IT was a fabulous St Patrick’s Day for the young men of St Mary’s as they clinched the school’s maiden MacRory Cup title.
I was delighted for my good pal and team manager Kevin Brady, his backroom team of John McElholm, Ronan Devlin and many others who have invested serious time and effort in a great bunch of lads, who I also felt a great affinity with.
It was such a day of raw emotion all round. The memory of Aaron Devlin, a former pupil of the school and a brother of team coach Ronan, was undoubtedly at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
It was also a particularly special moment for other backroom team members such as school bursar Eunan Conway and facilities manager Cathal Hinfey.
I remember both fellas at the school 22 years ago, the year when we entered the pantheon of MacRory Cup football for the first time.
What a proud day for two good men; a day I’m sure they thought would never come.
The game itself was a great advert for schools football and a talented St Colman’s side certainly played their part.
The Newry college will feel that had they taken their goal opportunities the result may have been very different.
But credit must go to Convent corner-back Matthew Loughran for his brilliant block in the first minute and goalkeeper Oran Lynch for three top class saves to keep Colman’s chasing the game.
Blocking was a great feature of the game throughout.
Conan Devlin and Sean Kelly executed a couple of great blocks, but the one by Conor McCluskey in the second half was crucial.
I felt the referee Martin McNally had a great game throughout, but St Colman’s will rue the one very notable mistake he made in the second half.
They should have had a penalty and, naturally, they will feeI that may have made the difference.
I spoke in my column last week about the very sizeable Antrim contingent involved in the St Mary’s team.
As it turned out eight players from the Saffron county ended up playing a part in the historic win.
Add in team captain Declan Cassidy (Bellaghy), whose mother is a Portglenone woman, the manager and another unused substitute and that would bring the total to a slightly exaggerated 11.
On Friday evening in the heart of south Derry, emotions couldn’t have been any more stark as jubilation and heartbreak were being experienced in equal measure.
Devastation was the mood of the gallant men from Slaughtneil, yet in Magherafelt a group of young lads were celebrating winning the first-ever MacRory Cup for their school.
What a weekend of sport it was all round. We had the MacRory Cup decider; Slaughtneil in the All-Ireland Club final; the Cheltenham Gold Cup; Ireland v England in the Six Nations, not to mention all the mouth-watering National League games.
Maybe you were lucky enough to attend some of these great events, or perhaps you got to sit back and enjoy them in the comfort of your own home.
Well, good for you. Spare a thought for a very frustrated Irish News columnist who got to see none of these events ‘live’.
You see, the big man in the red suit thought it would be a great idea to send me and the family to Euro Disney for a few days in March.
Don’t get me wrong, most of us had a great time on our magical trip, but with all the sport going on, at times it was more of a Lourdes pilgrimage than a holiday.
I’ve nothing against Donald Duck personally, but queuing up for two hours to meet him isn’t my idea of fun – especially when my Alma Mater are in the process of reaching the holy grail.
Thank God for Twitter, Sky plus and some ‘quacking’ 3G coverage.
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Cynical play from Dr Croke's contributed to agony for Slaughtneil
SADLY, it wasn’t to be a Derry double as Slaughtneil were pipped at the post by a fairly cynical Dr Croke’s team, whose personal fouling totally escaped the attentions of match referee Maurice Deegan.
After the Croke’s goal the Kerry and Munster champions committed six personal fouls in as many minutes on Slaughtneil defenders – all of which went totally unpunished. Not even a tick. What was even more startling was the fact that the same player, Gavin O’Shea, committed three of them.
But Slaughtneil will look back with regret on a game they seemed to be in total control of. They will be disappointed about the manner in which they conceded the goal.
Dr Croke’s had won the short kick-out, but with the full press on Slaughtneil had them hemmed in.
In that move, the ball went back to their goalkeeper three times before Gavin White luckily won a free under serious pressure from Paul Bradley.
When the free was passed to Daithi Casey, he ripped through the centre of a very bare Slaughtneil defence.
Midfield defensive general Patsy Bradley was caught in the press and Chrissy McKaigue was behind the play, tracking Johnny Buckley.
Both wing-forwards were pressing high up the pitch also and didn’t get back ahead of the Croke’s move when the ball went to Casey.
When young Paul McNeil was isolated on him, he struggled with his pace and power.
They had paid the price for going man to man in that move, but a combination of not getting the numbers back quickly enough and not getting Casey stopped was critical.
Croke’s really targeted the Slaughtneil kick-out, forcing them to go long quite a lot and Johnny Buckley profited with some fine fetches.
But those flaws aside, you feel if it had stayed 15 versus15 it would have been anyone’s game as Padraig Cassidy had been Slaughtneil’s best player to that point and his loss was massive.
Brian O’Driscoll was quoted in an article in the Irish Independent on Monday as saying: “Unless we give up Gaelic football, we’ll never be like the All Blacks”.
The quote immediately made me think of Slaughtneil and their remarkable achievements across three codes in 2016/2017.
You see, they don’t make excuses and, as a club, have become revered across the country.
They have found ways to achieve great things that many viewed impossible.
Instead of making excuses, I expect that Slaughtneil will do what Dr Croke’s have done – and keep on knocking that door until some day it eventually opens.
And who would back against that?
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GAA fans will miss Martin McGuinness
I WOULD like to express my deep sadness at the passing of Derry GAA fanatic Martin McGuinness (inset). I have some very fond memories of meeting him on quite a few occasions and I always found him to be a very genuine man who exuded warmth, respect and sincerity.
I can’t remember what was said in any of our short conversations but I do remember how he would make you feel – and that is a way more important measure of a human being.
Antrim and Derry drew each other quite a lot in the championship, at the beginning of the ‘noughties’, and there would always be great fun in the stands with Martin and Gerry sitting beside each other rooting for opposite teams. He was very passionate about his sport with his love for all things Derry very much to the forefront.
His presence will be sorely missed by lots of GAA supporters and players who enjoyed seeing him at our games.
Sincere condolences to all his family and friends.
Ar Dheis de go raibh anam.
