St Patrick’s Rasharkin completed the football double adding the Fee MacGorman 7 a side boy’s football trophy to the indoor 5 a side won earlier this year.
At the annual Allianz Ireland South West cumann na mbunscoil blitz in Creggan the football on display was, like the weather outstanding.
After a fiercely competitive morning of football the teams were split into a cup and a shield section.
In the shield a determined and skilful St Brigid’s Ballymena overcame hosts Creggan in an entertaining and enthralling game to see the school lift its first piece of boys football silverware in sometime.
In the Cup final Mount St Michael’s Randalstown and St Patrick’s Rasharkin produced a game of outstanding skill, quality and endeavour. It was nip and tuck the whole way, with the Rasharkin men prevailing at the end. Best wishes go to St Mary’s as they progress to represent the South West in the all county finals.
Well done once more to both teams.
In what was a memorable day for all and a big thanks must go to Kevin Small from Creggan PS for organising and to Gaelfast coaches and staff for making sure everything ran so smoothly.
With two of the three north Antrim colleges featuring in the 2024 Mageean Cup final, and the other in the semi-final, it is no surprise that the Colleges Hurling All Star team is dominated by the three north Antrim schools. They have snapped up 12 of the 15 jerseys. Four awards go to All-Ireland Paddy Buggy Cup champions Cross & Passion Ballycastle while the six St Killian’s Garron Tower players named featured strongly for the school when they captured the same title in 2023d. St Louis Ballymena students Jack Martin and Fionntán Bradley complete the dozen.
As regards club representation, there are five from Ruairí Óg Cushendall, three from Loughgiel Shamrocks, two from Oisín Glenariff and one each for Dunloy and Ballycastle.
The six St Killian’s players who won All Star awards were, L-R, Thomas McLaughlin, Colla Ward, Charlie McAuley, Oran McCambridge, Calum McIlwaine, Callagh Mooney
One of the Shamrocks, CPC winning captain Liam Glackin, is joining an elite group of players who have collected three successive All-star awards. In Liam’s case he now will have a complete collection of jerseys from the half-back line.
In addition there are also no fewer than four other players who were on last year’s team including Thomas McLaughlin from St Killian’s. The Ruairí Óg player was goalkeeper on last year’s team when his brother Joseph picked up his second award at full-forward. Thomas now takes over on the edge of the square from Joseph.
Club and school team-mate Callagh Mooney also collects a second award as does Colla Ward, an All-Ireland judo champion and an Ulster minor club winner with Oisín Glenariffe.
The two St Louis students selected are Jack Martin and Fionntán Bradley, the latter one of the five Ruairí Óg players named. He also holds a Mageean medal – with his school two years ago.
Interestingly two of the St Killian’s All-stars are sons of All-stars. Conor McCambridge picked up two awards in 1992 and 1993, and in that second year his Garron Tower team-mate Pádraig McIlwaine joined him. Oran McCambridge and Callum McIlwaine now follow their fathers.
The fourth double All-star was a member of the Derry team that won Ulster and All-Ireland minor football titles last year. Cathal Ó Mianáin’s brother and current Derry senior hurler Ruairí was also a dual All-star in 2022 and 2023.
The Loughgiel trio of Roan Fitzpatrick, Liam Glackin and Roan McGarry.
Derry All-Ireland football minor winning captain and 2024 minor footballer of the year James Sargent also comes into defence. The Lavey dual player holds three Derry minor hurling medals as well as Kirk Cup and Casement Cup medals with his school St Mary’s Magherafelt.
The other non-Antrim player in the selection is the first to represent the new Downpatrick school, Lecale Trinity. Cian Clarke was the sub goal-keeper on the Red High team that won the Danske Bank Mageean Cup three years ago. He is a son of long-time Down net-minder Graham Clarke and is currently between the posts for Down at under 20 level.
The team will collect their All-star awards at a Gala Dinner in the Crowne Plaza Hotel Belfast on May 2nd.
Oonagh Murtagh, Head of South Business Centre at Danske Bank, announced the teams commenting:
“At Danske Bank, we’ve been passionate about helping our society thrive since our beginnings 200 years ago. One way we do that is through our youth sports sponsorships with Ulster Schools GAA, Ulster Schools’ Cup Rugby and the Northern Ireland Football Association.
