Above – The Cross & Passion team and management wearing an Antrim strip for their All Ireland semi-final win over Clonmel two weeks ago. The boys will be back in the school colours on Saturdsay or the final

Masita GAA Post Primary Schools Paddy Buggy Cup Final

Cross & Passion College v Calasanctius College Oranmore at Ballyshannon

When you think of venues for big hurling finals Ballyshannon does not instantly spring to mind, but tomorrow Cross & Passion Ballycastle travel to the Donegal town to face Galway’s Calasanctius College Oranmore in the Paddy Buggy Cup final. Two weeks ago when they beat Munster champions Clonmel in the semi-final in UCD, Bellfield we all thought that the we would be back in Dublin for the final, with Abbotstown the probable venue….but it was not to be. We were all thinking of venues in the Dublin area, and to be honest nobody would have thought of Ballyshannon, Co Donegal as a venue for an All Ireland hurling final, but that is where it is fixed for. That is not a complaint, for word has it that the pitch is in great shape and the venue is equidistant from for both teams, the drive for both sets of fans around the two and a half hour mark.

CPC’s opponents are different than most of the teams they have faced in the past, with the vast majority of their players coming from one club, the local Oranmore-Maree GAC.

In their semi-final win over Leinster champions Enniscorthy of Wexford thirteen of the starting team were from Oranmore, the other two came from Castlegar, a club that is well known in Ballycastle. When the McQuillan’s became the first Antrim team to reach an All Ireland club final back in 1980 it was Castlegar they faced in the final in Navan, the Galway champions, back-boned by the famous Connolly family, winning a tight game by four point.

Oranmore were excellent in their semi-final win over Enniscorthy. Like CPC’s semi-final against Clonmel this was a really had fought contest and when the Wexord champions went two ahead with ten minutes left for play they appeared to be on course for a place in the final. However Oranmore finished strongly, hitting the last six points without reply to seal their place in the decider.

Joe Cassidy and his backroom team are reporting a clean bitt of health going into tomorrow’s game and are expected to line out along the same lines as they did against Clonmel.

Eoin Richmond should start in goal with Reece Richmond, Cian Baudant and Eunan Johnston taking their places in the full back line. Darragh Donnelly, team captain Liam Glackin and Arden Kelly formed the half back line in the semi-final and should do so again tomorrow, while Ronan Fitxgerald and Darragh Kinney should again be at midfield. Niall McClean, Conor Donnelly and Paudie Martin should once again form the half forward line with Oisin McCallin, Roan McGarry and Cadhan Crawford wearing the 13, 14 and 15 jerseys.

Its tem years since CPC journeyed home with the Paddy Buggy Cup. Tomorrow they are bidding to do it for the fourth time. They will face very tough opposition, but they have the players to do it, and if they can produce a performance like they did in Dublin two weeks ago that should get them over the line again.

Google Maps is showing the journey to take roughly two and a quarter hours so fans should be on the road early. The team will leave the school at 8am and the fans will probably start setting off around 10ish. Enjoy the journey and the game. These chances don’t come along too often.

Paddy Buggy has enjoyed the last year in North Antrim. Im sure he would like to come back for another year!

For those who can’t make it to Ballyshannon here is the link to watch the game online.

All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Paddy Buggy Cup Final

Cross & Passion College v Calasanctius College Oranmore

Saturday 15th March- 2pm Ballyshannon

Live stream

link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfmPUyE0zc8

Antrim’s Cross and Passion claim All-Ireland schools hurling title in Thurles

Masita GAA All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Paddy Buggy Cup final

Cross and Passion College, Ballycastle (Antrim) 1-16 Mountrath Community School (Laois) 1-12

This match report appeared in 42.ie in 2015

LAST YEAR’S BEATEN finalists Cross and Passion, Ballycastle, were crowned Masita GAA All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Paddy Buggy Cup champions in Thurles this afternoon.

The Antrim boys went one step further than 2014 as Shan McGrath hit 1-2 in the second half to floor Mountrath Community School.

Cross and Passion were superb at Semple Stadium in a tie that was level seven times.

McGrath’s 55th minute goal was brilliantly created and superbly finished by the Loughgiel Shamrocks forward.

Alex O’Boyle did brilliantly to offload on the 45m line to Cormac McClafferty and his pass was batted home by McGrath.

There was still time for Mountrath to launch a late revival as Dylan Conroy scored a consolation goal in the final minute.

