Muredach’s aiming for history in all-Mayo decider
Oisin McCann of St Muredach’s College shields the ball from Patrick Garvey of St Gerald’s during last November's Flanagan Cup 'A' final which St Muredach's won. The two teams met again on Saturday in the final of the Connacht championship. Picture: David Farrell Photography
St Muredach’s College, Ballina are bidding to make history and win the Connacht Colleges Senior ‘A’ football championship for the first time this coming Saturday.
Standing in the way are their Mayo rivals, St Gerald’s College, Castlebar, who have triumphed on eight occasions, most recently just two years ago.
It is a curious fact that St Muredach’s have never won a Connacht title given their pick not just in Ballina and its environs but in their time as a boarding school, drawing many talented footballers from across Erris too.
What is even more astonishing is that this is their first final in over 60 years.
Not since 1963 has the Ballina school made it this far. The all-conquering St Jarlath’s team of the era blitzed Muredach’s 2-13 to 0-2 for back-to-back final wins over Muredach’s but as crestfallen as the school’s supporters must have been, few if any of them could have foreseen a 63-year wait for the next decider.
Their cause before then was not helped by the decision of an angry cleric to withdraw them from the competition from 1935 to 1954 in protest at the refereeing of the ’35 decider against Jarlath’s.
But such a barren run from 1963 onwards is harder to fathom. They’ve had quality players over the years – given the success at senior club level of Ballina and Knockmore, that much is a given.
To give but one example, in 2005, they had eight Mayo minors (in either ’04, ’05 or ’06) in their ranks but lost a quarter-final to Holy Rosary, Mountbellew (1-6 to 0-4).
Of course, St Jarlath’s of Tuam bestrode this competition like a colossus for decades. They won it 49 times, once more than all the others combined, though the others will catch up this weekend regardless of who wins. Jarlath’s won Connacht an incredible 26 times in 36 seasons from 1932 to 1967. It was utter domination.
But with the decline of Jarlath’s boarding wing, a more democratic era emerged.
St Gerald’s are among those to benefit. They had only won one Connacht title (1929) prior to 1996 but in the last 30 years, they’ve won seven titles. St Colman’s of Claremorris have won four since 2009 including last year’s crown while Rice College, Westport, traditionally a ‘B’ school, swooped for one in 2018 powered by players like Mayo seniors Jack Carney, Rory Brickenden and Eoghan McLaughlin. Five different schools have shared the last eight crowns.
All the while, Muredach’s have watched on from the sidelines.
This year, they’ve looked like men on a mission. Mayo senior forward James Carr and his teaching colleague at the school, David McHale, the Knockmore county winning captain, are leading the management. They’ve also brought in Ballina Stephenites’ Aiden Sweeney and McHale’s Knockmore clubmate and highly respected coach John Brogan.
After their two-point semi-final win over Claregalway, James Carr said they are benefitting from all the hard work the squad has put in.
“You’d know they’ve been playing together for the last four or five months in some really intense training sessions and we’re reaping the benefits of it,” he said.
St Gerald’s have a similarly high-quality coaching ticket. Mayo senior star Diarmuid O’Connor and former Irish underage soccer star David Joyce, both teachers in the school, are joint-managers, while they have former Mayo forward Mickey Conroy and Mayo GAA coach Eoin Sweeney as coaches with Tourmakeady’s Tom Naughton and Moy Davitts’ Chris McGlynn (goalkeeping coach) also part of the management.
How will it go? Well if you use last November’s Flanagan Cup (Mayo Colleges) Final as a benchmark, there can only be one winner.
St Muredach’s blitzed St Gerald’s in that game 3-13 to 1-6 but it is fair to deduce that the Ballina side were much closer to full strength than Gerald’s.
From that game, Muredach’s started fourteen of the same team in their semi-final win, indicating a very settled side.
St Gerald’s only started nine players from the Flanagan Cup final in the semi-final. Among those returning to the fray since include Evan Walsh, an impressive Mayo minor forward in 2024 while Conor Coghill, a minor with Walsh in 2024 and also last year, came off the bench in the semi-final for his first game all year with Gerald’s after being sidelined with injury. He could be a gamechanger.
Both teams are littered with quality and it has all the hallmarks of a game that will be an highly entertaining one that should go down to the wire.
From the 2025 Mayo minors, Muredach’s can call on Cathair Tighe, Conor Jordan, Oisín McCann and Peter Quinn, though Quinn has had injury concerns. They also have the 2024 Mayo minor goalkeeper Nathan Roddy in their ranks but at the other end of the field. Roddy has been a key player for Muredach’s at full-forward and will take some watching. Wing-back Alex Smyth from Naomh Padraig is in the 2026 minor squad while Ardnaree duo Kenzie McKey at full-back and Corey Lavery McCay at wing-forward are quality footballers.
From the Mayo minor class of ’25, St Gerald’s can call on Conor Coghill, Patrick Garvey, Ben Joyce, Rhys Neary, Conor Hoban and Eoghan Dever and, in addition, Walsh and Joe Forry from the 2024 crop.
They’ve a handful of 2026 minors too, most notably Conor Hoban (the talented forward is in his second year) and his Ballintubber teammate Adam Burton, centre-half back in the semi-final Both sides have plenty of players who would have been within touching distance of county teams too.
Both edged their semi-finals against Galway opposition to set up a fascinating final.
Will young lads from Muredach’s worry about tradition? Can Gerald’s lads lean on it?
Or is it time for a new era for football in North Mayo?
