Ever since 1956, the creme de la creme of football talent at St. Macartan's tried in vain to reach the final of the McRory Cup. Last March changed all that as the team's joint-manager Pascal Smyth remembers in the company of Kevin Carney. With the novel McCormack Cup in the bag by Christmas, the St. Macartan's faithful pushed on in search of a league and Cup double with an all-too rare McRory Cup success on March 17th the ultimate objective. By becoming the inaugural winners - unbeaten into the bargain - of the McCormack Cup league competition, St. Macartan's had put down a marker for the McRory Cup campaign, right and proper. Certainly, following the college's pre-Christmas heroics, the quarter-finals of the blue riband competition last Spring couldn't come quickly enough for the Sem faithful. So what if the reports that for the purposes of the league, the big guns of St. Pat's Maghera, Omagh and Dungannon had decided to keep their powder dry were actually true? All belonging to the Monaghan institution remained convinced that their favourites were indeed made of the right stuff and would prove as much as the new year gathered pace. Within weeks, the Saints' 1-10 to 0-10 victory over Abbey CBS (Newry) - the eighth placed team in the McCormack Cup competition - in the McRory Cup quarter-final had added to the sense of optimism at the Coolshannagh-based marquee institution. The feared step-up in class, post-Christmas, didn't distract anyone at the Sem or their faith in the boys charged with re-winding the clock. "I saw degrees of leadership, fighting spirit and character in our very first game against St. Mary's, Magherafelt which I thought augured well for the year and what I saw against Abbey only reminded me of those very same qualities," team mentor Pascal Smyth admits. Apart from the team's aforementioned innate qualities, it must be said that the Monaghan lads played good football too in overcoming an Abbey side that was reduced to 14 players following the dismissal of corner-back Paul Heatley after just six minutes. In specific terms, St. Macartan's laid the foundations for their eventual win over the Down lads with a storming run of form up to the interval, which eased them into a 0-6 to 0-4 lead, plus a strong third quarter display which was highlighted by a fine penalty conversion by Dwayne Rooney which effectively copper-fastened the Sem's passage through to the last four of the competition. The 'you only get out of something what you put in' adage was to prove most apt as far as St. Macartan's odyssey in 2003/2004 was concerned. Pascal Smyth reckons the college had 100 training sessions from September 'till McRory Cup final day. The squad invariably trained four days a week with two gym sessions and two outdoor sessions. "We knew we had a decent squad and with the benefit of a weights programme for the players and top class facilities in the form of a new sports hall here and a new all-weather pitch, there wasn't an awful lot we had to add to the mix to get things right. "We did things properly and professionally, worked on the lads' ball skills a lot and hoped for the best," explains Pascal who teamed up with Donegal native and Monaghan Harps clubman Seamus Meehan in the preparation of the team. By dint of their win over Abbey, St. Macartan's gravitated to sample the rarified air cloaking a McRory Cup semi-final - the college's first such experience since 1996. Having come through the ranks with the college footballers since joining the staff of St. Macartan's in 1996, Pascal has been able to review the qualities of the various football squads he has overseen at D'alton, Rannafast, Corn na Nog and McRory Cup. Quarter-finals defeats were, sadly, the staple diet for a whole stream of teams from the famed Monaghan football academy. "I think we raised the bar a bit over the past year. The lads showed a lot of maturity and responsibility over the course of the campaign. "Everything we advised them about lifestyle and time management - taking into account the demands placed on them by their leaving cert. studies - they took on board. "Of the 15 that started the McRory Cup final on St. Patrick's Day, twelve of them were studying their leaving cert and that was something we were very much aware of." All things considered, Pascal insists that the 'run' enjoyed by St. Macartans in season 2003/2004 didn't surprise him. "It may have surprised a few people up north, journalists up there especially who wrote us off and said we were no-hopers, but it didn't surprise me even though the players all embarked on a