New era begins at St. Michael’s
A new Macrory Cup era will began at St. Michael’s next Wednesday evening when they take on Omagh CBS in their opening game in this year’s competition.
For the first time in a long time Dom Corrigan won’t be patrolling the line for St. Michael’s after he retired at the end of last year and instead new PE teacher, Peter Teague, will take charge for the first time in the competition.
Tyrone player Teague says that he is looking forward to the competition gettig underway.
“I’m very excited by the prospect of it. It is something that I probably didn’t think would come to me this early but I was delighted whenever I was offered the position in the school and I’m looking forward to doing the best I can here in my years here in
St. Michael’s,” he said.
And he says that the Macrory and Hogan Cup played a significant role in him falling in love with football. “It is a special competition.
“The day I fell in love with football was watching my cousin play in the Hogan Cup final for Omagh CBS in 2007 and ever since then it was all I wanted to do.
“I’ve been fortunate to have gone on to play in the Macrory Cup, I got beaten in a Macrory Cup final in 2015 with Omagh CBS.
“I also remember following all the St. Michael’s games with my late uncle from Brookeborough. I distinctly remember the last game I went to with him, it was the 2012 Macrory Cup final against Maghera which St. Michael’s won so I have a lot of special memories connected to the Macrory Cup,” he explained.
He knows that he has big shoes to fill i taking over from Corrigan but it is one that he is relishing.
“I have big shoes to fill alright, Dom was hugely successful here and you can see the foundation that he has laid and the legacy he has left here, and it is great that it is here. It is a bit easier for me coming in than it was for him as I’m just building on the legacy as he created the foundations for that and put St. Michael’s on the map.
“You only have to look at the record books to see how successful St. Michael’s have been in this competition and it is a credit to all those who came before; Peter Mcginnity and Dom Corrigan, they all have influenced things in the school.
“I just hope I can add to it in any way and I hope we can be successful.”
And it is down to business next Wednesday night when St. Michael’s take on Omagh CBS with St. Patrick’s Cavan and St. Eunan’s Letterkenny making up the four team group.
The winners will progress automatically to the quarter finals while second and third contest the play offs. For the bottom placed group, their competition finishes there.
Teague says that the only focus at the minute is on trying to ensure that they get out of the group and into the knock out stages.
“It is a tough group. It is similar to last year with Omagh CBS, St. Pat’s Cavan with St. Eunan’s Letterkenny an addition team but they are littered with Donegal minors so we are under no illusions to how tough it is going to be.
“We are looking no further than the group, it is about taking it one game at a time. We have Omagh CBS up first and they have home advantage in that one in Healy Park and then we have home advantage against St. Pat’s Cavan while the last game against St. Eunan’s will be at a neutral venue.
“We just hope to get through the group, that’s the first goal and what we are focused on,” he said.
Teague has named Ederney’s Lughaidh Donnelly as his captain for the campaign although he is currently sidelined with injury. Kai Mcgoldrick and Josh Killilea have been named as joint vice captains.
Defensively, St. Michael’s will then look to the likes of Oisin Swift, Caolan Brennan and Diarmuid while Conor O’hanlon and James Corry will be key players in the middle third. And up front Michael Burns and Liam Corry will carry a scoring threat.
It is all about the Omagh game though for Teague and he knows it is going to be a huge test for his side.
“We are fortunate enough to have Gerry Donnelly here among the staff who is the Tyrone minor manager and he would know them boys inside out.
“They are littered with his boys that got to the All Ireland Minor final in 2021 and won Ulster this year so we are under no illusion how tough that game will be but the boys have worked hard hopefully we can kick on now,” he said.