Class action: schools do battle in a day of finals
Captain Cassidy is eager to repay management duo by leading Magherafelt school to maiden triumph
WHEN St Mary’s Magherafelt — commonly known to all who follow Ulster Schools’ football as ‘The Convent’ — make their way through the gates of the Athletic Grounds this morning for the MacRory Cup final, they will do so with history on their minds.
It would be wrong to describe any illustrious seat of learning as ‘poor relations’, but footballers from St Mary’s could easily have developed a complex about themselves over the last half decade as Paul Hughes and St Patrick’s Maghera have gone about dominating the competition.
Captain Declan Cassidy of Bellaghy knows that he is a mere hour of football away from immortality in the school.
“It’s a massive privilege to captain a team into a final. I just try not to think about being captain too much,” he emphasised.
“It has its duties, but just making sure the team are ready for tomorrow and that we all perform to the best we can is what it is all about really.”
It’s not hard to see why the management team of Kevin Brady and John McElholm have made him captain. And the admiration works both ways as Cassidy describes the expertise of his managers.
“It is one of the best management teams I have ever worked with. They have been absolutely dedicated to us,” he said.
“The work they have put in has been… even analysing the teams as we have gone through, since we played in the play-off against St Michael’s Enniskillen, it has been brilliant.
“You can see how much it means to them and we have Mr McElholm in there from the play-offs. He has experience in the final, they lost in 2003. We have come a long way.”
14 years have passed and the school have not been able to celebrate a St Patrick’s Day at a Schools’ Cup final since. As a matter of fact, 2003 was their only big day out.
Up against St Colman’s, a real blue-blood school, they can use that as motivation, he insists.
“We know there is history there to be made. It is not going to be something that we don’t focus on. But we have confidence in ourselves. This is achievable, we know it can be done,” he said.
“But at the back of our minds we would really love to make history.”
As for the opposition, he added: “They play a kicking game, a good brand of football and that’s the way they have been brought up. They have a couple of really good players. We need to be wary of them.”
Take it as read.