Colman’s confident they can bring ‘A’ game to Croke Park
Darragh Beirne, joint captain and top scorer for St Colman's College in this season's championship run. Picture: John Corless
“It’s just another match.” That was the resounding message from players and management of the St Colman’s College senior football team, that has qualified for its first All-Ireland final in 44 years, at a media event in the college, last week.
Only it isn’t just another match. There’s silverware on offer on the day, in the form of the Hogan Cup, which visited the college once previously – in 1977. This is the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior ‘A’ Football Championship – the elite football competition for secondary schools since 1946. The cup is named after Brother Thomas Hogan, who was a brother of Michael Hogan, the Tipperary captain shot dead in Croke Park on Bloody Sunday in 1921, after whom the Hogan Stand at Croke Park is named.
David Hurley is the only member of the current team to have previously played at Croke Park. He appeared (in the Galway colours!) in the Cumann na mBunscol hurling exhibition during half-time of the drawn 2018 All-Ireland senior hurling semi-final (Galway went on to beat Clare in the replay).
David’s father, David Snr says that the Hurley family is really excited about the final taking place next Monday, St Patrick’s Day.
“We’re going up the night before,” David Snr told the . “The team are travelling the day before as well; their fundraising page has had tremendous support. The target has exceeded by over double what they were hoping to raise. The generosity of the people of Claremorris is phenomenal. It’s great that they have the money now to spend on the players and look after them.”
David said that the players have responded well to the management’s vision.
“They’re playing for them. They like what Eoghan Collins has brought to their game. They are playing to a process. They are building from the back, they are very patient. The backs are scoring. It’s working well.”
Eoghan Collins is from just up the road in Ballyhaunis and a young teacher at St Colman’s College who is a member of the Mayo senior hurling team, but also a former Clare senior footballer.
According to David Hurley Snr, this St Colman’s team has one key ingredient.
“They have luck. You need a bit of luck in every game and they have it. It is something that has been missing in other years. They’re playing a fancied Maghera team. Everyone expected Mercy Mounthawk to win the semi-final but Maghera beat them well in the end, so they are obviously a good side. On the other side of the draw, Colman’s went quietly about their business and now they are in the final.”
Knock-man Enda Campbell is one of the St Colman’s joint-managers. He spoke of the preparations the team is making for the big day next Monday.
“We’re keeping the intensity up this week,” Enda told the . “We’ll probably ease off a bit next week but we’ll try and get as many sessions in as we possibly can. We need to keep the boys used to our game-plan, keep them together and keep the team spirit up. If we get all those elements together, we’ll be in good shape on St Patrick’s Day.” So what about the opposition, St Patrick’s of Maghera?
“They’re serious opposition. They have the third most Hogan Cup titles in Ireland at the moment,” explains Enda Campbell. “They have twenty feeder clubs coming in to the school from all over Derry, so it’s a big ask on our behalf, but it’s a challenge we’re relishing and we can’t wait to get into it. It’s been a long, long time coming for the college, it’s 1981 since we were in a final and 1977 since we won it. We’re on a good journey now and we’re not finished yet, we’re going to finish out this journey with a win,” said Campbell determinedly.
“We’ve been trying to get the message through to the lads to play the game on the day, and not to be overwhelmed by the occasion. Our two captains were in Croke Park at Captain’s Day. We had a nice look around the place and it felt strange to be in Croke Park when there wasn’t a huge crowd there, but I really think players will be used to it after a couple of minutes looking up at the stands, seeing what a nice pitch it is. They’ll be just playing the man that is marking them. They’ll get on with it.”
Eoghan Collins, the other joint-manager of St Colman’s, has plenty of experience playing in Croke Park. Just last year he lined out for Mayo’s senior hurlers in the Nicky Rackard Cup final. A nephew of former Clare football boss Colm Collins, he also featured for the Banner at GAA headquarters.
“Croke Park is just another pitch,” insisted Eoghan to the “The surroundings are a bit different but it is another pitch and another match, so we have to get the lads familiar with the surroundings before the match, the warm-up area and the surface of the pitch. Small messages really. The hop of the ball, the way it will skid off the surface if it is wet, things like that.
“We don’t want to over-focus on the pitch itself. It’s another game of football. These are good solid young fellas. They are well accustomed to playing big games – some of them have played All-Ireland minor semi-finals and finals. We will be concentrating on getting our best performance of the year and hopefully that will be good enough.”
Will St Colman’s approach this match differently?
“We won’t change much tactically,” says Eoghan Collins. “We will just try and prepare the lads as good as possible on what they can expect to see come game day but we won’t be changing an awful lot; that is what has got us this far and the lads are well used to the style of play and have adopted well to it.”
The Claremorris students have come along way since losing the second of their group games in this season’s Connacht senior championship, with a heavy 1-13 to 1-6 reversal at the hands of Summerhill College coming on the back of a less than convincing opening round performance too, that only saw them sneak past South Mayo rivals Ballinrobe Community School by a goal, 2-9 to 1-9.
Slowly but surely however, they gathered some steam, impressing against St Gerald’s College to advance from their group into the semi-finals, beating Leitrim Schools and then avenging their earlier defeat to Summerhill by beating the Sligo outfit in the provincial final, 2-9 to 1-9.
“We started this campaign slowly and we have built and built and we’re delighted to be in this position – it’s a great place to be, but we’re not finished yet,” assured Eoghan Collins, who added that the buzz after their All-Ireland semi-final win against Coláiste Mhuire of Mullingar, where the supporters ran onto the pitch to congratulate their heroes, was pretty special.
