Pictured is the first team from St MacNissi’s Garron Tower to become Ulster Senior hurling champions exactly 70 years ago.

1953-4 St MacNissi’s Garron Tower team picture.

Back: Fr Paddy McKavanagh (coach), Liam Vaughan (Ballymena), Jim McGrath (Fermanagh and later Belfast St Agnes club player), Francis McRory (Ballymena), Anthony Logan (Dunloy), Brendan MacAuley (Cushendall), Bernard O’Kane (Coleraine), Stanley Parfitt (Belfast St Agnes).

Front: Dan Gillan (Loughgiel Shamrocks), Denis O’Hara (Cushendun), Mickey Young (Newbridge), Willie Devlin capt (Glen Rovers Armoy), Carl O’Neill (Ballymena), James Brown (Glenravel/Dunloy), Tom Gillan (Loughgiel Shamrocks).

Three players missed the picture call – Patsy Black (Glenariffe), Jim Mitchell (Glenariffe) and Neil McKillop (Cushendall).

If you want to know more about this team, the origins of Ulster Schools’ hurling and the Mageean Cup down through the years, come along to a talk by Séamas McAleenan in St Louis Ballymena on Wednesday 6th December – two days before the 2023 Mageean Cup final