St. Pat's, Maghera show what Derry hurling is capable of

By John Harrington

If you want hard evidence that hurling and Gaelic football can not just coexist peacefully but achieve at a high level alongside one another, look no further than St. Patrick’s College, Maghera.

The reigning Hogan Cup champions are renowned as one of the greatest Gaelic football secondary school nurseries in the country, but they also have a very proud tradition of hurling.

It’s the smaller ball code that’s featuring more prominently in their shop window this year after the school’s very impressive Mageean Cup (Ulster Post Primary Senior 'A' hurling) success.

Three days after they were knocked out of the MacRory Cup, eight of the same players dusted themselves down to power the school to victory over reigning Ulster and All-Ireland champions, Cross and Passion Ballycastle on a scoreline of 4-13 to 1-12.

Antrim county hurler Paul Boyle is the St. Pat’s manager and believes their success shows what can be achieved if hurling is given the platform to succeed in developing counties.

“It's massive because the school is also very strong in football so for us to show the younger ones in the school that hurling can also be put on a pedestal and be successful is great," says Boyle. "That success will inspire the younger ones.

“In fairness to the whole school, and in particular to Chrissy McKaigue who is involved with the MacRory management with Sean Marty Lockhart, we've all worked together well and they were very good at giving us the freedom to work over here at this pitch station or go to that challenge game.

“It's obviously tough to balance it and we had the MacRory Cup quarter-final on the Sunday before the Mageean Final on the Wednesday due to the weather and games being postponed.

“But we work closely with the MacRory management and we've a good relationship there and a lot of goodwill built up and I think the young lads appreciate that and see that we're working together which is a big positive overall.

“Our school principal, Katrina Crilly, is a massive supporter of Gaelic games in the school and gives both the football and hurling a great platform.

“The infrastructure that Katrina has put in place and the backing she gives the whole thing is fantastic.

“Slaughtneil as a club have shown that you can balance both codes and hopefully as a school we're doing that as well. If young lads are managed correctly then you can play both and be successful. It's a positive story.”

It’s Boyle’s second year teaching in St. Pat’s and when he joined the staff he was immediately struck by the quality of young hurlers in the school.

St. Pat’s hadn’t won a Mageean Cup since 2017 and the competition is traditionally dominated by Antrim schools, but he was quick to impress upon his young charges that they shouldn’t fear any opponent.

“Aye, that was message, I was telling them that they are as good as anything I've seen,” says Boyle.

“After a couple of sessions you weren't lying to the lads, you were telling them the truth.

“They were absolutely as good as anyone else. The skill level is incredibly high. I was telling them that the things that you're doing here I'm doing with my own club and county team.

“We were trying to build their confidence the whole way through the competition. I think lads saw after a couple of group games the talent in the group and that they were as good as these boys and there was nothing to be in fear of.”

The Mageean Cup Final was freighted with some extra motivation for St. Pat’s by the fact that two of their key players are Padraig and Sean O’Kane whose James was a driving force for hurling in the school for many years before his untimely passing in 2013, leading them to five Mageean Cups in six years between 2001 and 2007.

The Man of the Match award for the Mageean Cup Final is named in his honour and presented by Padraig and Shane’s mother Lorraine, which served as a little extra source of motivation for all involved to make sure after the final whistle blew that she’d be handing it to a St. Pat’s hurler.

“When I first landed in St. Pat's, Sean Marty Lockhart, Joe McCloskey, Chrissy McKaigue, all these men that were about the school were very quick to tell me about James and let me know who he was and what he was about,” says Boyle.

“Before the game I wasn't going to say anything because of Padraig and Sean and I didn't think it was fair on the two lads, but it was actually Katrina Crilly who said when she was speaking to the lads that she wanted to remember James and thought it was important.

“When she said that it was a great added motivation. Sean and Padraig produced brilliant performances in the final. They definitely weren't going to be on the losing side.

“It's very special for the group because whenever you read any reports or hear any stories about James, Maghera hurling was such a massive thing for him and he was a huge part of it. You could see how much it meant to his wife Lorraine on the night, she was very emotional.

“It was just a very special aspect to the whole occasion and meant a lot to the whole school.”

The James O’Kane Man of the Match award was ultimately won by St. Pat’s captain, Rian Collins, who scored 1-8 and set up another two goals.

The outstanding young Lavey hurler has his own familial history with the Mageean Cup which added another layer of satisfaction to the win for St. Pat’s.

“Rian's father (Michael) was a winning Mageean Cup captain in this school and won man of the match in the final as well, so that was an added bonus,” says Boyle.

“Rian was on the Derry senior panel this year as well as the U20 football but he's a hurling first man and there's no limit to what he could achieve in the game.

“He's as good as I've seen at underage in any county. If he keeps at it and pushes on then he can achieve great things.”

Collins and his St. Pat’s team-mates might well achieve great things before the year is out.

They’ll play the as yet to be crowned Leinster champions in the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior ‘B’ (Paddy Buggy Cup) semi-final on March 7^th and will go into that match full of confidence after the nature of their Ulster championship win.

They’ve beaten the last two Paddy Buggy cup champions (Cross and Passion College and St. Killian’s College) in their last two matches, so there’s no reason why they shouldn’t believe they’re good enough themselves to win it.

“Absolutely,” says Boyle. “The two of those teams going on and winning it gives us a lot of belief.

“After winning the Mageean the lads immediately turned their attention to winning the All-Ireland. There's no fear. There's just an excitement and buzz to see who we get.

“It's refreshing, because in Ulster you're playing the same teams year in, year out whereas now we’ll get down the south to play a new team that we don't know as much about.

“It's an opportunity to showcase what we're about and it's an added buzz, you can really notice a pep in everyone's step in the past couple of weeks.

“The more you come in contact with top level teams the more you see that they're not that different to us. They're doing the same training as us or they have the same level of skill.

“We will have a clear run at it now for the next few weeks and it'll be great to see what sort of level these boys can go to.”