St. Louis Grammar School, Kilkeel 2-09 St. Macartans College, Monaghan 0-09

St. Louis have been left to fly the Down flag in Ulster Colleges football in 2005. For those that doubted the credentials of St. Louis Grammar School to compete in this seasons McRory Cup, the South Armagh venue of Killeavey was the place to be last Saturday morning. It was here that last years All-Ireland Senior Colleges B champions show the true measure of their pedrigree. Playing for the first time amongst the elite in Ulster Colleges in the McRory Cup quarter-final, the Kilkeel school, progressed with a fantastic display of discipline, composure and sheer talent.

Facing them was the daunting task of overcoming last years McRory Cup finalists St. Macartans College, Monaghan, who had avenged their final defeat by dumping out the holders St. Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon in the preliminary round. The Monaghan school were also able to call on an impressive thirteen members of their panel from last years campaign. Yet, St. Louis have already shown at this level this year that they wouldn’t be letting the ‘big boys’ push them around easily. Having already contested the league final this year, losing narrowly to Omagh CBS, St. Louis showed they heard learned some valuable lessons and gained plenty of experience along the way. However, that Mc Cormick Cup Final was played at the start of December, after a full two months had elapsed, how useful had St. Louis been preparing for this encounter?

St. Louis had obviously been planning their strategy was great care and effort. The evidence was plain to be seen as a fit and hungry St. Louis squad took to the impressive new pitch at Killeavey. With some of the injury worries dispelled, St. Louis got into their stride right from the start. With the Down minor pairing ofJames Colgan and Joseph Ireland a force at mid-field, the Kilkeel school quickly got into their stride. St. Louis showed a lot of fluidity, especially in their half forward line as James Cunningham and Martin Clarke took the game to the Monaghan team. Monaghan soon rallied and indeed, it was the Southerners who opened the scoring as Nicky Treanor knocked over a long range point, aided by a strong breeze. The Kilkeel lads quickly countered this as Fergal Doyle placed a pass to Martin Clarke who was in turn fouled by his marker, Niall McCooey. Clarke duly slotted the resultant free over the Monaghan bar to level the game. Increased pressure from the Kilkeel forward line saw narrow misses from James Cunningham and Martin Clarke, but Clarke, who has recently been honoured with an Ulster Colleges All-Star award, knocked over another free to extend the Mourne lead.

