By Brendan McTaggart

A first final appearance in five years, Cross and Passion have their sights on more Mageean Cup glory.  Having went all the way and claiming the Paddy Buggy Cup after their last success in 2014, the Ballycastle school have a knowhow in the competition. 

Under Joe Cassidy, CPC have almost been the victims of their pupils success at club level in recent times and as he told us, it’s been a frustrating couple of years: “The club scene would traditionally have ended in the first or second weekend of September but the last few years it’s went on to the end of September and the first weekend of October. 

“That’s harmed us in our preparations.  Take last year, the minor final between Dunloy and Loughgiel went to a replay.  We had our Mageean semi-final five days after with 13 boys involved.  It’s an uphill battle.”

An Dún won the Mageean Cup last year having saw off CPC in the semi’s.  Their inclusion in the competition has caused a stir as Cassidy told us: “We played An Dún in the semi-final and it still doesn’t sit right with us.  We felt that we were the best school team last year but we were beaten by a county team.  There’s certainly a sense of injustice, not just with us but St Louis and St Killian’s as well.

“They were a very, very good side and you can’t take that away from them but they were the county side and the pick from nine schools.  Two of that side went onto play for Down in the Christy Ring Final five months after beating us in the Mageean.  That’s the calibre of player they had.”

Changes have been made to the scheduling of the competition this year and Cassidy told it has helped in their preparations: “They’ve pushed the Mageean Cup back for four weeks this year and it’s meant we have had four weeks together, something we haven’t had in a while.

“We have 28 of a panel, 23 of them lads were involved in the minor final between Ballycastle and Loughgiel.  We played in the Mageean Cup two days later without the Loughgiel lads and then without them until they were finished in the Ulster Club.

“It was virtually impossible to get them altogether but the six or seven boys we did a bit of work with them.  But last year the senior lads had no hurling after the second week of October.  We’ve had four good weeks with the boys and you can see them getting to where we want them to be.”

CPC defeated St Killian’s in the semi-final after a walkover, a comfortable win against St Pat’s Maghera and a two point loss to Friday’s opponents, St Mary’s on the opening match of the group stage.  Both sides had players missing that day, CPC missing their Loughgiel contingent and Cassidy admitted they didn’t have things all their own way in the last round: “The semi-final against St Killian’s was a funny game.  We didn’t ever look like we were going to lose but we couldn’t put them away.  We went eight clear and they got a goal, five up and they got a couple of points.  It was just one of them matches but it was a good, tough game of hurling.”

Since then, Cassidy continued by telling us they’ve been ironing out a few problems they identified from the semi-final on the training field with the use of video footage of the St Killian’s game: “We trained on Friday, Sunday morning and on Tuesday again.  We did a lot of video work, identifying areas we needed to improve on and was glaringly obvious from the last game.”

Cassidy continued by saying how much it would mean for the Ballycastle school to continue their success story with the competition and the spirit it ignites within the pupils: “Playing in this competition creates a great comradery among the pupils.  It’s similar to the MacRory Cup where you’re training over Christmas.  The bond that develops stays there.  I can still remember Henry Downey shouting at us in a muddy pitch in Magherafelt preparing in the depths of winter.

“The school has a very proud tradition in the Mageean Cup and we see it as a massive selling point when it comes to children choosing our school.  Parents will look at the school academically as well and there will be parents who will want their children to be part of the experience of the Mageean Cup and the experience that brings.”

Since last claiming the Mageean Cup five years ago, the CPC camogs have grabbed the headlines.  Something that has driven on this particular group of players: “The lads have been in the shadow of the girls and their achievements in recent times and rightly so.  The girls have been performing superbly recently and the boys are hungry now to emulate their achievements.

“They seen the girls training over Christmas, training on the pitches and the feel-good factor they had when they were preparing for these big matches.  It’s made the boys even more hungry to be part of that, it’s something special.”

CPC will start Friday nights game as underdogs after St Mary’s serene and impressive progress to the final.  Cassidy, however, finished off by backing his side: “We know Friday is going to be a tough match.  St Mary’s will start as favourites, there’s no doubting that.  They’ve been the most impressive team in the competition so far.  They’ve coasted their way to the final and we wobbled in the semi-final against St Killian’s but if we show up then we won’t be far away.”