April 4 2009 was a red-letter day for Cross & Passion College, Ballycastle who defeated a fancied Colaiste Eoin, Stillorgan team to claim their first All-Ireland Colleges SHC 'B' title. Joint-manager and former Derry football underage star Joe Cassidy says the victory was the realisation of a dream for everyone associated with the North Antrim school. Cross & Passion College, Ballycastle became only the third Ulster school to capture the O'Keefe Cup on Saturday, April 4 last when they upset the odds with a brilliant victory over Dublin's Colaiste Eoin at Pairc Esler in Newry. Underdogs for much of the campaign, and never more so than when they were reduced to 14 players just six minutes into the All-Ireland final, Cross & Passion consistently displayed a never-say-die attitude which ultimately earned them a first national title in hurling. The historic success was notable for the fact that it was masterminded by two men with no hurling backgrounds whatsoever - former Derry footballer Joe Cassidy and Linfield soccer star Oran Kearney. Both are members of the Cross & Passion teaching staff and, needless to say, are very proud of their team's achievement. "This win was a dream come true for everyone who is involved with hurling in the school," says Bellaghy clubman Cassidy, who won an All-Ireland under 21 football medal with Derry in 1997. "Cross & Passion is a mixed school of about 760 pupils, and many of them play hurling or camogie. Last year, our under 16 camogie team won the All-Ireland 'A' title and, in many ways, that paved the way for this year's hurling success. "The foundations for this success were laid many years ago by Mickey Dallat, who has been promoting hurling in the school for the past 34 years. Two other teachers, Alex Campbell and Ciaran Herron - the Antrim county hurler - also contributed to this as did the school's caretaker Paul McKillen, who also played for Antrim, and all the clubs in and around Ballycastle. "In particular, I would like to thank Ballycastle McQuillan, Carey Faughs and Clough Mills for the use of their facilities. We got fantastic support from all the clubs and hopefully this will give them and Antrim hurling a boost." Cross & Passion's All-Ireland victory atoned for the disappointment of losing the 2007 decider to Wexford's FCJ Bunclody, when expectations were considerably higher than this year. "There wasn't a lot expected of us at the start of the season," Cassidy points out. "St. Mary's CBS, Belfast beat us in last year's Ulster final before going on to lose the All-Ireland final to Lismore of Waterford, and with all but two of that team on board again this year, they were hot favourites to win Ulster again. "By contrast, we had a young and inexperienced team with only three of our players overage next year. Four of the starting team were only 15, while this group of players hadn't won anything at under 14 or under 16 level. "But to their credit, they put in a tremendous effort to get through the early rounds of the championship and the whole thing snowballed from there. These are a great bunch of class hurlers. They have been together since second year and, although through their years at the college they won just a few games, they really blossomed this year. "It is just the third title to come to Ulster since St Mary's CBS won in 1972 and St. Patrick's, Maghera in 2006 and we are so glad and proud tobring the cup back to North Antrim." In their Ulster campaign, Cross & Passion qualified from a section that included St. Mary's CBS, St. Patrick's, Maghera, St. Louis', Ballymena, La Salle, Belfast and Garron Tower to set up a semi-final with St. Patrick's, Maghera. As it transpired, Ballycastle won 2-9 to 1-9 with goals from John McBride and Shane Jennings. The final in Maghera pitted Cross & Passion against warm favourites St. Mary's CBS. The Belfast outfit looked to be on course for their expected victory until Shane McCambridge struck for goal with six minutes remaining to put Cross & Passion two points up. Substitute Steven McAfee added a point before the end to seal a 3-6 to 2-6 victory and ensure that the Mageean Cup would be returning to Ballycastle. "The Ulster final was a real war of attrition played in difficult conditions. We used our power and pace up front to our advantage. Ciaran Clarke set up our goals for Shane Jennings, John McBride and Shane McCambridge, while Stephen Smyth gave a man of the match performance at midfield," Joe explains. With the Ulster championship completed before Halloween, Cross & Passion had a five-month wait to their All-Ireland semi-final against St. John the Baptist, Hospital Community School from Limerick, which was played in Ratoath, Co. Meath on March 21. They kept themselves ticking over by playing five challenge matches against junior and under 21 club teams, and showed no signs of rustiness as they ran out 1-11 to 0-10 winners. The match was played at a ferocious pace with Cross & Passion taking a 0-7 to 0-6 lead into the break. The Ulster champions managed to keep their noses in front until the only goal was scored eight minutes from time by Steven McAfee, and there was no way back for Hospital after that. Cross & Passion brought a large crowd of supporters with them to Newry for the All-Ireland final against Colaiste Eoin of Dublin. Backboned by players from Kilmacud Crokes' All-Ireland Feile winning team of 2005, Colaiste Eoin were clear favourites but Cross & Passion had other ideas and produced a magnificent performance to register a 3-12 to 1-10 victory. The prospect of Cross & Passion causing an upset appeared even less likely when they lost left half back Daniel McPeake to a red card after just six minutes, but they made light of that handicap and thwarted their Dublin opponents time and again. Two goals in a 10-minute spell before half-time paved the way for the underdogs' triumph. The first came from Ciaran Clarke who connected with a long-range free by Matthew Donnelly. Moments later, another long-range effort from full back Donnelly - who is a son of ex-Antrim star Brian - went all the way to the net and gave them a 2-6 to 0-3 lead at the interval. Despite facing a stiffening breeze in the second half, the winners continued to hold the edge. Two frees from Sean MacCraith were negated by points from Clarke and Shane Jennings before MacCraith sent over three frees to reduce Cross & Passion's lead to seven points entering the final quarter. But with 12 minutes remaining, Ballycastle struck for a match-winning goal from Clarke following a defence-splitting pass from Jennings. Clarke added three further points, and not even the concession of a last-minute goal, scored by Colaiste Eoin substitute Marc Schutte, could spoil the Cross & Passion party. "We devised a plan to overcome their high-fielding and pace and it worked well. Our two-man up front ploy worked like magic and they were never allowed to dominate at any stage," Cassidy says. No fewer than eight clubs were represented on the victorious Cross & Passion panel, namely Ballycastle McQuillans, Loughiel Shamrocks, Ruairi Og Cushendall, Carey Faughs, Emmets Cushendun, Ossians Glenariffe, Glen Rovers Armoy and Clough Mills. "It's fantastic for the clubs who have moulded the players into what they are today. The players on our panel are a great credit to their clubs, a number of whom operate at intermediate and junior level," the joint Cross & Passion manager concludes. The victorious Cross & Passion, Ballycastle hurling squad was: Stephen McGinn, Oisin McMahon, Sean Birt, Shane McCambridge, Shane McKee, Aidan Campbell, Conor Duncan, Stephen McAuley, Ciaran McErlain , Fergus Donnelly, Tiernan Coyle, Patrick Blaney, Sean McAfee, Declan Gillan, Niall Murray, James McCouaig, Daniel McPeake, Conor Laverty (captain), Ciaran Clarke, Stephen Smyth, James McShane, John McBride, James Black. Mark Scally, Matthew Donnelly, Ronan McCloskey, Shane Jennings, Steven McAfee. Tweet

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