“The Ulster Schools All Stars is a fantastic, long-standing initiative that recognises outstanding sportsmanship across Gaelic football and hurling each year – and something we’re really proud to be a part of. This year’s GAA competitions have showcased the very best of our young players. It’s a real testament to how our young footballers and hurlers have been nurtured and developed throughout their school sporting career.
The five Ruairi Og players on the All Star team. L-R, Oran McCambridge, Charlie McAuley, Fiontann Bradley, Thomas McLaughlin, Callagh Mooney
“The commitment and dedication to even be nominated for an All Star is immense, and we’d like to congratulate all of the players selected to participate in the trials as well as the remarkable 30 individuals who made the two All Star teams this year.”
The 15 players selected for the 2023-24 Danske Bank All-star hurling team are:
Cross & Passion Ballycastle 7-8 St Mary’s Limavady 4-8
A scoring burst between the 12th and 19th minutes of last week’s JJ Murphy Cup final in Kilrea took Cross & Passion clear of St Mary’s Limavady and on their way to retaining the trophy, their second football title of the season.
During that period on top CPC scored five goals and a point and that helped them to an interval lead of 5-3 to 4-4. During the second half the boys from north Antrim were able to close out Limavady at the back and pick off enough scores to stay comfortably in the lead.
St Mary’s had the better start with Riley Brolly’s hand-pass sending Daithí O’Connor through for the first goal after three minutes. Limavady led by 1-2 to 0-2 when Ballycastle’s goal run began with Killian Cassidy sending Daire Kearney in for the first strike.
Seamas McAleenan of Ulster Schools GAA presents the JJ Murphy Cup to CPC captain Killian Cassidy after his team’s win over St Mary’s Kimivady in the final at Kilrea
Kearney scored the second Ballycastle goal as well, tapping in when Iarla Gillan’s shot came back off a post and Iarfhlaith O’Kane quickly lobbed in a third. John óg Darragh and Ronan Smith scored the other goals to put CPC into a commanding lead.
Through that spell however Liam McClelland brought off two excellent saves at the other end before Limavady moved the dangerous Corin Burns to the edge of the Ballycastle square. Burns responded with two goals in quick succession and when O’Connor added his second after a fine solo run, Limavady were very much back in the hunt.
Burns closed the gap to a single point on the re-start, but the north Derry school didn’t score again until the 49th minute, by which point a goal from Dara McShane and five unanswered points had stretched Ballycastle’s lead to nine points.
CPC captain Killian Cassidy rounded off a good team performance by sliding home the seventh goal a couple of minutes from time.
CPC celebrate with the cup
Cross & Passion: D Kearney 2-1, R Smith 1-2, 0-1 (f), J óg Darragh, K Cassidy, I O’Kane and D McShane 1-1 each, T Richmond 0-1.
St Mary’s: C Burns 2-5, 0-2 (fs), D O’Connor 2-0, K King, E O’Dwyer and C Donaghy 0-1 each.
Cross & Passion: Liam McClelland, Gerard Gillan, Ben Linton, Malachy McSparren, Sean Johnson, Pearse McMullan, Rory McCloskey, Tom Richmond, John óg Darragh, Ronan Smith, Killian Cassidy, Iarfhlaith O’Kane, Dara McShane, Iarla Gilla, Daire Kearney.
Subs used: Killian Bellew for S Johnson (40), Finn McKeown and Jamie Maguire for D McShane and I Gillan (both 48)
Ardoyne and Eire Og met in a very entertaining Division 3 football league game at Fennell Park on Sunday afternoon. The first half was a very close affair with both teams enjoying periods of superiority, but it was the Northender’s who took the points after a dominant second half performance.
Ardoyne were first out of the blocks with Gary McKernan slotting over a point after 2 minutes followed by a second from Padraig McGreevy shortly afterwards. Fiontan Lagan was proving a thorn in the side of the Eire Og defence as the game unfolded, but they soon found their confidence and dominated the middle third of the first half. They could have gone ahead following a strong run through the Ardoyne defence, only to be thwarted by an in-form Tiernan Hughes in the Ardoyne nets.
It was only a matter of time before the points began to arrive for Eire Og with both Lorcan McIlroy and Stiofan Gallen knocking over two points apiece to take a one point lead with 20 minutes gone. It was nip and tuck as the first half moved into the final stages. Hughes kicked over a 45, followed by a point kicked from a difficult angle by Corrigan.
