History makers
December 30, 2010They say that your best memories come from your school days. Well, May 13, 2010 is a date that one group of St Pat's students will certainly never forget as is the effect the winning feeling can have on you.
Managed by Deputy Principal of the College, John O'Shea, and coached by enthusiastic Killygarry man Andy McGovern, the duo knew they had the right ingredients for success when they began training the team in the New Year and the road to victory started in March when they took on St Michael's of Enniskillen and scored a convincing opening win against the Fermanagh boys.
Wins over St Colman's College, Newry, and St Patrick's College, Maghera followed to send the Cavan students into a quarter-final with St Mary's Grammar of Magherafelt, where they kept up their excellent form to book a place into the last four of the Under 13-and-a-half competition.
John O'Shea's team would meet St Pat's of Maghera for the second time, with a place in the final at stake. In a gruelling contest, it was the Cavan side's flawless character that shone through in the end as they hit a devastating five-minute spell early in the second-half which saw them tack up 2-4 without reply, with the goals coming from Ben Conaty and Ronan O'Reilly, to move into the provincial decider.
Coming off the back of four wins, St Pat's were to play the final against an Abbey CBS side, which were also unbeaten, just three days after ousting their Maghera namesakes at the semi-final stage. While the excitement was understandably high ahead of the final, the players still knew they had a job to do if they were to win themselves a coveted Ulster medal.
The opening stages were airtight at the Pearse Og venue in Armagh, with the teams dead-locked on a point each for the first 15 minutes before St Pat's captain Ryan Connolly shot his side into the lead with a fine over. The momentum then began to build for the Cavan side and after creating a number of chances they finally made the big breakthrough in the 21st minute when full-forward Ben Conaty of Denn pierced the Abbey rearguard and blasted to the net. Drumlane player Connolly contributed two more points from centre-forward to help St Pat's towards an ideal 1-5 to 0-1 lead by half-time.
After the restart Abbey demonstrated why they had been unbeaten going into the decider, as they hit back with three unanswered points to trim their deficit to four. It looked as though the pendulum had swung in the favour of the young Down men but, crucially, St Pat's never panicked, showing remarkable maturity to get back on top of their opponents.
Having regained their foothold at centre-field through Colin McCabe and Matthew McKenna, St Pat's soon rediscovered their scoring-touch and picked up where they had left off in the first-half with the lethal Connolly firing in their second goal on the three quarter mark to take back control of the game.
Staunch defending at the back from Cian McManus, Declan Lunney and Jason Rahill didn't allow any way back for Abbey and when Ronan O'Reilly's goal was backed up with a brace of points from substitute Donovan McCaffrey a 3-9 to 0-4 victory was confirmed and the D'Alton Cup was on its way to Cavan for the first time in its 47-year history.
St Patrick's, Cavan (D'Alton Cup final v Abbey CBS): Mark Fegan; Glen Brady, Jason Rahill, Declan Lunney; Cian McManus, Thomas Galligan, Paul Sexton; Colin McCabe, Matthew McKenna (0-1); Ronan O'Reilly (1-2), Ryan Connolly (1-4), Pierce Smith; Brian Sheanon, Ben Conaty (1-0), Darragh Gannon. Sub: Donovan McCaffrey (0-2) for B Sheanon.
After the final, a proud John O'Shea was full of praise for the players and their honest effort throughout the campaign, along with the endeavour of team trainer Andy McGovern.
"It's a wonderful achievement for the lads and everyone connected with the college to win this trophy," said the College's Deputy Principal.
He added: "I'm very proud of the side's success but Andy McGovern, who is recognised as a fine coach who works with the county board, has also played a huge role in the success. The players have been highly dedicated and worked extremely hard to claim this success and we were fortunate enough to be in charge.
"Hopefully this success will be built on in the coming years. I'd certainly like to think the college will continue to perform well in a sporting sense in the future as we have done in the past."
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