Ten years ago this week Cross & Passion College retained their All Ireland B Hurling title when they beat Dungarvan CBS in the final at Finagllians GAC Swords. (They had beaten Caoliste Eoin from Dublin in the final the previous year in Newry)
I can’t find my own match report from the game but thanks to Joe Cassidy we have the report that appeared in the Munster Express. Some great memories here…….
All fall down! Cross & Passion captain Matthew Donnelly reaches out towards the O’Keefe Cup as the team celebrates their 1-12 to 0-11 win over Dungarvan CBS in the final of the All Ireland Senior Colleges B Hurling Championship at Finagallian’s Swords.
All Ireland Colleges B Hurling Final 2010 – O’Keefe Cup
Cross & Passion College 1-12 Dungarvan CBS 0-11
Dungarvan CBS succumbed to a storming finish from Cross and Passion College which saw the Antrim side retain the O’Keeffe Cup at the Fingallians club grounds in Swords on Saturday last.
Despite playing against the breeze in the opening half the Ulster champions held a 1-4 to 0-2 lead at the midway mark, their goal coming from the boot of James Black who kicked past Darren Duggan with just seven minutes played.
Cross & Passion College left-half forward James ‘Rocket’ Black celebrates after scoring his team’s goal in their 1-12 to 0-011 win over Waterford and Munster champions Dungarvan CBS in the final of the All Ireland Senior Colleges B Hurling Championship at Finagallian’s Swords, a victory which saw them retain the O’Keefe Cup.
Despite the Ballycastle boys’ bright start the Old Boro lads battled back bravely to go in at the break trailing by Black’s early goal, 1-5 to 0-5.
Dungarvan CBS came out all guns blazing at the start of the second half. Colm Curran, who was their only scorer on the day, hit three points in the 10 minutes after the restart to level the match.
James Black added a point for Cross and Passion to restore their lead, but as the game entered the final quarter the sides were all-square once again as Colm Curran riffled over yet another free for the Munster champions.
Into the final quarter Dungarvan CBS edged in from when Curran stuck his side’s only score from play over the course of the hour. Cross and Passion’s response was swift, however. Stephen McAfee levelled matters once more after Curran’s effort and then the Ulster side went back in front when Ciarain Clarke converted a 65.
Cross & Passion centre-half back Daniel McPeake, who had a great game at the pivot of his team’s defence, clears the ball upfield. Stephen Stoogie McAfee keeps his eyes firmly on the ball as he sends over a vital point in the closing stages of Saturday’s O’Keefe Cup win over Dungarvan CBS in Swords.
Team manager Oran Kearney congratulated two of his team’s heroes Ciaran Clarke (left) and Conor Laverty, at the end of the O’Keefe Cup final win over Dungarvan.
Ten years ago GAA President, Christy Cooney was the guest of
honour at the opening and blessing of St. Mary’s GAC Ahoghill’s new clubrooms
and pitch and today we look back at that momentous occasion in the history of
the Cloney club. Christy Cooney was accompanied by President elect, Liam O’Neill
on the day.
Niall O’Connell was the club chairman at the time, a man
with a long distinguished history with the St. Mary’s club. Niall had a long
career as a player with the Ahoghill club and his sons Niall Jnr, Sean, Danny, Stephen,
P.J, and James have all worn the red and black jersey with distinction while
his wife Margaret and daughters Breige, Theresa, Mairead and Deirdre were
involved with the club’s camogs.
Fr. Martin O’Hagan, P.P. of Ahoghill performed the blessing ceremony
and Fr. Martin is still the Parish Priest in this very tight knit community
today.
Amongst those in the featured photograph I recognise were
James Curry who I believe was Mayor of Ballymena at the time, P.J. McAvoy,
Deputy Mayor, Daithi McKay and Monica Digney Sinn Fein, Declan O’Loan S.D.L.P.
and the then county chairman John McSparran.
Rasharkin provided the opposition in a
hurling game that may well have been a league game between the sides and we
have a photograph of the camogie team and their opponents on the day.
The senior football team at the time are also featured while there may well have been a veteran’s game and former Antrim great, Andy McCallin is featured in that photograph.
