The famous Sam Maguire, the most iconic trophy in Gaelic Football will be making an appearance in Glenravel this coming Sunday.
The visit comes courtesy of a connection between the victorious Armagh team and the Con Magees club. Ciaran Higgins, who played for the Orchard county in the group stages of the 2024 championship and was a substitute in the All-Ireland final, is the son of former Glenravel player Paul Higgins. Paul who now resides on the lough shore in Maghery is still a member of Con Magees club and remains a loyal supporter.

Ciaran Higgins is actually the third son of a Glenravel man to be part of an All Ireland winning team. There have been a couple of other connections with the famous trophy down the years, dating as far back as 1934 when Hugo Carey, son of Henry J Carey of Rathkenny, played at corner back on the Galway team who beat Dublin in the All Ireland final.

When Down made the famous breakthrough by beating the mighty Kingdom in the 1960 All Ireland final Jarlath Carey, son of Paddy Carey and Bella O’Loan, both from Glenravel, lined out at midfield and he was there again in the middle of the park the following year when the Mourne men beat Offaly before a crowd of 90,556, the biggest ever attendance at an All Ireland final.

Sam Maguire has visited the ‘tenth glen’ a few times over the years. In 1981 Mick O’Dwyer brought Sam and the great Kerry team north and spent a weekend in Glenravel. It was there again in the early nineties courtesy of Ross Carr of Down. and then in 2003 when Tyrone won their first All-Ireland the Sam Maguire made its way to the club and the local schools.
So 22 years since its last appearance, the people of Glenravel will once again welcome Sam.  To mark the occasion the Con Magees club are hosting a coffee morning this Sunday 19th January from 10am to 1pm. All locals and those further afield are welcome to attend and will have an opportunity to get their hands on arguably the most famous trophy in Irish sport.

Entry is by voluntary donation with proceeds going towards equipment for the next generation of budding GAA stars at FUNdamentals and Con Ógs Nursery.

Main photo – Antrim manager Jody Gormley with the Saffrons in Croke Park in 2007

It is with deep sorrow we at the Saffron Gael learned of the recent death of former Antrim manager Jody Gormley.

Jody will be remembered much further afield for his exploits with Tyrone and he played at midfield for the Tyrone side who lost narrowly to Dublin in the 1995 All Ireland final.

Following his playing days with the O’Neill County, Jody had a brief stint in London before returning to Ireland where he would finish with South Belfast club, Bredagh, which he would also later manage.

In-between times, he had a spell as coach to the Down footballers under manager Paddy O’Rourke before taking the reins with Antrim in late 2006, having managed Abbey CBS to the Hogan Cup earlier that year.

Antrim fans will remember Jody Gormley during his time as the county’s footballer manager and in his first year at the helm, he guided the Saffrons to the Tommy Murphy Cup final in Croke Park where they suffered late heartbreak against Wicklow.

12 months later the teams were back in the decider with Antrim coming out on top, a victory that was credited as a catalyst for a subsequent rise in the fortunes of football in the county.

A man who lived and breathed football, Jody Gormley’s most recent success in management was when he led his beloved Trillick to the 2023 Tyrone title and it was in the immediate aftermath of defeat to Errigal Ciaran in this year’s championship that he informed the Trillick players that he was suffering from cancer.

We listened with amazement at his courage as he accepted his terminal illness with great courage and fortitude and the GAA has lost one of its truly great servant’s.

Antrim fans got a final glimpse of their former county manager when he attended the Ulster championship opener between Errigal Ciaran and Erin’s Own Cargin at Corrigan Park in Belfast.

Jody Gormley will be remembered in the Saffron County for his contribution to our Couty football team and his impact will not be forgotten.

Our deepest sympathies go out to Jody’s wife Deirdre, his children Aine, Niamh and James and his extended family and colleagues.

Our Lady of the Gael pray for him!

Jody Gormley just a few short weeks ago at Corrigan Park to watch the Errigal Ciaran game against Cargin

FonaCAB St Paul’s Ulster Minor Football Tournament, quarter-final

Four Masters 3-07-3-06 Scotstown

Kevin Herron reports from Shaws Road

2023 Ulster Minor holders Four Masters survived the first assault on their crown as they saw off Monaghan Champions Scotstown 3-07-3-06 in Sundays quarter-final clash on the Shaws Road.

The Donegal kingpins settled into their stride when Callum McCrea broke out of defence and switched to Turlough Carr- he returned a pass to McCrea and in turn feed late replacement Thomas Lenehan to slam home inside of two minutes.

Scotstown replied through a 4th minute Sean Og McElwain free and the sides then traded scores through Kevin Muldoon and Tommy Mallen.

The Monaghan outfit hit the front on the 12th minute when Max Maguire fisted the break ball at midfield and play was switched into the path of Darcy Foy to burst forward and fire low into the corner past Lewis McCaughan to make it 1-02-1-01.

Mallen doubled his sides advantage and his personal tally for the half moments later,  but the Carr brothers Tomas and Turlough both sent high efforts between the posts to restore parity.

Scotstown regained the less temporarily thanks to an Ellis Foy shot that dropped between the posts, though Tomas Carr converted a free from the deck.

Having opened the game with a goal, Four Masters closed the half out on the front foot.

Alan McHugh carried the ball forward and laid it off with Tiarnan McBride picking up possession and powering to the net with Turlough Carr adding a point in the aftermath to give the holders a 2-05-1-04 lead at the interval.

Scotstown clawed their way back into things within two minutes of the restart.Darcy Foy flighted a fine crossfield pass that Darragh Keenan intercepted and he bore down on goal before picking his spot to reduce the deficit to the bare minimum.

Parity was restored for the third time when Max Maguire produced a tremendous angled point on the 36th minute.

The Monaghan Champions forged back ahead when Sean Og McElwain converted his second free of the contest to make it 2-06-2-05.

Although it was shortlived as Four Masters hit the net for the third time and late replacement Thomas Lenehan claimed his second with a low shot that squeezed underneath Jimmy McKenna’s reach.

Lenehan shot over his first point of the

afternoon and a converted Tomas Carr free from the ground had Masters 3-07-2-06 ahead and surely into the last four.

A grandstand finish was on the cards though as Scotstown battled back and hit their third goal on the 53rd minute.

Darragh Keenan bustled his way into a shooting position and sent a bullet of a shot to the net to reduce the deficit to the bare minimum again.

They were unable to fightback for a third time though as the holders hung on to book their place in the St Stephens Day semi-final against the winners of next weekends Mayobridge and Fr Rocks quarter-final clash. 

FOUR MASTERS: L McCaughan, A McHugh, D McGinty, E O’Neil, C Gavigan, C McCrea, A Quinn, T Carr (0-3, 0-2f), T Colhoun, P McGonagle, T Carr (0-2), K Muldoon (0-1), T Lenehan (2-1), T McBride, O Doherty. Subs: D Griffin for A McHugh (60+1).

SCOTSTOWN: J McKenna, C Gallagher, D McMeel, D Feeney, E Prunty, M McCaffrey, D Foy (1-0), M Maguire (0-1), J Foley, E Foy (0-1), T Mallen (0-2), D Keenan (2-0), D Connolly, S Og McElwain (0-2f), C McElwain. Subs: N McCabe for T Mallen (42), S MacCinna for D Keenan (59).

REFEREE: Paul Falloon (Down)

CLICK ON THE LING BELOW TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM FOUR MASTERS V SCOTSTOWN GAME

https://myalbum.com/album/C7Ee8zYBnTxfRy