Athenry Vocational School first opened its doors 40 years ago this year and 2008 saw them celebrate the anniversary by adding the All-Ireland Colleges junior hurling title to the football award won a week earlier. In what was a remarkable achievement by the Galway based school, they became the first school to win the 'double' with All-Ireland junior titles secured in both grades. And in doing so defended their junior A title that they had won in 2007. Manager of the hurling team is Turloughmore native Bosco Hurney who helped guide the school to their seventh All-Ireland junior success in its 40 year history and he gave his thoughts on the success to Hogan Stand. Back in 1968 when the school accepted its first pupils, 70 boys and girls attended Athenry V.S. Over the years the numbers of increased dramatically with 540 pupils now present. Sport plays a huge part in the make up of the school and asides from success in the GAA, the likes of soccer, golf, basketball, volleyball and equine sports have seen Athenry triumph. However, it was the football and hurling that dominated the sporting scene this year with the more recent success of the hurlers capping an outstanding season. "To win both is just remarkable. I suppose at the start of the year, we felt that we had a good chance of doing well in the hurling, but to be fair the football came as a complete surprise and was an added bonus," said Bosco. The hurling trainer admitted that going well on both fronts meant that there was fixture congestion along the way, which hampered training throughout the campaign. "Training was very awkward and it got to the stage that there were games every week, so it made it virtually impossible to get the lads together. The two semi finals were within a week of one another, so that just tells you how it went." Amazingly the hurling team consisted of players from a number of clubs, but astonishingly none were from the renowned Athenry club, although Bosco revealed Turloughmore supplied 15 of the school's squad. "Turloughmore won the county under-16 and minor last year. There were a number of those on the schools team, which was a big boost. I was over the under-16 side, so I knew a lot about the players, while I also knew the players from the other clubs, having played against them," he added. The standard of hurling produced throughout colleges hurling this year has taken many by surprise, but Bosco revealed that the work being done at club level is a major benefit to the schools. "Clubs have placed a greater emphasis on their underage structures in recent years. There is a more serious approach to coaching than there was in previous times, which has been a great benefit to the young lads. "While, it also has been a huge benefit to the schools also, as the standard has definitely gone up. We were involved in some top class games this year in both the senior and junior. "Our senior side was beaten by Borrisokane in the All-Ireland semi final and that was an outstanding game of hurling, which we were unlucky to lose." Despite, losing the senior semi final, the junior side proved to be a success with ten of the players winning All-Ireland medals in both grades. Having defeated old rivals Loughrea outfit St Brigid's, Bosco knew that this side could go do very well in the 2008 All-Ireland colleges' campaign. "Once we got over St Brigid's we knew we had a chance. The matches between us are always very close and they are a very good college team. Unfortunately, there are only a few teams in the Connacht championship, who are all from Galway, so there is not too much competition there." The defending champions met Munster champions Roscrea in the All-Ireland semi final and in a high scoring encounter, the Galway outfit ran out winners by 5-16 to 3-9. In the decider Carlow kingpins Borris would provide the opposition and Bosco was not taking the Leinster side for granted and instilled the same sentiment in his players. "There has been a huge amount of work carried out by Carlow at underage level and they have made great strides. They reached a Leinster minor final where they were beaten by Kilkenny and the fact that the school team consisted of players from both Kilkenny and Carlow meant that they weren't going to be any pushovers." The final was played in Banagher and what a match it turned out to be as both teams displayed great skill and heart throughout. Borris held a three-point lead at the interval and had the wind behind their back for the second half, giving them the advantage. Nonetheless, Athenry showed their true character and battled back to draw level before man-of-the-match Ronan Badger scored a crucial goal to give the Galway side the lead for the first time in the game and it was one they held until the end. When the final whistle went, there were great scenes of jubilation among the Athenry supporters, mentors and players as they realised what they had just achieved. "At half time, we were really up for it and knew that we had to dig deep. The lads deserve great credit for coming back and in fairness Borris deserve great credit for the part they played in a thrilling match. "It has been an amazing here and I just have to say that it was a joy working with the players. They gave everything all year and never once complained." Following on from this success, Athenry will be hotly tipped to do well in the senior competition next year and although Bosco would be delighted to lift a senior crown, he stressed that it does not always work out that way. "It is not very often that teams make the step up from junior to senior straight away and it can be very difficult, but we will certainly give it a shot and who knows what can happen! Tweet

Most Read Stories