ST PATRICK’S, Maghera manager Sean Marty Lockhart has seen it all during a glittering playing and managerial career and, while his school may have a massive advantage over Abbey Vocational School in terms of MacRory Cup pedigree, he knows that will count for little once the ball is throw in at Celtic Park in Sunday’s afternoon final.
“It’s a 50/50 game; they have good footballers and so do we and it’s all about on the day,” said Lockhart.
“Tradition only stands for so much. When that ball is thrown in you have to be ready to play football. Make no bones about it, the team that we are facing in the final have probably been the best team in the competition this year.
“They are blessed with talent and, not only did they win Ulster and All-Ireland titles last year, the majority of their players have won Ulster titles with their club Four Masters and they have certainly earned the respect of us as they are in the final on merit.
“From our point of view it’s good to be back in the final for the first time since 2020. To be honest, we are just glad to have made it this far. Last year’s group would have been a more talented group coming through the school compared to this year’s group, who have come in under the radar. In fairness to them they have worked very hard since September and deserve to be here.
“If you look back at the school football careers of everybody playing MacRory this year there was no standout team come up through the years, [St Paul’s] Bessbrook, St Colman’s [Newry] and [St Patrick’s] Cavan all won titles. It was very open as far as that’s concerned, but I still think that you had your favourites this year as well.
“We wouldn’t have been one of the fancied sides at the start of the competition but, as I said earlier, these boys have put in an enormous amount of work to get here and we have enjoyed a wee bit of fortune along the way.”
Maghera topped their group thanks to wins over St Michael’s, Enniskillen, St Ronan’s, Lurgan and St Patrick’s Cavan before overcoming our Lady’s, Castleblayney in the last 16. However, it was a quarter-final win over fellow Derry side St Mary’s, Magherafelt in a repeat of last year’s quarter-final that really marked them down as serious contenders.
“Last year we were perhaps seen as the best team in the competition but if you looked at the St Mary’s Magherafelt side last year they were full of talent as well,” said Lockhart.
“They played better in the second half last year and deserved their win but it was probably roles reversed this season.
“They dominated at stages during the game but we felt that we finished the game well, hitting 1-3, and again it’s the old adage: you have to play until the final whistle.
“Our boys suffered at times in that quarter-final as Magherafelt had so much possession but you have to give our boys credit for sticking at it. We didn’t score in the opening 23 minutes of the second half but the lads showed great character and resilience to keep going and get those crucial late scores.
Lockhart leads a management team that contains Willie McAteer, Chrissy McKaigue, Tiernan McHugh and Ollie Cummings and they will leave no stone unturned in their pursuit of the silverware, although he is well aware of the task facing his charges against Abbey.
“They have beaten big schools such as Abbey CBS [Newry], St Colman’s and [St Patrick’s Academy] Dungannon in their campaign so you can’t say that it’s a fluke,” he said.
“When you look throughout their side they are just blessed with good footballers. We would wish them all the best in the final but we would like to think hopefully if we get a performance we will maybe come out on the right end of it.”
