Tralee CBS and St. Pat's, Maghera show both codes can prosper together 

By John Harrington

Tralee CBS and St. Pat’s Maghera are a tonic for the misguided notion that young players should focus on one code from an early age rather than be encouraged to succeed in both.

The two schools have reached Saturday’s Masita All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Paddy Buggy (Senior B) Cup Hurling Final and many of the players from both sides that will take to the field have already played in All-Ireland football finals.

Some of the St. Pat’s players were part of the school’s Hogan Cup winning side last year while six members of the Tralee team that lost this year’s Hogan Cup Final by a single point on Tuesday will be in action for the school in Saturday’s hurling final.

Proof, if any was needed, that you can succeed at a high level in both codes if you give dual-players the breathing space to play both and keep communication lines open between both sets of managements.

Chrissy McKaigue knows a thing or two about playing both Gaelic football and hurling at a high level having done so himself with Slaughtneil for many years.

The Derry county football team coach is also a teacher and Gaelic games coach in St. Pat’s and, while he admits it can be a challenge to balance the dual demands of both football and hurling, their experience as a school is that it’s very rewarding to do so.

“The simple answer to how we promote Gaelic games across all the codes is that we are still working the best template out currently!”, McKaigue told GAA.ie

“We find it a tough balance to find but we find it an enjoyable template to try and navigate because that’s part of what makes the school so special and unique.

“It’s hugely challenging due to the amount of teams we have playing all the codes. So, I suppose the biggest thing to try and get right is the communication element, being willing to adapt and stay fluid with plans and then trying to stay connected with clubs and respect their competitions also.

“There are many transferable aspects of dual sport but for me the biggest one is the privilege to get the chance to play both games at such high level in our school.

“Both games are brilliant and the opportunities to balance both sports now particularly at schools level are better than ever before.”

Tralee CBS manager, Mark Ryall, is as passionate a hurling man as they come.

He also coaches the Kerry senior hurling team and is a founding member and former Chairperson of Tralee Parnells hurling club who have gone from strength to strength since their foundation in 2012.

He believes that hurling and football can complement one another and is a vocal advocate for allowing young players to play both codes if they have the desire to do so.

“I'd be great friends with the boys over the football team in the school and we work very closely together," says Ryall. "Both the football and hurling would complement each other a lot too.

"The boys from North Kerry that would have been in playing the hurling are also good footballers and they ended up on the team and they strengthened it. It's all about communication and minding the lads and just letting them enjoy it.

"They're all fit and they're all good lads, so just making that they're not being flogged is the big thing. If the footballers have a game they get priority for the week and if we have the game we get priority for the week and vice versa.

“It was brilliant to see the likes of Mikey Corridan and Eoin O’Flaherty being so central to the football team in Tuesday’s All-Ireland Final and they're central to us as well.

“It's great to see young fellas get to play both at a high level and I think It’s very unfair that they're being put under pressure at development squad ages and up to minor and under 20 to choose one over the other.

“Some lads are just naturally gifted at maybe more than one sport and if they’re forced to pick one and it doesn’t work out for them that can be very tough for them.

“It’s much better to give them the opportunity to play both sports for as long as possible so there are more options open to them in terms of playing at the highest level they possibly can when they’re that bit older.”

St. Pat’s, Maghera might be more renowned for their exploits on the Gaelic football pitch, but there has also long been a fine tradition of hurling in the school thanks to passionate hurling men like Joe McGurk and the late James O'Kane

They’ve won this All-Ireland title on two previous occasions when it was known as the O’Keeffe Cup, and have also won the Mageean Cup (Ulster ‘A’) on 14 occasions.

“Men like James O’Kane and Joe McGurk have created such a legacy regarding hurling in Maghera,” says McKaigue.

“I suppose the biggest day that came for James in his school hurling career was winning the O’Keefe Cup as it was then in 2006. Up until that point a Maghera team had never won an All Ireland hurling title before.

“That was a big day in terms of belief for the college.

“He has two sons playing now on the current team in Padraig and Sèan who are also two dual players and two great young men.”

Tralee’s hurling tradition doesn’t go back as far as that of St. Pat’s, but it’s very much established in the school now.

The best young hurlers from the north Kerry hurling heartland want to come to the school, and there’s also now a ready-made supply of talented hurlers in the town and its environs thanks to the success story that is Tralee Parnells who won their first ever Kerry minor title last year.

Most of the players who will play in Saturday’s Paddy Buggy Final have played on teams that have worked their way steadily up through the grades, but in the younger age-groups the school is now very much established in ‘B’ or ‘A’ competitions from the get-go.

Three years ago their first-years defeated Ard Scoil Rís in the Limerick ‘A’ Final and that group has been winning silverware ever since.

As good as this year’s senior team is, there’s possibly an even better one coming behind it so hurling is on a very sustainable footing in the school for the foreseeable future.

“We probably never dreamed of getting so far, but it probably kind of snowballed,” says Ryall.

“A lot of more lads started coming because they wanted to play both codes to a high level and they weren’t being forced to pick one over the other here which was a big thing for them and it took off from there and we ended up going all the way up the grades.

“These lads have a huge amount of work put in over the last six years. So it's nice that they get their day as well to show what they're capable of doing as well.”

Both St. Pat’s, Maghera and Tralee CBS deserve a lot of credit for giving their pupils the full Gaelic games experience by supporting them to play both codes if that’s their wish, and it clearly hasn’t come at the expense of success in either.

Unfortunately, there can be only one winner on Saturday though.

Saturday, March 21

Masita All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Paddy Buggy (Senior B) Cup Final

St. Patrick’s, Maghera v Tralee CBS, Kinnegad, 1.30pm