Christ Cooney with members of the St. Mary’s committee
Christy Cooney and Liam O’Neill with committee members
Fr. Martin O’Hagan, P.P., Ahoghill blesses the pitch
The Crosskeys Inn presents a set of jerseys to Ahoghill captain, Chris McGlone. Included is club chairman, Niall O’Connell
Guests of honour and a section of the large crowd who attended the opening and blessing of the new facilities at Cloney ten years ago
In the second part of my interview with Ciaran Barr – the
Antrim All-star discusses his new role in the GPA, thoughts on Casement Park,
recalls his school experience at St. Mary’s CBGS and offers his insight to what
is the key to success.
Barr recently took on the role of finance and operations
head in the GPA and offered an insight into the key aims of the organisation
that looks after the welfare of senior inter-county players.
“I’ve been involved in the GAA all my life to this point –
either playing or coaching” Barr reflects.
“Currently I coach the minor camogie team in Raheny- my daughter plays, she’s 17 and still plays which is great. I help coach the junior adult in Raheny and two years ago I was involved in the senior footballers in St. Vincent’s and I’ve been involved in various other teams over the years. When I lived in Seoul, I got involved in Seoul Gaels and helped coach there- I think it’s something that gets into your blood and it’s just something you do”.
Ciaran with Mary Morrisey at the Antrim 25 year reunion which the former captain organised in the Croke Park Hotel in 2014
“This job came up with the Gaelic Players Association (GPA)
so I’m going to be the finance and operations head. What is it? It’s an
organisation that represents the intercounty players, adult males – just the
senior male intercounty players and they deal with three things: welfare, development
and representation. The GPA is the voice of those intercounty players”.
“Ireland has modernised and as people become more aware of
other sports and cultures like Australian Rules or American Football or
whatever and get used to players being treated in a certain way- that has to
filter through your culture, especially if certain players have gone on and
played in another sport like professional rugby in Ireland has a big crossover
with Gaelic games and Australian Rules obviously has as well. You’ve had a
professionalisation of the preparation of Gaelic players’, but they aren’t
professional athletes, so ultimately the GPA came out of that pressure and that
has accelerated in the last few years”.
“The GPA wants to have; what’s called a sustainable
amateurism- but it’s got to be sustainable. A player can’t be at a loss for
having played Gaelic games- whether it’s in their welfare or whether it’s in
their development. If they are at a deficit because of the fact that they play
Gaelic games- that’s not the place, we want to be because they are fantastic
games. We want people to continue to play them and also to aspire to being an
inter-county player. Once they get there, we want them to be able to sustain
that lifestyle of an inter-county player because that’s the role model”.
Members of the Antrim hurling team who reached the 1989 All Ireland Hurling final are seen here at their reunion get together in the Croke Park Hotel on the eve of this year’s final. Back row, L-R, Dr Alasdair McDonnell (team doctor), Dominic McMullan, Brian Donnelly, Declan McKillop, Sean Paul McKillop, Michael O’Grady (team coach), Donal Armstrong, Dominic McKinley, Frankie Quinn (Antrim secretary), Terence McNaughton, PJ O’Mullan. Front, L-R, Paul McKillen, Gary O’Kane, Fergus McNaughton (Hurling Board Chairman), Anne Marie McNaughton (widow of the late Danny McNaughton), Ciaran Barr (team captain and event organiser), Anne McNaughton (widow of the late James McNaughton), Dessie Donnelly, Olcan McFetridge. Pic by John McIlwaine
“That’s what every kid that becomes a GAA player and goes to
a mini-league on a Saturday morning and their mum and dad might never have
played Gaelic game’s, but they’ve seen it and head about and want to be at
Croke Park and Casement when it’s built. That aspiration and those players are
the biggest attraction that we have- therefore we need to take care of them and
make sure they aren’t suffering in anyway; a deficit in any sense because
they’re playing Gaelic games and that’s what the GPA is about”.
The formation of a new power sharing Institution at Stormont
has reignited hope that the stalled Casement Park project may finally build
momentum.
Barr believes that there are both tangible and intangible
benefits to the project and wants it to be something that everyone can aspire
to become apart of.
“There is a tangible benefit- which is in terms of a stadium
that can host concerts, events and be a hub for lots of economic activity,
that’s a really good thing for west Belfast and Belfast in general” believes
Barr.
“If you look at the economics of big cities- stadium form a
part of that fabric whether you like it or not. I know that can be
controversial because if it’s being built beside your house- you don’t want it.
But the fabric and the economics and the infrastructure of a city usually has a
number of stadium in relation to that infrastructure and that’s got an economic
benefit”.
