Masita Paddy Drummond Cup final: Holy Trinity, Cookstown v St Nathy’s, Ballaghadreen (Saturday, Croke Park, 2pm)
HOLY Trinity Cookstown manager Aidan O'Hagan admits he didn't expect to be loading up the school bus for a trip to Croke Park this weekend. But that makes tomorrow all the sweeter.
O'Hagan's side take on St Nathy’s, Ballaghaderreen in the Masita Paddy Drummond Cup final (2pm) and the Tyrone school will take the field determined to show their worth against the county Roscommon school.
“At the start of the year we were not expecting to be preparing for an All-Ireland final in Croke Park,” O’Hagan openly admits.
“The school lost a MacLarnon final a couple of years ago to a very good Patrician Carrickmacross team and a couple of that team have already broken into Malachy O’Rourke’s Monaghan senior team.
“Only Rian McLarnon, from Moortown, is still in the school and unfortunately for him and for the team, he suffered a cruciate ligament injury before the competition started. So, with everyone bar three players underage next year, we hadn’t really any huge plans for the team.”
The Galbally Pearses’ clubman, who manages the team with former Armagh senior Stefan Forker and current Tyrone senior Mark Bradley, credits the attitude of the players themselves for the distance they have travelled together this year.
“They have a great work ethic. They listen and then try to change what needs to be changed. For example we felt that we got cleaned out at midfield during the first half of the MacLarnon final, but we improved on that in the second half and also in the replay.
"So small things can change games and the boys will listen and work on things and, for a coach or manager, that makes life a lot easier.”
Another aspect of both the opening half of the MacLarnon drawn game and then last week in the All-Ireland semi-final was how slowly the Cookstown boys started each game.
But for a Tiernan Mackle goal, they might have been too far adrift of St Eunan’s to come back and then they allowed Pobalscoil Inbhéar Scéine a 2-5 to 0-1 lead after 15 minutes in the All-Ireland semi-final.
“Yeah we have talked about that," says O'Hagan.
"It was some turnaround for us against the Kerry team. We scored 4-10 and held them to three points for the rest of the match. But, I take the point, we need to start games better.”
With three and-a-half games played during a 10-day spell, there was little time for serious ball-work at training, while a few had to turn out for their clubs with the Tyrone leagues starting over the weekend.
“The clubs have been very good to us and we felt that we couldn’t insist on no games seven days before our game. We just asked the players to watch themselves,” says the technology teacher.
“Our training from the MacLarnon drawn final through the replay four days later and then on to the All-Ireland semi-final, training was more about recovery, looking at a few aspects that needed to be improved and re-grouping.
“It has been a great few weeks though around the school. There is literally nothing much more on people’s minds. The days before the MacLarnon were brilliant and staff, students and local people came in to organise buses for Croke Park on Holy Thursday when the school was off. Everyone has fallen in behind the team and it has been great.”
Of course, Holy Trinity has enjoyed success on the national stage when they operated under the banner of the Vocational Schools, their last All-Ireland final being in 2013, the year O’Hagan joined the staff.
However the Tyrone school fell at the final hurdle that year, losing to Cnoc Mhuire from Granard by the margin of a single point in Croke Park.
“The kids that were in first year back then, going to Croke Park to cheer the seniors on, they are the boys who have won the right to play in Croke Park themselves. So it would be great to see younger teams in the school aspire to reach the same levels.”
O’Hagan St Nathy’s admits to knowing little about St Nathy's.
“I have picked up a few paper cuttings and things," he said.
"From what I have read, they are a team like ourselves, winning games by a point or two, showing a lot of dogged determination. We have to play to our strengths, improve on small things from the last few matches and see where it takes us.”
