Rising Antrim star Joseph McLaughlin savours All-Ireland glory with St Killian’s

NOT too many players get to hurl senior county before they finish their school career.

Joseph McLaughlin has been hitting the headlines (and the net) on a regular basis since he burst on to the Ruairí Óg senior championship team back in August.

Last month he made his senior county debut when he came on as a sub against Dublin and picked off a point. The following week he rippled the net against Galway.

But he hasn’t featured for Antrim in their last two National League games as he finished off his school career by captaining St Killian’s, Garron Tower to the Paddy Buggy Cup title.

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Managerial merry-go-round turning unusually softly

“I suppose there is a certain amount of pressure when you are back playing for the school because other teams know about you. But there are plenty of leaders in our team and, if I am having an off day, there are more boys can step up and get us through,” said McLaughlin after the schools’ final on Saturday when they defeated Blackwater Community School from Waterford by 4-13 to 0-13.

However the captain is slightly under-playing his role in the team after hitting 3-10 in the semi-final against Portumna and another 1-8 on Saturday, the goal coming in the second minute.

“Big Niall (Hynds) won a free in front of the goals in the first minute and I tapped it over. Then Cormac (McKeown) and Oran (McCambridge) got a pass through to me for the goal. I finished the work those boys did.

“It was a great start in fairness and we had another couple of goals before Blackwater got their first score. The game isn’t won that early on, but when you get a start like that it gives you a big advantage.

“We have been getting goals, four and five in nearly every game, except in the Mageean final and that probably tells you a lot about CPC (Ballycastle).

“We would play with them on under-age county teams and know how good they are. They will empty the tank and they made us fight hard that night in the Dub.

“Mr McIlwaine kept telling us we were in bonus territory after the Mageean because it was the first time in 60 years it had come to the school. We just went into the semi-final and final wanting to perform.”

Both games turned into comfortable victories for St Killian’s, although joint-manager Michael McAllister was still on edge through to the final whistle.

“Yeah, you can look back and say that we were comfortable enough. But you can’t take anything for granted against teams at this level and Blackwater gave us a bit of bother at times. Thankfully their shooting was off.

“Days like these make up for all the disappointments down through the years.”

McAllister played in Mageean finals for the Tower and when he returned to teach in his alma mater 22 years ago, he quickly became involved in the search for the Holy Grail.

“We have had good teams in the past, but couldn’t get over the line. We have gone into Mageean finals with high hopes and it just didn’t happen for us on the day.

“I remember going to a First Year blitz with these boys in Ballymena and we lost the final to CPC on frees. I came home that day thinking we had a special bunch and this might just be our best chance ever of getting a Mageean.

“Then the following year group there were some very good players as well and you probably need two good year groups coming together to make the breakthrough.

“This team missed out on some competitions because of Covid, but you could see they were developing well and pushing on when we won the Foresters two years ago and I would like to pay tribute to a few lads who were in that team and left school at 16. They made a big contribution to this team.”

McAllister was also generous in his thanks for the messages of support they had received both on social media and in private over the last week.

“It felt that we had everyone behind us. The hurling schools have a WhatsApp group to arrange matches and everyone was passing on good luck messages. Everyone seemed to want us to bring back the Cup to Ulster.”

It’s nine years since Cross & Passion took the Paddy Buggy Cup to Ulster for its only visit. St Killian’s comprehensive victory on Saturday might well have driven standards as Maghera had done with a breakthrough in the O’Keefe Cup in 2006.

That Maghera win was quickly followed with four more visits north in the next six years before the O’Keefe changed format into the Buggy Cup.