ST COLMAN’S College Newry are MacRory Cup aristocracy and speaking to mentor, Cathal Murray it is clear that the blue bloods are working as hard as ever to retain that status.
The 19 times winners are top of the roll of honour in the competition and are drawn this year against Abbey CBS, Omagh CBS, St Paul’s Bessbrook, St Ronan’s Lurgan and St Pat’s Cavan.
Murray outlined that the squad are already training four times a week as they bid to do better than a quarter-final exit to Bessbrook last year.
“It’s always a nice time of the year to be coming back to. We’re looking forward to it surely – the boys are working hard there at the minute,” said Murray.
“We have a few local derbies this year which always adds a bit of bite to it but no matter who you’re playing – teams are prepared – it’s a very professional nature, the MacRory Cup, so there’ll be none of them easy.”
The match with St Paul’s provides an early chance at revenge for the Newry boys but Murray pragmatically notes that: “it’s a different squad, different team, different players so we’ll take it like any of the rest of the games.”
Another stand out tie is that with the holders, St Pat’s of Cavan and Murray is sure they will provide a stern test for his young charges.
“Yes there’s a lot of work going on there,” agreed Murray.
“They had a barren spell for a long time there and I think the county board have put a lot of resources into it as well so they will be fairly well prepared.
“I don’t know how many they’ll have back from last year but certainly the lift that they have had, I’m sure, will have carried them into this year’s campaign.”
Returning to the Colman’s ranks for another MacRory campaign are the likes of Jack Heaney, Eoin Donnelly, Ryan Garvey, Connor O’Neill, Charlie Carr, Frank Aiken and Rian O’Neill.
Murray is optimistic that the experience gained by these players can help the school back to the position they were in a few short years ago when they won back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011.
He is conscious though that, as always, their pre-eminence in the blue riband competition means that they are there to be shot at.
“We have quite a lot of county minors actually,” continued Murray.
“There’s a lot of good work going on at minor level with Down and Armagh this last couple of years so the schools are reaping the rewards of it. I’m hoping that wee bit of experience will help them too.
“I saw a fair bit of club football over the summer there and there is a very high standard of football in both Down and Armagh so you can see even from as low as first year the clubs that have done the work and you see lads coming in with a bit of an edge or at a higher level of skill with two good feet or whatever it may be.
“Whether we want it or not – we are always seen as contenders or a team that people want to beat because of our tradition.
“I think we have 19 MacRory’s but there is a serious amount of work that has gone in to getting those. We’re just continuing the legacy of people like Ray Morgan and Pete McGrath who put a lot a lot of those titles on the board and to have a couple now was nice but we would like to build our own legacy as well.”
In pursuing that goal, the coaching and footballing philosophy espoused by the College, of absolute commitment to the cause and total immersion in the games is, Murray revealed, enforced in a “ruthless” manner.
“We have a large panel and it’s a hundred percent commitment to what we’re doing,” insisted Murray.
“If they’re not able to give that, if they have other commitments – well, something has to give. They’re aware of that.
“Even the lads there nearly have to give up part time jobs. They have to make the sacrifices because if they can’t commit a hundred percent, they won’t be part of it and it’s ruthless in that way.
“But at the same time it teaches them good habits about the nature of commitment and if you want to achieve as well as you can that nothing less than a hundred percent will do.”