Mountrath had another goal disallowed in stoppage time for a square ball offence but overall, they didn’t do enough after trailing by just a point at the break, 0-8 to 0-9.

Twin brothers Stephen and Aaron Dunphy scored six of Mountrath’s points in that opening half but they Conroy was his team’s sole scorer after the break – and that late goal was Mountrath’s only score from play after half-time.

Cross and Passion, fuelled by the hurt of their 2014 final defeat to Coláiste Phobal, Roscrea, were superb in that second half and Diarmaid McShane scored a 48th minute point from long-range that will live long in the memory.

Scorers for Mountrath: Dylan Conroy 1-4 (0-4f), Aaron Dunphy 0-4, Stephen Dunphy 0-2, Conor Hiney & John Lennon 0-1 each.

Scorers for Cross and Passion: Shan McGrath 1-3, Cormac McClafferty 0-5 (3f), Shea Hunter & Diarmaid McShane 0-2 each, Tiarnan Butler, Conor Patterson, Johnny McErlain & Alex O’Boyle 0-1 each.

Mounrath:

1. Shane Cuddy (Castletown)

4. Shaun Moore (St Fintan’s Mountrath)
3. Kevin O’Rourke (Ballyfin, capt.)
2. Eoin Peters (Castletown)

5. Ben Quinlan (Borris-Kilcotton)
6. Conor Phelan (Castletown)
7. Jake Cranny (Abbeyleix)

8. Stephen Dunphy (Borris-Kilcotton)
9. Paddy Williams (St Fintan’s Mountrath)

10. Aaron Dunphy (Borris-Kilcotton)
11. Dylan Lalor (Trumera)
12. Dylan Conroy (Castletown)

13. Conor Hiney (Shanahoe)
14. John Lennon (Rosenalis)
15. Mark Dowling (Camross)

Subs:

18. David Connolly (Ballyfin) for Quinlan (36)
23. Shane Phelan (Castletown) for Lalor (45)
17. Oisín Bennett (Camross) for Dowling (58)

Cross and Passion:

1. Ciarán Butler (McQuillans Ballycastle)

2. Caolan Blair (Loughgiel Shamrocks)
3. Seán McBride (Faughs Carey)
4. Paddy Joe Graham (McQuillans Ballycastle, capt.)

5. Caolan McCaughan (McQuillans Ballycastle)
6. Odhran Laverty (Loughgiel Shamrocks)
7. Conor Boyd (McQuillans Ballycastle)

11. Cormac McClafferty (Ruairi Og, Cushendall)
8. Tiarnan Butler (McQuillans Ballycastle)

12. Johnny McErlain (Glen Rovers, Armoy)
9. Shea Hunter (Faughs Carey)
10. Conor Patterson (Oisíns, Glenariffe)

13. Shan McGrath (Loughgiel Shamrocks)
14. Alex O’Boyle (Oisíns, Glenariffe)
15. Diarmuid McShane (McQuillans Ballycastle)

Subs:

20. Geoffrey Óg Laverty (St Brigids, Cloughmills) for Blair (h.t.)
18. Cathal Connor (McQuillans Ballycastle) for McCaughan (53)
19. Conor Dallas (Loughgiel Shamrocks) for Patterson (60+2)

Referee: Diarmuid Kirwan (Cork)

TO SEE MORE PICS FROM THAT FAMOUS DAY IN THURLES CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

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Paddy Buggy Cup semi-final

Calasanctius College Oranmore 1-22 Enniscorthy CBS 2-15

at Rathdowney, Co Laois

CPC’s rivals in Saturday’s Paddy Buggy Cup final, Calasanctius College Oranmore, are formidable opponents who are backboned by the Oranmore-Maree club in Galway and in fact there were thirteen players from the club on the side that beat St Mary’s Enniscorthy in the semi-final two weeks ago.
The Wexord school pushed their Galway rivals hard for much of that semi-final in Rathdowney, but Oranmore showed great composure down the home straight to squeeze through a hard fought contest
Enniscorthy CBS were caught on a couple of occasions trying to play possession out of defence and were punished by the superb free-taking of Colm Burke, and the speed and accuracy of Gus Lohan (nephew of Clare manager, Brian).
At the other end of the field, Enniscorthy CBS weren’t making the same inroads with their inside line, thanks chiefly to the brilliant performance of Thomas Blake who gave a dominant display in his starting position of corner back, and later at centreback when he moved out to pivot the defence.
Enniscorthy CBS couldn’t get the ball to ‘stick’ in the final line, and while Páuric Doyle, Bobby Codd and Peter Wickham all delivered big moments at various stages in the half-forward line, they needed a back-up reserve to freshen things in the last quarter when Oranmore’s overall dominance began to tell
The Connacht side found the patches of space they needed in the home straight; and their efficiency was impressive when they did.
Enniscorthy CBS couldn’t have given any more, but they will be disappointed with a couple of their eight wides. The Wexford boys also dropped five shots short, where goalkeeper Harry Keady, son of the late Galway legend Tony Keady, was a dominant figure.
In terms of physicality, Oranmore held an advantage, and while the Enniscorthy CBS short game out of defence paid dividends on occasions, they tried it once too often, and the hits and tackles from their well-conditioned opponents led to turnovers that were converted into scores.

