Danske Bank Mageean Cup final: St Mary’s CBS, Belfast v St Killian’s, Garron Tower (Wednesday, QUB Dub arena, 7.15pm)
LAST year’s beaten finalists St Mary’s, Belfast are on course to reach a significant milestone in relation to the Danske Bank Mageean Cup.
Should they defeat St Killian’s College, Garron Tower in Wednesday's final of the 54th Ulster senior schools’ hurling championship, they will collect their 30th title.
After an earlier version of St Killian’s (St MacNissi’s College) won the opening two finals in the mid-1960s, St Mary’s took over and dominated the competition for two decades until the advent of St Patrick’s Maghera and other first time winners in the 1980s.
Wednesday night will be the first final for St Killian’s (founded in 2010), but St MacNissi’s last contested a final a decade ago when Neil McManus, Aaron Graffin and Paddy McGill spearheaded their challenge.
The Tower fell at the semi-final stage to neighbours Cross and Passion Ballycastle twice in the last four seasons and therefore their derby win last Wednesday carried added significance - albeit it took a very late goal from Francis McCurry and then extra time to achieve a 2-17 to 1-15 victory.
Twice in their path through the age-groups, they have contested finals with St Mary’s, but in both the 2011 MacNamee final and the Foresters’ final 18 months ago, the Belfast side prevailed with a bit to spare. Indeed St Mary’s have collected the silverware at every level, Maghera the finalists in the other two age-groups.
This year, however, St Killian’s have broken down their own psychological barriers - topping the qualification league, a first Mageean final for the new school and a first semi-final defeat of Cross & Passion after three attempts. They were comfortable in extra-time in the semi-final, but it took a lot of determination and courage to remain in the game during normal-time.
Their defence has been quite good: Paul McMullan is one of the best under-age goalies around, while Liam Gillan and Shane O’Connor are highly regarded minor county players. O’Connor along with Shane Magill and Francis McCurry has formed a strong half-back line.
Daniel Black and Ed McQuillan has grown as a midfield partnership during the competition, while up front James Morgan and David Kilgore have fed off the unselfish work of Conal McAteer.
However, St Mary’s have done little to suggest that they are not strong favourites to finish off a glittering school career with yet another piece of silverware.
They finished top of their qualification group to automatically book a semi-final and then fired over twenty points against the holders last Tuesday, coming from five points down at the break.
It was an impressive showing with CJ McKenna anchoring midfield and dropping back to protect his defence against the wind. Again the half-back line is the driving force with Dominic McEnhill and Nathan Gibson both having an eye for long-range scores.
Shea Shannon and Tiarnan Murphy hit seven points each in the semi-final although, like Conal McAteer for St Killian’s, in Colm McLarnon they have a soldier for winning the dirty ball.
Both teams are playing well coming into the final, but it is hard to ignore the dominance of St Mary’s at this age-group including comfortable wins over St Killian’s in two finals along the way.
The Belfast school are favourites, but with tallies of 0-20 and 2-17 from their semi-finals, this could be an entertaining and high-scoring shoot-out.
TEAM NEWS
St Mary’s: P Kennedy, M Napier, N McCann, S Wilson, D McEnhill, A O’Brien, N Gibson, S Shannon, CJ McKenna (capt.), D Grego, C McLarnon, G Smyth, T Murphy, O O’Callaghan, P Doyle; Subs: C Crossan, M Mallon, M Smyth, O McKenna capt., C Sheridan, A Bradley, C McParland, M Cunningham, C Longair, E Farrelly, L Ó Ciaráin, M Close, C Shannon, G McIlhatton.
St Killian’s: P McMullan, C O’Loan, L Gillan, C O’Connor, S Magill, S O’Connor (capt.), F McCurry, D Black, E McQuillan, R McCambridge, C McAteer, L Morgan, C McLaughlin, D Kilgore, J Morgan; Subs: F Walker, T Scally, S McKay, N Allen, O McAleenan, R Donnelly, D McAuley, M McConaghie, D Martin.
