Danske Bank MacRory Cup semi-final
Abbey Vocational School v Southwest Donegal
(Saturday, Ballyshannon, 2pm)
THE game that guarantees Donegal its first Danske Bank MacRory Cup finalist since 1961.
St Eunan’s, Letterkenny challenged for the cup in 1956, ’59 and ’61 under the watchful eye of future Tánaiste John Wilson, an All-Ireland medallist with Cavan in the Polo Grounds in 1947. They lost all three finals.
The historic trophy has visited eight of the nine counties in the 101 years of the competition – but it has never seen the scenic beauty of the most westerly county and the winner of Saturday’s semi-final in Fr Tierney Park will bridge a 64-year gap and challenge for that title.
Both teams ripped up reputations in the quarter-finals over the past fortnight.
St Colman’s have won 19 titles outright and shared the 2020 “Covid” title with Maghera. Abbey Vocational, in their first-ever MacRory Cup campaign, led the Newry school from pillar to post to win 1-7 to 1-5 nearly a fortnight ago.
Then, last Sunday, southwest Donegal, an amalgamation of five schools on the western seaboard, took on and matched Omagh CBS, the back-to-back Hogan Cup winners, stride for stride.
It all came down to added time and a Patrick O’Donnell goal that means that it’s the first time an amalgamation team has gone this far in the competition.
It sets up an intriguing semi-final between two sets of players very familiar with each other, even if they both are unfamiliar with the MacRory Cup scene. They also play the same style of football, a densely populated defence that breaks with pace in search of scores.
Southwest set out their stall in the first group game with a 2-6 to 0-4 win over Holy Trinity, Cookstown. They were more attack-minded in the second and were comfortable 1-12 to 1-7 winners over Castleblayney.
Next came the two defeats, each a single point margin to St Colman’s and St Patrick’s, Armagh, and that meant that they would have to travel away from home in the play-offs.
No bother. They despatched St Patrick’s, Cavan by 1-15 to 1-9 in Kingspan Breifne and then took out Omagh CBS on Sunday evening in Healy Park.
Abbey Vocational went the direct route. Five straight victories means that the school has not been beaten since the start of their MacLarnon Cup campaign in October 2023. Running alongside that has been the Four Masters’ club side, also unbeaten since the start of 2023 with back-to-back Ulster minor crowns. Fourteen from Four Masters started the MacRory quarter-final win over St Colman’s in Convoy.
Because of those runs for the school and club, the players’ names are now familiar outside the county, particularly the ones who get among the scores – Tomás and Turlough Carr, Conor McCahill, Oisín Doherty, Kevin Muldoon.
Lesser known are the Southwest contingent who, unable to cut the mustard with their own individual schools, have come together to form a formidable obstacle to anyone with MacRory Cup aspirations – goalie Patrick McBride, Cathal Gallagher, Jordi Gribben, Darragh Hennigan, Luke Clerkin, Liam Breathnach, Shane Callaghan.
They scored 2-7 in the shock quarter-final win over Omagh CBS and eight different players contributed those nine scores, illustrating that they really do play as a team and anyone can pop up for a score.
Just like the Maghera v Magherafelt quarter-final last week, this semi-final is so difficult to call because it is a derby fixture, and a fixture that has never before happened in any competition, with such a big prize for the winner.
There should be a huge crowd in Ballyshannon for the game and there will be a lot of pressure not to concede scores but to turn ball over and then push enough numbers forward on the quick break. It is a tactic that has served both teams well to date.
A winner?
There is the temptation to go for the Abbey side as they are school-based and have built up a rapport with each other that has made them a formidable team over almost two seasons. But that would ignore the achievements of a team that certainly don’t play as a gathered together amalgamation from five constituent small schools.
A hesitant vote for the Donegal town boys.
The other semi-final between St Patrick’s, Maghera and St Patrick’s, Armagh was scheduled for Sunday at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds but damage to the venue caused by Friday’s storm has forced a postponement. The game is expected to be played midweek at a venue to be confirmed.