Eire Og again got a head of steam and exerted increasing pressure on the Ardoyne defence that eventually led to a penalty, duly converted by Gallan into the Ardoyne net. Just as it looked that Eire Og were taking the initiative, Ardoyne picked up the pace with a further 4 points in the closing minutes of the first half to leave one point between the sides at the short whistle..
Half-Time: Ciceam Ard Eoin 0-08 Eire Og 1-04
The second half told a different story as Ardoyne took the upper hand from the whistle with 4 points from play before McIlroy slotted over a free to leave 5 points between the sides at the end of the third quarter.
Ardoyne went further ahead as a high tackle on James McAuley resulted in McGreevy sending over another free. Eire Og continued to battle, and were never that far away from the Ardoyne men. As the final whistle was drawing near, Cormac Barnes in the Ardoyne attack was left frustrated when a great run through the Eire Og defence rebounded off the post. This was not to be Eire Og’s day and a resulting penalty from the rebound saw the game come to a conclusion with a 5 point win for Ardoyne.
Referee: Sean Toal
Ciceam Ard Eoin: Tiernan Hughes (0-2, 2f), Cormac Curran, Micheál McGreevy, Conor Magee, Daniel Moore (0-1), Pearse Marley, James Og McAuley (0-2), Gary McKernan (0-1), Joe Gibson, Ethan Magill, Kealan McCallan, Eoghan Corrigan (1-4), Padraig McGreevy (0-3, 1f), Fiontan Lagan, Cormac Barnes, Odhran Mullan, Aodhán Quigg, Finnen Wall O’Brien, Diarmuid Martin
Eire Og: Simon Harney, Ciarán Rice, Paddy Loughran, Barry McDaid, Karl McKenna, Conor McKenna, Jarlath Devlin, Conor Erskine, Conall Smyth, Christopher Carberry, Ronan Donnelly, Stephen Erskine (0-2), Lorcan McIlroy (0-3, 2f), Mark Graham, Stiofan Gallan (1-3,1f)
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Conor McCarthy, who was guest of honour at the Saffron Business Breakfast at the Crown Plaza Hotel, Shaw’s Bridge on Friday is an airline industry veteran with over 43 years of experience, a serial entrepreneur who has helped found several airlines and aerospace companies worldwide.
Based primarily in Dublin, Conor is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Emerald Airlines, Ireland’s newest regional airline, and the exclusive operator of the Aer Lingus Regional network. Founder of PlaneConsult, an aviation consultancy company. Over the past 19 years PlaneConsult has worked in many airlines including easyJet, Aer Lingus, AirAsia, Qantas, Jetstar, Air Deccan, Pegasus, Alaska Airlines, Copa, Thai AirAsia, AirAsia X, MAS, flyNAS, Saudia and vivaAerobus.
Dominic Kearns (left) and Aaron Carey (right) present a decorative hurl to guest of honour Conor McCarty at the Saffron Business Breakfast at the Crown Plaza
The Dublin man is also a Co-founder, shareholder, and former director of AirAsia and its affiliates in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, and India. After graduating from Trinity College, Conor quickly rose to the level of EVP and was appointed Chief Executive of Aer Lingus Commuter at the age of 28. Conor was the Director of Group Operations & Safety for Ryanair from 1996-2000. During this time the airline tripled in size and Conor was responsible for the famous Ryanair 25-minute turnaround, new Base rollout, and successful delivery and introduction of the first Ryanair Boeing 737-800s. In 2009 Conor established Dublin Aerospace, parent company to Dublin Aerospace and Exeter Aerospace. Dublin Aerospace is now one of the world’s leading providers of Aerospace MRO services with capabilities in APU Repair & Overhaul, Base Maintenance, Component Repair and Landing Gear Overhaul. Dublin Aerospace has recently developed a state-of-the-art Landing Gear facility in Ashbourne, Ireland and started up Exeter Aerospace in the UK.
As is the norm at the Saffron Business Breakfasts three members were given the opportunity to ‘plug’ their own company and this time around we had Loughgiel man Aaron Carey of Finance giants Jullies Bar, who sponsored the event, Downpatrick’s Aidan Hughes of Insurace experts Brown & Brown, plus Rasharkin’s Helen Hardy of Human resources experts BEYONDHR
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