“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
Nelson Mandela
WITH its gates touching the edge of the Falls Road, standing church-like between a row of houses and a line of shops, St Mary’s is set at the very heart of the working class community in West Belfast.
The main building has stood since 1900 and while bits have been added here and there in a century-and-a-bit since, the retention of its style and shape almost a century on offer a clue as to what happens inside.
And it was the working class virtues of modesty and humility and sheer bloody hard work that were right at the heart of the college’s second ever Sigerson Cup success at the weekend.
The DNA of the place wraps itself around those who enter and becomes part of who they are. Since the appointment of Derry great Jim McKeever as the college’s first ever Physical Education lecturer, right through to the current Paddy Tally reign, the message has been repeated ad nauseum: whoever you’re playing, work harder than them.
There are no bursaries or scholarships offered by the teacher training college. Anyone that gets their foot through the door has had to work for it.
As the next generation of teachers that will inform our next generation of children, to learn such personal qualities is no harm.
Tally received a text out of the blue on Friday night, hours after their semi-final win, that read: “There’ll be a wee man looking down on you tomorrow. Matthew Gribbin.”
At Jim McKeever’s right hand for his entire time in St Mary’s was the unmistakable bearded figure of Matthew’s father, Mick.
He passed away in January, and served as the same kind of inspiration for his former college that the late Dave Billings did in UCD’s victory at Jordanstown twelve months ago.
Gribbin was not only a reliable helping hand for the college’s football teams, and a central figure in establishing GAA within the college, but he was as big a supporter as they’ve ever had.
“We’d have been playing in Cork and he’d have been standing in the Mardyke, looking over the fence, him and the wife,” chuckled Paddy Tally.
There were no shortage of supporters in Mayo at the weekend. On a ticket-selling journey through Lavey on Saturday, I encountered Henry Downey and having nabbed him, I enquired as to where I could find Seamus.
“Mayo,” was the answer.
He, John Rafferty (who famously marked Maurice Fitzgerald in the 1989 final), Cathal Murray, Pascal Canavan and Iggy Gallagher were among those that made the journey down to the sleepy hamlet of Bekan, home to nothing other than these pitches sheltered off from the world’s view.
The nature of St Mary’s lends itself to a lifelong bond, not just to team-mates but to the college itself.
Picture by Sportsfile St Mary's manager Paddy Tally takes the congratulations of UCD counterpart John Divilly
Picture by Sportsfile
Unlike other universities, where you could have a man on a Psychology Masters playing alongside a future Business graduate, all the St Mary’s students are on the same path in life.
Their schedules are almost identical. Even if they don’t physically live with each other, they still live out of each other’s pockets.
And when they move into the real world and begin coaching MacRory or Vocational Schools or whatever, who do you think they’re ringing to arrange fixtures other than their old team-mates?
That closeness creates a bond that others can’t replicate. Martin McHugh spoke of his frustration in trying to manage a Jordanstown team that he couldn’t see; Paddy Tally saw his players every day, engaging in ten-minute discussions on football after every lecture.
They are always keen to remember those that have been good to them. On the way home with the trophy, before resting in Tally’s family pub in Galbally, their first stop was in Pat Blake’s bar, Blakes of the Hollows, in Enniskillen.
Pat has been a long-time supporter of St Mary’s and when they had the opportunity to repay him with a bit of trade, that’s what they did.
There, they were greeted by John Reihill. The skipper of the 1989 team, he was togged in his match jersey, the white bands across its middle carrying still the same splendour they did 28 years ago.
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THEN there’s the modesty of their preparations, and the marked contrast to that of their rivals.
The UCD side they beat in Saturday’s incredible Sigerson Cup final have a home at Belfield that is a world apart.
Even St Mary’s city rivals in Belfast have vastly superior resources. The Dub, home to Queen’s, and Ulster University’s Jordanstown campus both boast multiple GAA pitches among their facilities.
St Mary’s had to borrow the pitch off Glenavy GAC for their opening round home game against NUI Galway, and trained this year between a council pitch at Cherryvale and the three-quarter sized 4G pitch at St. Dominic’s High School next door.
On paper, UCD had a vastly superior team. Former Footballer of the Year, Jack McCaffrey and Dublin team-mates Paul Mannion and Michael Fitzsimons; Meath’s Eamon Wallace; Mayo’s Stephen Coen; the latest Kerry star, young midfielder Jack Barry; Monaghan’s Conor McCarthy.
A college of 35,000-odd students was up against a comparative lightweight. Less than 1,000 attend St Mary’s, and less than a third of them are male.
St Mary’s only truly established inter-county player was Kevin McKernan, who finished his Sigerson days with a success that he has long craved.
Conor Meyler, Cathal McShane, Conall McCann and Kieran McGeary are getting there with Tyrone; Oisin O’Neill will have great days with Armagh; Matthew Fitzpatrick will feature for Antrim.
All in, there could be no denying the relative modesty of the resources that Paddy Tally had available.
That has always been the way, though.
Last year’s exit at the hands of Ulster University was their heaviest Sigerson Cup defeat in a decade. Across ten years, their average margin of defeat was under three points.
With a squad of players that were capable, being forewarned by that information was to be forearmed to head for the trenches.
But as much as their resilience was incredible, it wasn’t just that.
Their style of play was an exhausting, but thoroughly modern, one. Employing a one-man full-forward line, they seldom kicked. They ran in waves, weaving at different angles, playing a smart game.
Former Derry defender Gerard O’Kane tweeted after Friday’s semi-final win: “For 3 years with Derry, Paddy Tally’s favourite drill was the overlap with a player palm into open goal. No doubt he has done it with St Mary’s.”
He was referencing the palmed goal by Ciaran Corrigan that brought the house down on UCC. It wasn’t the only example.
Cathal McShane squared across goal for Corey Quinn against DCU, while the latter did the same for Brian Óg McGilligan in extra-time in the same game.
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THAT was the day the heat really turned up on their campaign. The win over NUIG was decent for morale but nobody gave them a chance heading to Dublin to face the 2015 champions and 2016 runners-up.
The manner of their victory appeared at that stage remarkable, but such were their exploits at the weekend past that it almost drifts in the realm of normality.
Conceding two goals in the opening five minutes of both the semi-final and final brought the best out of them. To bounce back to quickly against reigning champions UCD in the final, coming from six down to hit nine unanswered points, does not happen without monumental levels of self belief.
And motivation. They had that in spades. When the Sigerson Cup was launched earlier in the year, St Mary’s were told that their attendance was not compulsory.
To use that as fuel was perhaps a masterful piece of psychology from Tally and Ciarán Kearney, given that only 7 of the 19 colleges involved appeared in photos from the launch, but it worked nonetheless.
What grated more was that, after having seen off DCU to reach the weekend, they arrived to find a programme that had its back page adorned with four pictures. Semi-finalists UCD, University Limerick and UCC were all shown, along with an image of Jordanstown’s Ryan McAnespie.
It was produced on the Friday night after St Mary’s had beaten UCC as a reminder of exactly how far down the pecking order they were viewed.
The introduction of Gavin McGilly as the college’s games development officer back in September was also invaluable. He overtook the logistical end of things, freeing Tally’s time to concentrate on matters on the field.
There was the good fortune to have only Niall Toner missing through injury. The rest were all at his disposal, thanks in part to some careful management of a groin and hip struggle that Kevin McKernan endured over the winter.
With a bit of luck, a gameplan, a sprinkling of class, bucketfuls of persistence and knowing the exact market value of hard, hard work, St Mary’s climbed the mountain.
But it only seems impossible until it’s done.