“I think for the GAA- it’s got an intangible benefit and the
intangible benefit is, like the way Croke Park is – it becomes a brand and an
attraction in itself. It becomes an aspiration for people to say: I want to
play there, I want to play in my counties ground, I want to play in a stadium
that looks fantastic and a field that is amazing. Is that true or not? I’ll
tell you from having played at the old Casement – it was a fantastic field; it
had a brilliant atmosphere and was a great pitch”.
“I’ve played in Croke Park and it’s just an amazing feeling
and a great thing to aspire to do, I’ve played in Thurles and Pairc Ui Chaoimh
and the same thing- they are amazing fields but they are more than a pitch. It
becomes something that people; A- experience themselves when they’re watching
and it’s a fantastic experience to watch and you need to make that experience
really good. Then for the players that get there and the kids that watch the
players on that field- that experience becomes something that they want to have
and aspire to”.
“Whether they get there or not is sort of irrelevant – it’s
giving them that sense of being part of it and wanting to be connected to it
means that they’ll stay in the GAA for the rest of their lives. That’s the huge
intangible benefit that an iconic stadium can have- which is Pairc Ui Chaoimh,
which is Semple Thurles and which is Casement Park- hopefully”.
Barr was educated at St. Mary’s CBGS on the Glen Road – a
school famed for producing many a hurling stars that have went onto lift the
Danske Bank Mageean Cup and represent Antrim.
He describes the Christian Brothers project as a piece of
‘social engineering’ and admits he didn’t lift a hurl until he attended the
Glen Road site- pinpointing the work of Br O’Mahoney, Br O’Reilly at St. Mary’s
and Joe Quinn at Rossa.
Ciaran and Lynn and their three daughters
“At a serious level it’s clear what the Christain Brothers
did – what the Christian Brothers did was a piece of social engineering” said
Barr.
“They set-up a grammar school in west Belfast in the 70s in
the middle of the troubles, they’d already had that in the pipeline from the
60s and they knew that there was inequality in Northern Ireland and inequality
in west Belfast and therefore – to build a grammar school which was probably
the best school; in terms of facilities in Northern Ireland- it may well still
be but at that time it was head and shoulders above everything else – it was a
bit like building Casement Park. It created an atmosphere and an aspiration
that you were being treated really well, you were being treated as someone who
had an intellect and you were going to go to University. That changed a huge
amount of people’s lives- including mine. That piece of social engineering has
had a massive ripple effect”.
“In terms of sports- my first three hurling coaches: Joe
Quinn in Rossa and Br O’Mahoney and Br O’Reilly, I went to St Finian’s and it
was all football in St Finian’s – there was no hurling. The first time I
touched hurl was when I got to St. Mary’s CBGS and it was a Cork man and a Tipp
man in Br O’Mahoney and Br O’Reilly and Joe Quinn in Rossa. They were my first
three coaches, St. Mary’s had that ethos and that DNA and culture of hurling
and it was being taught by fellas who knew what they were doing. Hopefully it
comes back to the levels that it was in my day and prior to me”.
To Barr there are three-components to success but is adamant
that there are many different levels, flavours and faces to it.
“Success has many levels” Barr acknowledges.
“Success has many flavours and many faces – success for one
person could be running 5k and a success for somebody else could be playing or
winning an all-Ireland. It all relates to the amount of potential that you have
and whether you have maximised that potential and you’ve pushed yourself. It’s
irrelevant whether you’re a star athlete or whether you’re academically
brilliant, its relevant in that you’re pushing yourself and making the most of
the talent that you’ve been given”.
“There’s three things I would say- one in perseverance- that
you try and continue to try, the second thing I would say is consistency – I
often joke with my players when I’m coaching them, I say that you’re here on
time, you’ve shown up on time and always remember; decisions are made by those
who show up. That’s consistency- be there, be there regularly and be there all
the time. Lastly, talent – maximise your talent, everybody has a talent for
something. It can be playing, admin, intellectual or it can be artistic –
maximise the talent that you have. Perseverance, consistency and talent is the
key to success”.
Feature photograph: Kevin Herron ( Right) in Clones with Antrim ladies in his role as statistician for last years National League final against Fermanagh
By Kevin Herron
It’s been a long three-weeks since I was travelling down to
Carlow IT with the Antrim ladies squad for their league clash with Carlow.