“These would be my highlights and seeing the way these lads have grown and the idols that they are now for the younger students in the school, is great to see. The town has been incredible, the different people and businesses supporting the team, and on behalf of the team and the management I want to thank everyone that has rowed-in behind these lads. The flags and the support and the financial backing for our fundraising page has been incredible and hopefully they will travel in big numbers on St Patrick’s Day.
“St Colman’s has a massive tradition in Gaelic football and these big days don’t come around too often, so they need to be embraced and enjoyed,” stated Eoghan Collins. “It’ll be huge for the lads, for the school, for the town and for the county if we can go all the way."
"We started this campaign slowly and we have built and built and we’re delighted to be in this position – it’s a great place to be, but we’re not finished yet,” assured Eoghan Collins, who added that the buzz after their All-Ireland semi-final win against Coláiste Mhuire of Mullingar, where the supporters ran onto the pitch to congratulate their heroes, was pretty special.
“These would be my highlights and seeing the way these lads have grown and the idols that they are now for the younger students in the school, is great to see. The town has been incredible, the different people and businesses supporting the team, and on behalf of the team and the management I want to thank everyone that has rowed-in behind these lads. The flags and the support and the financial backing for our fundraising page has been incredible and hopefully they will travel in big numbers on St Patrick’s Day.
“St Colman’s has a massive tradition in Gaelic football and these big days don’t come around too often, so they need to be embraced and enjoyed,” stated Eoghan Collins. “It’ll be huge for the lads, for the school, for the town and for the county if we can go all the way.”
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“Preparation is very important for every game,” Rio Mortimer, the joint-captain of St Colman’s College, believes. “But it won’t change that much for the final. It’s more a mental than a physical sort of thing, really. You’re in the gym two or three nights a week and that’s getting you ready to play the game, but it’s more the mental side of it that needs preparing. You have to be tuned-in to turn up on the day.
“Everyone knows their role. Lads know where they are going to be playing beforehand, so you have to visualise what’s going to happen in the game and if you’re ready in your head when the whistle goes, it’ll make a big difference on the field. So that’s what I’ll be focusing on in my preparation – being tuned in-mentally and being ready to go when the whistle goes to start the game.” Rio Mortimer didn’t get the opportunity to play in Croke Park when Mayo’s 2022 All-Ireland MFC final against Galway, rather disappointingly, was played in Hyde Park as opposed to GAA headquarters. But he’s not short on people to turn to for advice, with dad Kenneth and uncles Trevor and Conor having amassed numerous appearances in the Green and Red at Jones’ Road.
“The occasion is for the fans, it’s a sixty-minute game of football for us,” stressed Rio Mortimer. “It can be an occasion before and after the game but once the whistle goes, it’s a game of football and you’re there to do a job and that’s what we’ll be aiming to do. We won’t be concentrating on the fact that it is Croke Park. We have a job to do and that’s what we will be concentrating on.
“Croke Park is a big pitch and it will be in better shape than a lot of pitches around Mayo with the weather we have had. We’re looking forward to it. I think talent always comes out on a good pitch when you have a good surface under you, and if you work hard that talent will come through, and hopefully we can bring that through on St Patrick’s Day,” explained the defender who in 2022 was selected on the Electric Ireland Minor Team of the Year.
Mortimer’s fellow joint-captain of St Colman’s is Darragh Beirne, the team’s top marksman having scored 3-29 over the six championship games so far. Also the son of a former Mayo defender – and St Colman’s student – Kevin Beirne, Darragh says that because days like next Monday don’t come around too often, it’s important to cherish them when they do.
“We have prepared well and it’s sixty minutes of football at the end of the day, and once the whistle blows it’s down to business then,” he told the Western People.
“We’ll have to block everything else out and concentrate on the game. We’ll do whatever we have to do, to win it. We’ve had three weeks now and we have another week to go of training. We’ve been in the pool after every training session so we’re nearly like pro athletes at this stage, trying to be in the best shape you can be going in to the game. From a physical point, a mental point and a tactical point, we’ll have all the work done, pre-game, to give us the best opportunity to go out and win the game. It’ll be a new experience and one to enjoy and cherish,” said Darragh Beirne.
But how much does he know about the opposition?
“St Pat’s Maghera are a very good side. They have a few lads who have won All-Ireland minor titles. They have won Ulster, which is probably the hardest competition to get out of in the provinces. We are under no illusions. They are a very good side. There is no doubt we’ll have to produce our best performance if we want to win on the day, and hopefully, we will.
“They are strong all around the field. There isn’t one position where they are weak. When you get this far in any competition, any team you’re up against will be strong, but we’re strong as well and we won’t fear them.” Darragh Beirne said he and his teammates were very grateful for all the support the school has received in the build-up to the Hogan Cup final.
“It’s been fantastic. On behalf of the team, the management and the college, I want to thank the public for their incredible support. All the people who have donated to our fundraising and all the flags on display in the town and the messages of support we have received, they’re all greatly appreciated. The colour in the town is amazing. You can’t overstate all that means to us – to everyone inside in the dressing-room. We see all that on our way to training. It gives us energy.
“We know the town is backing us, we know the clubs are backing us and we know the county is backing us. That helps so much. It gives us added momentum. We’d just like to say a huge thanks. We have one more day now for the people to support us and help us get over the line. Every little helps us.”
