THREE years ago, St Patrick’s, Maghera met St Paul’s, Bessbrook in the Danske Bank MacRory Cup final, a game Maghera hung on to win by 2-5 to 0-10 before going on to clinch their fifth Hogan Cup in Croke Park with a super 1-20 to 1-10 win over St Patrick’s, Navan.
The schools will meet again on Thursday in Armagh and two players who featured in that final three seasons ago will captain the two schools on Thursday. A strapping flame-haired defender started in that 2013 final for Maghera, but Conor Glass really put his name in the spotlight by scoring two goals in Enniskillen in the Hogan semi-final win over St Gerald’s, Castlebar.
It wasn’t long until Aussie Rules outfit Hawthorn came to see Glass. An invitation followed to go out to Australia over the Christmas period in 2013 and, 18 months ago, the Watty Graham’s clubman was offered a contract with the Melbourne club. Glass will start that contract in June as soon as he gets his A Levels out of the way - and has, he hopes, added to his impressive GAA medal haul by lifting the MacRory Cup for the 15th time for Maghera.
St Paul’s midfielder Jarlath Óg Burns is, of course, also hoping to get his hands on the most coveted prize in Colleges’ football. If he does, it will be the first time that the MacRory Cup will visit Bessbrook and it will top off a remarkable journey for the south Armagh school.
Jarlath óg played through his junior years for St Paul’s in the B grades of Ulster Colleges’ football, but was part of the school’s superb run to the MacRory final in their debut year in the competition.
“I came in as a second half substitute in the final at corner-forward. Conor Glass was in the other corner marking my older brother Fionnán. We came up a point short that day and it was a terrible feeling to lose.”
However Jarlath óg managed to finish the school year on a high by winning a Danske Bank Treanor Cup title, a result that moved his side up to Rannafast Cup football the following year.
“We didn’t make it out of the group stages in the Rannafast and, in reality, struggled at that level of football.”
Meanwhile Conor Glass was continuing to collect medals with Maghera. He captained them to win that Rannafast title in late 2013 and added a second MacRory medal in the spring-time.
“We have had our disappointments too. We lost the final in Croke Park to Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne trying to put back-to-back Hogans together and then last year we lost our MacRory title in Ballinderry to the Academy at the quarter-final stage.”
However there weren’t too many disappointments at club level though with Conor helping Watty Grahams to their last three Ulster minor club titles and then, last month, a second provincial under 21 title. He also squeezed in an Ulster minor title with Derry – as captain.
Jarlath óg has crossed paths with Conor on a couple of occasions. They played on each other in an Ulster minor club final between Silverbridge and Watty Graham’s and at an All-star trial last year.
Remarkably Conor never gained favour with the All-star selectors, while Jarlath óg was recognised twice at midfield, but didn’t make the final cut this season.
A month over-age for the minor grade in 2016, Jarlath óg started training with the Armagh under 21s, but then dropped out of the panel “until after the MacRory was finished”.
“I wanted to give the MacRory everything. As captain, I felt that I owed it to the team but I don’t think any of us believed we would still be involved in the middle of March.”
Shortly after half-time in the play-off game in late January, Bessbrook fell six points behind to St Patrick’s Armagh in the Athletic Grounds. Their captain immediately grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and burst through for a goal. Their journey to St Patrick’s Day truly began at that moment.
In the other side of the draw, Glass was showing the same leadership with key scores in each of their three knock-out games.
The two will shake hands for the toss on Thursday and probably contest the throw-in. They will, no doubt, go on to have significant impacts on the final. But only one of them will get the opportunity to lift the MacRory Cup.
Both however are young men that should make themselves well known to sports’ followers on opposite ends of the world over the next decade and a half.