I would describe the build-up in the days previous as
normal. A little context, I work in St. Mary’s CBGS as an AEN Classroom
assistant and do some freelance journalism with the Andersonstown News and
Saffron Gael – the journalism is more of a hobby than anything else if truth be
told.
Friday is the last day of the school week and my good friend
Chris ‘Rocky’ McDonnell (History teacher in St. Mary’s CBGS and Rossa clubman)
had asked me some days earlier to attend their presentation evening at the
Balmoral Hotel to take some photos for the Saffron Gael.
Having arranged to meet up at the Balmoral Hotel after 7
o’clock I was made most welcome and introduced to the evenings special guest
Ciaran Barr- I had always heard so much about Ciaran but wasn’t born to see his
exploits on the hurling pitches around Ireland.
My deceased father Michael and sister Caitriona – would have
followed the Saffron Army in the late 80s and early 90s with train journeys to
Thurles, Limerick, Cork and even an all-Ireland final appearance at Croke on
the first Sunday in September.
Chris thought it might be a good idea to chat with Ciaran
and so we headed into one of the lounges in the Balmoral Hotel for a 15-minute
chat. It was absolutely inspiring to hear of his early memories at Rossa, 1989 https://thesaffrongael.com/2020/03/16/ciaran-barr-talks-about-his-love-for-rossa-and-recalls-1989/
his new job with the GPA, thoughts on Casement Park and his experience of St.
Mary’s CBGS along with some advice for the younger generation.
Having interviewed Ciaran- we headed back inside and the
presentation was soon underway both of us occupied new roles – I was now
photographer and Ciaran was at centre-stage handing out individual and team
honours. Despite my loyalties to Lamh Dhearg (although I previously had a
10-minute stint as a Rossa player last season in a south-Antrim football game)
I had an enjoyable time and even had a laugh with my former Science teacher at
La Salle – Gerard ‘Yash’ Armstrong.
The next-day involved a trip to the Oval to report on
Cliftonville beating Glentoran and some comedy that evening as I headed to the
SSE Arena to see Paddy Rafferty perform – ‘Me, Myself and Nigel’. Paddy lives
across the street from me and for anybody fortunate enough to have tickets to
see his rearranged show – it is fantastic.
Sunday involved a trip to Carlow in my role as statistician
with the Antrim ladies football team. Little did I or anyone else know that
day, it would be their last game together for a couple of months (possibly).
Tension was already in the air around the unfolding epidemic
of Covid-19 in Ireland and worldwide – it would eventually come to a head a few
days later when restrictions put in place by Taoiseach Leo
Varadkar meant that gatherings of more than 500-people were banned. The GAA
acted swiftly and decided to postpone National League games and advice clubs to
shelve events until at least March 29th – which has now been
extended.
Before this was announced the last
game I attended was St. Mary’s Danske Bank Foresters Cup Quarter-final with Red
High, Downpatrick. I also assist with our club minor football team and headed
to Hannahstown to training that night- unaware it would be the last time we would
be gathered for the foreseeable. Schools would soon fall victim to the sweeping
pandemic and are not expected to open their doors again until late August /
early September.
It’s been a long couple of weeks
without a routine or any kind of sporting action. Thankfully these have been
filled by uploads of past games, memories and player profiles as county and
club social media attempt to lift the spirits of our Gaels in these challenging
times.
No doubt the void we are
experiencing will continue for weeks and possibly a month or two – but someday
the game we all love will return and when that day comes we will rejoice. In
the meantime- keep safe, look out for each other and continue to wash your hands!
Niall Murphy is a husband, father son, brother, friend, lawyer, sportsman, Irishman and an inspiration. He is 43.
He is currently fighting for his life against Covid 19 and is in an induced coma and on a ventilator in hospital.
His work friends and colleagues are asking everyone who know him or of him to send a message of support to him and his family on Monday 30th March at any point during that day.
The message should be sent to his work office email account which is niallm@kevinrwinters.com ( don’t forget the ‘r’ between kevin and winters). Only Niall and his family will see the email.
Niall will see all of these messages when he comes through. This will demonstrate the high regard in which Niall is held by all that know him or know of him and act as a source of comfort and inspiration to his family. Please send a message of support. It will be greatly appreciated.
Please circulate this message Saturday and Sunday by email and copy and paste and send by text / WhatsApp etc to all those who would like to support in sending a message this coming Monday.