The pitch was in excellent condition for hurling, and from the opening whistle it became apparent that it was going to be a classic.
Enniscorthy were quick out of the traps and were 2-0 up after three minutes thanks to a Bobby Codd free and a Larry Cloke effort from play.
Oranmore then hit back with seven of the next nine points. Jake Keady was particularly effective during the first-half, with Colm Burke also a growing influence. The Enniscorthy CBS half-backs were under pressure, but were doing enough.
There was confusion when Peter Wickham’s goal was disallowed for an earlier infringement after nine minutes, and on 19 minutes, when Gus Lohan stroked home the sliotar, following a powerful run by Michael Leahy, Enniscorthy CBS had reason to be concerned that they were now five points down.
But a minute later, Peter Wickham’s defiance paved the way for Shane Reddy to net for the Leinster champions Jake Keady and Páuric Doyle exchanged a couple of fine points during this spell, with Doyle winning his battle on the ’40.
Trailing by three at the interval, Enniscorthy CBS hit 1-3 in the first ten minutes of the second-half to go 2-11 to 1-11 ahead.

There followed a couple of crucial plays, where a combination of Oranmore’s calmness and opportunism, and Enniscorthy CBS getting caught in possession in their own half, saw the Galway side regain the momentum.
Colm Burke pointed two frees from the forced errors, with Lohan and Leahy added terrific points from play.
It was already at a high level, but the match tempo went up another notch for the final quarter. Eoin Cloke and Shane Reddy were as busy as ever at midfield, and more excellent scores followed.
Among them was an exchange of points between Lohan and Hyland, the latter following great play in the last line of defence by Ivers.
When Codd made a driving run and pointed, with Hyland following up after a quick one-look and strike on 52 minutes, Enniscorthy CBS were back on top, leading by two with eight minutes to play and looked to be in a strong position.
But despite battling ferociously to the final whistle, that was to be Enniscorthy’s last score of the game as Oranmore hit the final six points, including three Burke frees, one from play from the centre-forward, with the skilful Lohan adding another two to his tally.
Overall Enniscorthy’s attitude and application on the day was tremendous, but Calasanctius College Oranmore just had a few more aces in their deck and deservedly got over the line to set up a final meeting with Ulster Champions Cross & Passion College, Ballycastle

Calasanctius College (Oranmore):

Harry Keady; Seán Martyn, Thomas Blake, Alan Connaughton; Tiernan Grealish, Fionn Fahy, Shay Rabbitt; Charlie Healy, Éanna Costello; Jake Keady (0-3), Colm Burke (0-12, 10 frees), Matthew Furey; Darragh King, Michael Leahy (0-2), Gus Lohan (1-5). Subs. – Stephen Ruane for King (HT), Liam Burke for Costello (59), Niall De Paor for Furey (63).

St. Mary’s CBS (Enniscorthy):

Eamon Asple (Ballyhogue); Brian Ivers (Marshalstown-Castledockrell), Kyle Curran (Oylegate-Glenbrien), Oisín Cloke-Rochford (Ballyhogue); Jamie Downey (Oylegate-Glenbrien), Jack Nolan (Oylegate-Glenbrien), Tadhg Doyle (Ballyhogue); Eoin Cloke (Davidstown-Courtnacuddy), Shane Reddy (Rathnure, 1-0); Bobby Codd (Monageer-Boolavogue, 0-8, 5 frees), Páuric Doyle (Davidstown-Courtnacuddy, 0-3), Peter Wickham (Oulart-The Ballagh, 0-1); Larry Cloke (Davidstown-Courtnacuddy, 0-1), Rhys Wickham (Oulart-The Ballagh, 1-0), Seán Hyland (Rapparees, 0-2).

Referee: Anthony Stapleton (Laois).