A busy weekend for Eamon Fitzmaurice against Ulster opposition will begin this Saturday in Newbridge when he manages Pobalscoil Chorcha Dhuibhne into an All-Ireland Junior Schools Final against St Pat's Maghera.
Kingspan Breffni Park of Cavan will come calling the following day in the Allianz League for the Kingdom boss but facing Maghera in another All-Ireland School Final, three years after beating the Derry School in a Hogan Cup Final, will be the first priority for Fitzmaurice.
Although the Paul McGirr Cup is a new competition at All-Ireland level for the Schools grade, Fitzmaurice is a big fan of its introduction from a player development perspective.
“It was one thing I always felt a bit disappointed for Frewen Cup (Munster Junior) winners in the past in that they had nothing really afterwards like the Corn Uí Mhuirí (Munster Senior) winners do with the Hogan Cup. I think this is a great competition because with the age for Minor going down to U-17 next year, I feel it will be very important for preparing players for Minor level afterwards. In the same way I think the Hogan Cup will also play a big part in preparing players for the new U-20 grade in the future,” Fitzmaurice says of the relatively new All-Ireland Series at this level.
As fate would have it, it is Maghera again for Fitzmaurice in his second All-Ireland Schools Final as a manager. However, despite the arrival of some new pupils to Pobalscoil from another West Kerry club in Annascaul, since the schools last met in 2014 he still feels Corcha Dhuibhne are up against it in advance.
“They are a bigger school than us in terms of pupils and they have a great track record of success down through the years while we are still relatively new on the scene at this level. Our one hope is that we can marry how well we have been playing in the second-half of games to a good first-half performance and we feel if we can do that then it will take a heck of an effort by any team to beat us,” he says.
Pobalscoil had to play three games in the space of 10 days to make it to this point. A three game saga at Corn Ui Mhuirí level in Munster between Tralee CBS and Colaiste Chriost Rí of Cork delaying the Junior competition, before Pobalscoil beat Tralee in the semi-finals and followed up with a win over St Brendans College, Killarney in the decider. Their All-Ireland Semi-Final win over St Attracta’s of Sligo came only three days later with Gearóid Ó Leidhinn, Cillian Ó Failbhe, Franz Sauerland and Ruaidhrí Ó Beaglaoich key figures in their line-up.
“We do have a nice bit of momentum built up but we know how hard a challenge this will be," he says.
"We’re trying to focus more on ourselves than the opposition in advance but from what we have been able to learn about Maghera they look to be quite formidable.”