steep learning curve from September onwards." February 28th last saw that intense period of learning reach a near cresendo with the attainment of a place in the McRory Cup final thanks to a 2-10 to 2-9 win over Omagh CBS in a high-tempo semi-final duel in Tempo. "I'd say that our display in Tempo was probably our best of the whole competition. "We had to produce the goods otherwise we were out of the competition and, on the day, we got big performances from key players even if things looked shaky for a while." Certainly, St. Macartan's had to produce a sleeves-rolled-up display to make the final. Two opportunist goals by Omagh in the 5th and 15th minutes shook Macartans and although the winners-elect finished the half strongly with a point apiece from Dwayne Rooney and Paul McGuigan, the Monaghan lads still trailed by 0-5 to 2-2 at the interval. "It was dicey looking at half-time but there were a few home truths spelled out during the break. "And fair play to the lads for pulling out all the stops after that with a goal apiece by Dwayne Rooney and James McQuaid inside five minutes early in the second half putting us on the right path." And so to the final itself on March 17th at Casement Park and a meeting again with St. Patrick's Academy, Dungannon, the team which St. Macartan's had chiselled out a 1-6 to 1-6 draw a few weeks earlier to clinch the McCormack Cup. Sadly, it wasn't to be an epoch-making afternoon for the Monaghan lads as their Tyrone opponents - inspired by corner forward Paul Forker - triumphed by 0-8 to 0-6 at the windswept Belfast venue. The Dungannon dynamo fired over four of his side's points from play to ease the would-be winners into a more than useful four point interval lead. Monaghan's finest came under renewed pressure on the restart, eventually going behind by six points after just four minutes of the second half. However Monaghan's finest dug deep and fought back to reduce their deficit in the final quarter but against a resolute Dungannon defence, Macartan's just couldn't overhaul their opponent's long-time lead and their hopes were consequently dashed. "They played in typical Tyrone style with every player working his socks off in a defensive manner when they didn't have the ball. "But a lot of our lads were unhappy with their own performances. I'd say only about a half-dozen of our fellas played to their true form in the final." Nerves playing a part perhaps? "Maybe. But in the run-up to the match, we tried to address the question of the players and their nerves, the effect of live television coverage and a big crowd and a big stage but it might have all got to the players nonetheless. "If we had got off to a good start, the team would have settled down but even at that I thought we might have sneaked a goal late on to turn things around. "We didn't play well as a team in the final and we didn't deserve to win the McRory Cup on the basis of our performance in the final." The feeling of 'what might have been' still pervades the hallowed corridors of the Sem almost a year on, it seems. One wonders what might have happened if Macartan's had played any other day, bar that actual fateful day: "I'm convinced that were we to play them tommorrow we'd beat them," comes the defiant retort from Pascal Smyth. Enough said. The following is the St. Macartan's team which so nearly secured the McRory Cup for the first time in 48 years; Declan Callery; Gary Trappe, Ronan Garvey, Neil McRory; Mark Morgan, Mark McCaffrey, John Thomas Treanor; Stephen McAleer; Daithi McKeown (0-1); Dwayne Rooney, Nicholas Treanor, James McQuaid; Noel Morgan (0-1), Paul McGuigan (0-3), Shane Smyth (0-1). Subs: S. Coyle for McQuaid, N McAdam for Trappe, B McKenna for Rooney, P Atkinson for Smyth St. Macartan's College 'Coaching to Success' 2004 has been a bitter sweet year for the Gael's of St. Macartan's College. We landed our first senior title in over half a century capturing the inaugural Fr. Enda McCormick Cup. This was achieved with six wins and one draw from eight fixtures in the pre Christmas MacRory league phase of the McRory Cup competition. The quarter final saw StMacartan's gain a 1-11 to 0-11 victory over Abbey C.B.S Newry while the semi final brought the most compelling and entertaining game of the year. St. Macartan's trailed Omagh C.B.S by four points at half time and the trade mark second half comeback of this team was encapsulated by a spectacular solo goal from Dwayne Rooney which saw him break from just inside halfway before unleashing an unstoppable shot to hit the top corner of the net from