the previous two seasons.

“We’ve always tried to put ourselves into as high a bracket as possible,” said Hynes.

“We feel that trying to test yourself against the stronger schools, the more well-known schools, is something we want to do.

“We’re coming on to the back of winning the Rafferty Cup (U16) last year and there’s a chunk of those boys back.

“We could have hung on and played another year of MacLarnon and still not won it, so we felt there was an opportunity there.

“I sit on the Ulster Schools’ committee and we were looking at the numbers and saying ‘wouldn’t it be great if there were 16 teams’ because that would give you four groups of four.

“I talked it out with our school principal (Orla O’Neill) and she’s very supportive of gaelic games.

“Everyone wanted to push themselves on and that’s why we went for it.”

That Rafferty Cup success will, understandably, be the launch-pad for Castlewellan’s attempts to get out of a group containing Omagh CBS, St Ronan’s, Lurgan and St Patrick’s, Armagh.

It was the latter who they defeated in the Rafferty final at Queen’s, Shea Croskery with their goal in the 1-16 to 2-7 win.

While Croskery isn’t part of their MacRory panel this year, a number of players from that team are, such as Liatroim trio Eoin O’Hare, Matthew Carvill and Conor McAnulty, Dromara’s Brendan McKey, Kilcoo’s Justin Clarke, Tiarnan Fettes and Shealan Johnston and Longstone’s Gareth Fitzpatrick.

“We’ve five or six boys from Liatorim, four or five guys from Kilcoo and we go around after that,” Hynes said of this year’s panel.

“We have a few guys from Aughlisnafin, St John’s, Bryansford, we’re going further afield too and have a guy from Clonduff and four from the ‘Stone. We have one Newry Shamrocks guy as well.

“We’re going right up into the Mournes now, it seems. We’re supporting the clubs and hopefully they’re supporting us as well.”

The school has enjoyed their two seasons at MacLarnon level.

In 2015, they lost by four points in a play-off to eventual champions Our Lady’s, Castleblayney.

They went a step further last year but St Pius X dumped them out at the quarter-final stage.

Even though they didn’t achieve their ultimate goal, Hynes believes that they got valuable experience that can go some way to making them a noted force at MacRory level in the coming years.

“We’re trying to prepare and get the lads ready for this level of football. That’s all we can do.

“It’s a challenge but hopefully it’s one that we can embrace.”