As has become their trademark in recent years, Patrician High School made history again in 2003 ... this time by reaching the semi-final stage of the MacRory Cup (Ulster senior colleges championship). Speaking to Gerry Robinson, manager Paddy Martin reflects on a landmark campaign for the Carrickmacross school. Two-thousand-and-three was, quite simply, another remarkable year for the footballers of Patrician High School, Carrickmacross. Not content with the breakthrough made in 2001 when capturing the Rannafast Cup, the Carrick boys blazed a trail to their first ever MacRory Cup semi-final. Herein, they produced a worthy performance against mighty St Patrick's of Maghera at Casement Park on Saturday February 22nd before succumbing on a scoreline of 1-13 to 2-7. Patrician HS got off to a magnificent start with a goal and a point inside the first 90 seconds, but they were unable to sustain that kind of dream football and, gradually, Maghera's greater experience and composure began to shine through. While the south Monaghan school performed admirably, they were up against a side with strong players in key positions, none more so than Derry minor captain Gerard O'Kane who was outstanding at centre back. The brilliant Stephen Gollogly blasted home Patrician's early goal after Pauric Dowdall had opened the scoring. However, the Derry lads were completely on top for the following 25 minutes, during which they recorded seven unanswered points. Indeed, only some heroic defending from Carrickmacross kept them in the game at this stage. Three minutes from the break, Kevin Clarke fisted to the net to draw Paddy Martin's charges level again and the sides shared the next two points to leave it level, 0-8 to 2-2, at the break. Carrick' had wind advantage on the resumption but their hopes were dealt a blow when the only three scores of the third quarter all went to the Derrymen. Incredibly, however, the Monaghan representatives, who were physically much smaller than their northern counterparts, fought back to level again with seven minutes remaining. Maghera were rattled and a huge upset was on the cards... Three points in as many minutes from Gollogly did the damage for Patrician but, to their credit, the Pats hit an immediate goal at the other end to once more put daylight between the teams. Patrician came back with another point from Neil Lennon but Maghera had the last say and scraped home with three points to spare. Patrician High School qualified for the semi-final when defeating fancied Abbey CBS from Armagh by 1-9 to 0-8 in Dundalk a fortnight earlier, on Saturday February 8th. As it was their first ever appearance in a MacRory Cup quarter-final, to win against such a strongly-fancied Orchard County side was no mean feat. Meanwhile, St Patrick's of Maghera went through to the last four when accounting for Omagh CBS after a replay. Those games were also played at Casement - an intimidating venue at the best of times - which gave the Derry school an extra edge when it came to the 'semi'. Reflecting on the year, manager Paddy Martin feels mixed emotions: "I was pleased by the fact that we went so far but there's just a niggling thought in the back of my mind that maybe we could've done even better. We didn't perform on the day against Maghera and that leaves you wondering about what might have been. "Still, I can have no complaints whatsoever with the lads. They gave it their all and perhaps the occasion got to them. To only lose by three points after not playing to our full potential is a little frustrating. We drew level with just over five minutes to go and Maghera were clearly shaken but we were unable to go on from there and they hit us with a good goal. We just seemed to depend too much on two or three players on the day..." While they still had nine of the team that won the Rannafast Cup two years earlier, Patrician High School were still a depleted side, as the manager explains: "We were missing the full back, the full forward and a midfielder from the Monaghan minor team, all of whom had left after five years in the school. I genuinely believe that if we'd still been able to call on those players then we'd have won the MacRory out." Paddy admits he was taken aback by the sheer size of the Maghera players ("I don't know what they feed them up there!") as well as their overall attitude: "I was very impressed by their hunger and determination. They had a wealth of experience and an amazing tradition behind them. I didn't think we'd crack under the pressure but we did to a certain extent. "It's very difficult to compete with these big colleges in Ulster. We trained very hard, we played to the system and the boys believed in themselves. They were a very motivated bunch - and a lot of that motivation came from within. Unfortunately, they just didn't play that well on the day. That's the only pity, because it's going to be very hard to get back to that level again." Paddy is convinced that the only way Patrician High School can ever compete on a regular basis with the Magheras, Newrys, Omaghs and Enniskillens of this world is if they attract all the players within their immediate catchment area: "Previously, the balance of power in Monaghan has always been with St Macartan's, but we're here in the south of the county and can bring in players from parts of Cavan, Meath and Louth as well. "We are a school of only 400 students. Only when we get all the footballers within our radius coming here to play football with the High School will we be able to truly challenge the bigwigs." In fairness, though, Patrician HS didn't make a bad fist of it in 2003. For their efforts, they received two Bank of Ireland colleges All Star awards - the first ever such honours to go to the school. Incidentally, midfielder James Conlon and livewire attacker Stephen 'Jinxy' Gollogly ["star of the show in the semi-final," according to his manager] are literally next-door neighbours in Carrickmacross. Says Paddy: "It was great just being involved at that level - big days, lovely pitches and big crowds. It was some experience. We all enjoyed it." Victory over St Pat's of Cavan in the group phase was enough to see the High School qualify for the knock-out stage of the MacRory Cup for the first time in their history: "We trained very hard over Christmas for the game against the Abbey, and that was a big, big win for us," the Carrickmacross Emmets man enthuses. Next year could prove a major challenge for the school: "We'll have lost most of this team and I honestly don't know if we'll be able to do so well again at A level. We could be more suited to B football next time around. "Having said that, we have a lot of good first- and second-year students coming through at the moment from all the surrounding clubs and hopefully we'll be challenging again in a few years' time. MacRory Cup is the only level to play at, but you need an exceptional bunch of players." Patrician High School has produced no shortage of talent in recent times, as their impressive Roll of Honour (All-Ireland B, Ulster B and Rannafast Cup titles - and now a MacRory Cup semi-final appearance and two All Stars) clearly indicates. "When we won the Rannafast in '01 it was a major shock. We beat all the top teams to win that. It was the first year we'd played in the competition and nobody knew where we had come from..." In conjunction with Eddie Walsh and Eamonn Dunne, Paddy Martin has proven that he knows how to prepare a team and get the best out of the players available to him. He's keeping his fingers crossed now that the increasing profile of the school through its endeavours of the recent past will attract more quality footballers: "We have a good football tradition here - but only really in B football. Until now! It's very difficult when you step up to the top table but, make no mistake about it, we put it up to Maghera and gave them plenty to think about. "It was a great year and an interesting campaign. My only regret is that we didn't quite manage to pull off one of the greatest shocks in the history of Ulster colleges football by reaching the MacRory Cup final." They came mightily close, though... Patrician High School, 2003 MacRory Cup semi-finalists: Ronan McDermott; Owen Duffy, John McNally, Mark McGovern; Mark McNally, Gary McEneaney, Keith McCabe; Kevin Clarke (1-0), James Conlon; Shane Martin, Stephen Gollogly (1-5), Pauric Dowdall (0-1); Ronan Meegan, Kevin Carroll, Neil Lennon (0-1) Sub: Joe Reilly Tweet

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