GAA – The Castlewellan School play Holy Cross in the final on Thursday, read the preview as they face the biggest game of their careers.
Danske Bank Markey Cup final
St Malachy’s, Castlewellan v Holy Cross, Strabane
Thursday, 12pm, Errigal Ciaran
ST MALACHY’S, CASTLEWELLAN won the last of their six Markey Cups in 2010 under the old Ulster Vocational Schools’ system. Since the amalgamation of the Vocational schools and the Colleges Councils shortly after that last victory, they have had spells in the MacRory and MacLarnon Cups but no outright victories at senior level.
An extra time win over St Patrick’s, Keady in Banbridge on January 12 has given them a chance to claim a senior crown for the first time in nearly a decade and a half. It has been a rocky road to the final however.
St Malachy’s lost their opening game to St Mark’s, Warrenpoint by 2-10 to 1-10, but still reached the quarter-finals by beating St Malachy’s, Belfast 1-13 to 1-8 and St Louis, Kilkeel 3-15 to 2-10. Two knock-out victories after extra time have left management and supporters completely drained at the full time whistle.
Castlewellan needed a goal-fest to win their quarter-final against St Columb’s, Derry, finishing with three points to spare at 7-12 to 2-21. Then the semi-final was even tighter as they allowed St Patrick’s, Keady to come from eight points down after 41 minutes to snatch the lead in injury time.
Eoghan Travers however pointed with the final kick to get extra time and then tagged on four more scores to bring his tally to 2-9 in a 2-15 to 1-16 win.
Players from eight of the local feeder clubs made up the semi-final team with the three subs bringing that total up to 11 clubs. Given that they are coming from such a spread of clubs, their teamwork at times has been quite impressive.
Eoghan Travers from the Drumgath club is a player to watch at this level and you would expect Taidgh O’Hanlon, a Down minor last season, to play a key part in the team. Others to shine have been Ross Green, Chris Kelly-McEvoy, Dalach McGreevy, James Savage and Ruairí Madine.
St Malachy’s final opponents are Holy Cross, Strabane who drew their opening game to Carndonagh Community school and later came up against two teams that St Malachy’s have encountered.
They lost to St Columb’s, Derry and only made it through to the knock-out stages on score-difference.
There they met St Mark’s, Warrenpoint in the quarter-final on a wet and windy day in Garvaghey and won by 4-11 to 1-10, the goals scored by Conor Langan, Corin McConnell, Oran White and Oisín Kelly.
The semi-final with Sranorlar in Ballybofey was very evenly contested until Holy Cross hit a patch near the end when they scored 1-5 inside ten minutes, Langan again the goal-scorer. He is a key player but there is a question over his fitness as he damaged his wrist in a diving tackle at the end of that semi-final.
Others playing key roles have been goalkeeper Ronan Ward, defenders JP McMenamin and Aidan Hegarty, a rising soccer star with Dungannon Swifts, as well as McConnell up front.
Last year’s winners were Dean Maguirc, Carrickmore. So there is a big incentive for Holy Cross to get a big support behind them in Errigal Ciaran in their own county and keep the trophy there.
For St Malachy’s though it’s a matter of closing the gap to 2010 and other successful teams going back over 40 years. The players can see photographs of those teams in the school and know that theirs will also be going up on the wall if they win. That is also a huge incentive.
It’s a cliché, but whoever is up for the challenge on the day, will prevail and go through to an All-Ireland semi-final at the end of February.
St Malachy’s team in semi-final: Callum Travers, Luke Brannigan, Ross Green, Shea Baker, Oisín Murray, Corey Trainor, Harry Keenan, Taidgh O’Hanlon, Chris Kelly-McEvoy, Daelach McGreevey, James Savage, Manus Middleton, Ruairí Madine, Eoghan Travers, Caolán Flannagan.
Subs: Ryan McCourt, Odhrán McCann, Dáire Trainor, Matthew Murphy, Coran Glendinning, Rory Gilmore, Eoin Pól Hillen, Joseph McAllister, Gary McKibben, Dualta Pickering, Calum Rice, Joe Burns, Blake Killen.