fully 30m. That put the college into un-chartered territory for the first time since 1956, the McRory Cup final on St.Patrick's Day at Casement Park Belfast was played before 7,500 supporters. In a game that certainly could have been won, the St. Pat's Dungannon tactic of suffocating the play and playing on the break ultimately proved decisive, as a stifled St.Macartan's never seemed to break free of their markers and recreate the attacking play which had been the hallmark of their campaign up to the final. For the record the final score was St.Macartan's Monaghan 0-06 St.Patrick's Academy Dungannon 0-08. As the disappointment of that two point defeat recedes somewhat, upon reflection 2004 has seen the reemergence of the college at the top table of Ulster colleges football. All our teams in 2004 qualified through the group sections of their respective competitions to compete in Ulster Colleges 'A' grade quarter, semi and finals. This represents 174 students who where part of college teams while this figure rises to almost 300 when internal college leagues for first and second year students are taken into account. This progress has been achieved with a collective effort on the part of our students, parents and coaching staff. In an effort to redress our stagnation, our hard working Gaelic Games committee has consistently raised the bar in regard to the preparation of all our Gaelic football players. All Gaelic football pitch based training at the 'SEM' has been on an after school basis since the turn of the millennium. All our teams typically train twice a week after school during the year while since 2003 we have been utilizing our new state of the art sports complex at the college. All our senior players now follow a long term strength and conditioning program three lunchtimes a week, while our younger teams typically can be found circuit, plyometric or S.A.Q. training two lunchtimes a week during the season. In transition year we have recently introduced a year long sports module aimed at educating our players in the theory and practice of sports science. The 2004/2005 season has already seen our Mc Rory Cup and Corn na nÓg teams gain qualification for the knock out stages of their respective competitions. The active coaching staff in St. Macartan's are Seamus Meehan, (Monaghan Harps), Pascal Smyth (Rockcorry), Paul West (Blackhill), Paddy Hughes (Tyholland), Gareth Coyle (Oliver Plunkets Drogheda) while Eamon O'Hara (Scotstown) has been involved with the preparation of Mc Rory Cup teams in the last two seasons through his role as a coaching development officer with Monaghan county board. The Gaelic Games committee of St. Macartan's College is Paraic Duffy (Chairman), Paul West (Secretary), Vincent Lee, Paddy Hughes, Pascal Smyth, Seamus Meehan, Gareth Coyle, Raymond McHugh and Enda McCabe. The 2004 McRory squad will be remembered long into the future as the team who turned the ship around and began a new era for both the college and Monaghan college football in general. These players have not stopped either. Our captain Paul McGuigan and Brendan McKenna achieved sports scholarships to the University of Ulster Jordanstown on the back of our McRory campaign. These players represented the college for three years apiece with distinction at McRory level and are now plying their trade with the U.U.J Sigerson cup team together with Daithi McKeown while Stephen McAleer is fulfilling a similar role down the road at Queen's University Belfast, to mention but a few of these fine young men. Our feeder clubs which are Aghabog, Clontibret, Drumhowan, ÉireÓg, Emyvale, Fergal O'Hanlon's, Killevan, Monaghan Harps, Rockcory, Scotstown, Seán MacDermott's, Truagh and Tyholland also play a critical role in balancing the club/college commitments of the boys while we are always grateful for their assistance with accommodating matches particularly over the winter months. The restructuring of the juvenile fixtures currently being examined by Bord na nÓg should also alleviate the longstanding college/club conflict of interest that can arise at Rannafast Cup level (U-16). It is true to say that the vast majority of our clubs act selflessly in assisting us and fully recognize the unique and special place playing for the 'SEM' has in the football careers of all our players. We will be increasing our efforts to develop all our players in the coming months and years with the aim of producing quality footballers who can compete and be successful at the highest level. Paul West. Tweet

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