In attendance at the Masita GAA All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Championships captain's call at Croke Park in Dublin were St Brendan's College Killarney, Kerry, captain Cian McMahon, centre, and Naas CBS, Kildare, joint captains Jack McKevitt, left, and Fionn Tully. The Masita GAA All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Croke Cup and the Masita GAA All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Hogan Cup will be played in Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day, 17th March 2022.
By John Harrington
The St Brendan’s College, Killarney footballers are hoping to make up for lost time when they play Naas CBS in the Masita GAA Post Primary Schools Hogan Cup (SF ‘A’) Final in Croke Park on St. Patrick’s Day.
Two years ago the bulk of the same squad of players were due to play St. Pat’s Navan in the Final of the Paul McGirr Cup (Junior A), but the match was cancelled when Covid-19 hit.
It was a cruel blow at the time for both players and team management, so two years on they’re determined to make the most of this opportunity to finally lift some All-Ireland silverware.
“There's about 85 per cent of the lads who were on that panel and at that time there was a huge drive by lads to continue with training,” says St. Brendan’s manager, Kevin Cronin.
“Whether it was sanitizer or contract tracing forms, whatever we said to them and asked them to do there was no bother once they were on the football pitch with their friends.
“They were unfortunate circumstances that will hopefully never come back again but it's great to see that they've gotten back on the road and they've stayed focused and are back in another All-Ireland Final. It's a great achievement by them.
“I'm involved with a good 80 per cent of this team since they first landed in the school in 2016, from first year up. You've seen fellas change in terms of their growth on the pitch and in the classroom.
“That's great to see and it's also great to see that after a long road of development they're getting some bit of an award by coming up to the major amphitheatre of football and being able to play the game they love.
"They're thrilled by that prospect and there's a great buzz around the school. There's great excitement by everyone, staff, parents, and the local GAA clubs are getting behind the lads as well. There's just a great buzz around the town.”
St. Brendan's Killarney players, including, David Clifford, 11, Chris O'Donoghue, 3, Evan Cronin, 13, and 24, Donnchadh O'Sullivan celebrate with the Hogan Cup in 2016.
Better known as ‘The Sem’, St. Brendan’s are one of the most successful teams in the history of the Hogan Cup.
They’ve reached the final on eight previous occasion and won it four times.
Most recently they won back to back titles in 2016 and 2017, when current Kerry county stars David Clifford and Dara Moynihan were among their leading lights.
Team manager Cronin is a past pupil himself of ‘The Sem’ and very proud of their football tradition, but he warns it will count for little when they face Naas CBS on Thursday.
“There's absolutely a culture of football in the school,” he says. “The corridors are donned with images of 1969 and 1992 and every picture of every team is somewhere in some corner of the school and there's a very strong tradition.
“But people can get a bit too bogged down in the whole football nursery aspect. With schools football, as strong as tradition might be, you're going to have changes every year. The team this year is going to be completely different to the senior team next year.
“Tradition is all well and good, but that all means very little to you if you can't succeed.”
Cronin is keenly aware too that Naas CBS will be powerful opponents on St. Patrick’s Day.
The Kildare school are busy building a tradition of their own and were also finalists when the last Hogan Cup was played in 2019.
They were highly impressive winners over Connacht champions St. Jarlath’s in the All-Ireland semi-final, so this match looks set to be a serious contest between two high-quality teams.
“Absolutely it will,” says Cronin. “We know Naas are an excellent team. When you look at the two semi-finals we had a two-point win and they had 3-14 to 1-4 win against St. Jarlath's.
“But Finals are there for the winner to take them. It's the team that can bring the most on the day. I'm quite confident that our boys will be prepared to the best of their ability. On the day it's just about 65 minutes of being focused and not getting too drawn down on the moment. You have to enjoy the moment because that's what it's all about.
“A lot of them will never have the chance to be in a Hogan Cup Final again, this is the last throw of the dice. As we said to them this is the last week and a half of football for most of them in The Sem, the last chance to wear that jersey.”
Thursday, March 17
Masita GAA Post Primary Schools Hogan Cup (SF ‘A’) Final
St. Brendan's, Killarney v Naas CBS, Croke Park, 2pm (Live TG4)
