The All-Ireland Vocational Schools football championship is one of the most competitive in all grades. However, one team stood out in the 'B' campaign this year as St Oliver's Post Primary Vocational School Oldcastle won the title in emphatic fashion. Based in Oldcastle, Co. Meath, the St Oliver's PP is a mixed school with 400 pupils attending. Despite, their large numbers, they have found success hard to come by on the football field down through the years, although they did obtain the Leinster title in 2000 when their current coach Martin O'Reilly was in charge of the side. Martin spoke to us about the preparations for this year's campaign and admitted that the players deserve huge credit for the work that they put in throughout the year. Following Ultan Fitzpatrick's decision to retire it was left to Martin to take up the mantle left by a man that has given huge service to schools football in Meath down through the years. The Leinster Vocational Schools championship is ran on a divisional basis and Martin revealed that at the start of the year, he had no idea of how strong his squad was. "We had trials at the start of the year and I knew we had the basis of a good side, but didn't realise just how good the lads were until we started playing some matches," said Martin. A panel of 31 players was put in place at the start of the year with seven clubs from three different counties represented including Meath, Cavan and Westmeath and with the age limit set at under 18, St Oliver's could call on some of their stronger players. "When we played Nobber in one of our first matches, I then realised how good the team was and knew that these lads could go a long way in the campaign." In the Coca Cola Leinster Vocational Schools Senior 'B' championship first round, St Oliver's met Ballymahon V.S and to say that this was a one sided match would be a massive understatement. The Longford side have a rich tradition in this competition down through the years, but they were completely outplayed by their opponents. Corner forward Nicky Galligan was the scorer-in-chief as he registered 4-4 as St Oliver's ran out comprehensive winners by 8-13 to 0-1, while goalkeeper Patrick Coakley showed his talent out the field in the second half when he notched two goals. "We expected a much tougher match against Ballymahon, but the lads were really on form, even though St Oliver's registered a number of wides in the second half." Cnoc Mhuire, Granard provided the opposition in the second round. The match was played in blustery conditions as St Oliver's faced a stiff breeze in the first half. The game started brightly for Cnoc Mhuire and they lead by 1-2 to 0-0 after just 12 minutes. Nonetheless, the Meath side soon settled and ace marksman Nicky Galligan found the net midway through the half. This was soon followed by an unanswered 1-3 with Colm Caffrey scoring their second goal of the afternoon. The Longford side kept battling away and closed the gap to within two points by the interval. An inspired switch by the St Oliver's manager saw goalkeeper Patrick Coakley moved up to full forward for the second half and his ball winning skills proved instrumental as the Royals began to take control of the game. A long range free from Graham Patterson went all the way to the Cnoc Mhuire net and this was a huge blow to the recipients as St Oliver's completely dominated the remainder of the match and ran out very comfortable winners by 4-15 to 1-8. "A feature of our year was how strong the team finished. In most games they got stronger in the second half. They had trained hard all year and this was showing in the matches as we seemed to be fitter in the finals stages of matches," added Martin. The St Oliver's bandwagon was gathering momentum at this stage and another impressive display against Lucan CS saw the Meath side defeat their Dublin counterparts by 4-14 to 0-2. Then in the semi final, Tullamore College stood in the way of a place in the Leinster decider. As had been the case in their previous matches, St Oliver's produced a devastating performance to completely overwhelm the opposition with another impressive tally of 4-14 being registered against Tullamore's 1-3. As expected the Leinster final proved to be a tougher match and the Oldcastle outfit's toughest game of the year as it turned out. Played in Portarlington on a cold January afternoon, challengers' Borris V.S Carlow opened the scoring with a pointed free in the fifth minute. Talented forward Patrick Rahill replied for Oldcastle before David Givney scored their first goal in the 15th minute. St Oliver's had the opportunity to stretch their lead soon after when they were awarded a penalty but Coakley's effort was well saved by the Borris 'keeper. Rahill added a further two points to leave the half time score 1-3 to 0-2. Graham Patterson opened the second half scoring with a well taken point before Rahill and substitute Stephen Bardon cancelled out a Borris point. Then in the 47th minute, a Nicky Galligan goal put some distance between the sides. Further points from Rahill and the impressive Eoghan Smith left Oldcastle in a commanding lead as time was running out. Borris had little to offer up front and St Oliver's won on a scoreline of 2-8 to 0-6. "We were delighted to win the Leinster title, but straight away the focus was on to do well in the All-Ireland campaign even though we were only taking it one match at a time. The lads were really nervous during the Leinster final, but that was to be expected for such young players." The All-Ireland semi-final was a pulsating affair as Oldcastle came from two points down at the interval to record a stunning 2-16 to 4-3 win over Scoil Mhic Dara from Carna. St. Oliver's PP Oldcastle controlled matters from pillar to post as they secured the All-Ireland Vocational Schools SFC B final at Dr. Cullen Park Carlow with a convincing 1-18 to 1-3 win over St. Ailbe's, Tipperary. St. Oliver's posted notice of their intention to lift the cup by scoring the opening four points of the game with particularly good scores from Patrick Rahill and Kieran Kiernan. Spurred on by the dominance of midfielders Graham Patterson and Tom Lynch, the Meath-based side went onto lead by 0-10 to 0-3 at the interval. St. Ailbe's tried to lift their game in the second half and two converted frees by Kevin Fox and Stephen Quinn did help their cause. But a missed penalty in the 47th minute by St. Ailbe's signalled the end of their forlorn hopes of winning their game of catch-up. A brilliant goal a minute later by St. Oliver's Patrick Coakley served to leave the issue well and truly decided. Even though Stephen Quinn fired home a neat goal for the Munster lads in the 50th minute it had consolation stamped all over it. "The hard work the lads put in over the year really paid off and they deserve all the credit. They were a great bunch of lads to work with throughout the year," said a modest Martin. There was more success for a number of the side as six of the side represented the Meath Vocational Schools as they annexed the Leinster title by comfortably defeating neighbours Louth in the decider by 1-18 to 0-4. For the record the St Oliver's PP panel was: Niall McNelis, Ciaran Caffrey, Rory Geraghty, Terry McCabe, Eoghan Smyth, Barry Curran, Cian McPartland, Graham Patterson, Tom Lynch, Stephen Bardon, Killian Kiernan, Patrick Rahill, Nicky Galligan, Patrick Coakley, David Givney, Shane Connell, Colm Caffrey, Patrick Gilsenan, John Shortt, Eanna Brody, Gerard Reidy, Patrick Tuite, Philip Grall, Sean Og Doyne, Kevin Foley, Matthew Brady, Darren Hawden, Brian Carolan, Thomas O'Reilly, Vincent Cadden, Shane Nolan, Kenny Quinn, Sean Plunkett. Tweet

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