St. Macartans then showed why they had been installed as favourites for this tie as they quickly reshuffled their pack and began to play some attractive football of their own. With their half back line quelling the Kilkeel boys to a certain extent, they quickly learned to bypass the strong Kilkeel mid-field and target their burly full forward Shane Smith. With Mark McCaffery showing excellent distribution this ‘route-one’ football began to pay dividends. Fouling in the Kilkeel defence was proving costly as two frees from Nicky Treanor saw the Monaghan college resume the lead. Although Luke Howard was proving to be a tower of strength at full back, the Monaghan corner forwards were picking up a lot of break ball. A well taken point from Monaghan full forward Shane Smith stretched their lead, but great blocking and tackling from Eamon McConville and Hugh Magee ensured that Kilkeel would ride out this purple patch for St. Macartans.
With David Morgan, Gerard McCartan and Fergal Doyle eventually getting the upper-hand on their opponents, the earlier impressive play of St. Louis quickly returned. Feeding Joseph Ireland and James Colgan with ball, quickly opened the Monaghan defence again. Instead of playing the short game of the opening minutes, St. Louis showed their versatility by changing their approach and delivering long ball to their full forwards. Picking up long balls at the edge of the square the large Kilkeel support sensed that something would come out of this play. The signs were there, as Ritchie Annett saw a shot rolled agonisingly close to the goal and Martin Clarke saw a fisted effort at a point narrowly drift the wrong side of the post. St. Louis didn’t have to wait too long as half forward Peter Fitzpatrick cut in along the by-line to crash the ball past the helpless Gerard Gilsenan, a Colleges All-Star Keeper, into the Monaghan net. If Kilkeel needed an injection of adrenalin then young Ballymartin lad provided it. He quickly followed up with a point from an acute angle to extend the Kilkeel lead.
Again St. Macartans held their nerve and counter-attacked. Although, the Monaghan lads were struggling with the defensive tasks, they still managed to deliver quality ball into their forwards. This put pressure onto the young Mourne defenders, who conceded two free in quick succession. Again the trusted boot of Nicky Treanor notched up another two points to bring the sides level. Learning from their earlier successes another long, probing ball into the Monaghan defence, was quickly pounced upon by Christopher Morgan, who managed to dribble the ball around two defenders, ‘soccer style’, and lift the ball over the outstretched Monaghan Keeper. Unfortunately for the Attical man, the ball kept rising and glided over the Monaghan bar. Although it could be viewed as a missed goal opportunity, the score ensured that St. Louis went into the break with a one point lead. Half-time score St. Louis 1-4, St. Macartans 0-6.
St. Louis coach Cathal Murray and his assistant Steven McVeigh took full advantage of the break to recharge their troops in preparation for the second half. However, the Kilkeel lads still had to wait patiently on the Killeavey pitch for their Monaghan opponents, an unnerving tactic used all too frequently in the modern game. It may have worked as St. Macartans eventually came out with all guns blazing. Their early onslaught reaped an equalising point, as Shane Smith kicked a superb in one of the few times he got away from the shackles of Luke Howard. The Bryansford and Down Minor star soon put the shackles back on his Monaghan counterpart, keeping him quiet for the remainder of the game. The contest was developing as obvious edge Hugh Magee was issued the afternoons first yellow card, but the Kilkeel defence were slowly but surely extinguishing the new flame displayed by the Monaghan forward line.
As Fergal Doyle, Eamon McConville and Gerard McCartan, began to initiate Kilkeel attacks, it was obvious that St. Louis would soon be back on the scoreboard. Again James Colgan and Joseph Ireland grabbed control of the mid-field area, quality ball soon flowed into Peter Fitzpatrick. The threat posed by the St. Louis forward was surely discussed at half-time in the Monaghan dressing room, and he was soon robustly challenged, resulting in a yellow card for Monaghan full-back Neil MacRory. Full forward Ritchie Annett routinely slotted over the free to give the Mourne school the lead that they would not relinquish.
St. Louis dominance was becoming apparent in most areas of the field, from Rory McManus picking up loose ball around the middle to the excellent covering of David Morgan in the full back line. Although Martin Clarke missed a long range effort he more than made up for it quickly after. He made a probing run down the left flank and as two Monaghan defenders closed in he rifled the ball into the Monaghan goal to lift the spirits of the Mourne contingent. The quality of the goal deserved to be seen again and the BBC duly obliged by showing in slow motion later that afternoon on their ‘Final Score’ programme. The BBC also showed another fantastic St. Louis score as Clarke’s An Riocht clubmate, hit an enormous point from the best part of fifty yards.
There was really no way back for the Monaghan school, although Nicky Treanor and Paul Whelan tried their hearts out. To ensure the victory the dominating presence of Joseph Ireland took over. With James Colgan providing extra cover at the rear, Ireland took the game to the Monaghan men once more. After watching one effort go wide, he realigned his shooting foot to blast over a point to put some distance between St. Louis and their opponents. He also put James Cunningham through, to find Cunningham blocked down, before adding another point himself. St. Macartans reacted with a point from the impressive Nicky Treanor, his sixth point of the afternoon. He is certainly a player worth watching, but in fairness to Eamon McConville , the Rostrevor and Down minor star had kept the Monaghan star forward down to just two points from play. St. Macartans did cause a few more worries in the the Kilkeel defence with Kilkeel keeper Colm Curran fisting clear a dangerous Monaghan shot and a goalmouth scramble which saw corner-forward, Christopher Morgan clear the ball of his own goal line.

A last Monaghan point from Paddy Lonergan, was quickly cancelled out by a fine point from Ritchie Annett to seal a six point victory for the Down school. The long whistle from Derry referee Aidan McGlynn signalled euphoric scenes among the Mourne fans, reminiscent of the wonderful scenes last May in Navan, when they clinched their All-Ireland. This victory, provides St. Louis with another step into the unknown, as they now prepare for a semi-final meeting with St. Patrick’s Grammar School, Armagh on Saturday week at a venue to be decided. Cathal Murray was not allowing himself or the players to get too carried away with this result, “There’s a lot more football to be played, but we’re playing at a new level of competition and very happy to be there. Every game is another stepping stone, and a learning curve for our players. We are delighted to be still in contention in this our first ever venture into McRory Cup football”.

This victory now leaves St. Louis carrying the hopes of Down Colleges at senior level this year, as the Abbey, St. Colman’s and St. Patrick’s Downpatrick have all been knocked out in recent games. However, in order to see Down footballers take the field at Casement Park on St. Patrick’s Day, St. Louis have a lot more work to get through in preparation for the challenge of the Millenuium McRory Cup champions from Armagh.

St. Louis Grammar School;
Colm Curran (Bryansford), David Morgan (Bryansford), Luke Howard (Bryansford), Hugh Magee (Longstone), Fergal Doyle (An Riocht) 0-1, Eamon McConville (Rostrevor), Gerard McCartan (Rostrevor), Joseph Ireland (Bryansford) 0-2, James Colgan (An Riocht) Captain, James Cunningham (An Riocht), Martin Clarke (An Riocht) 1-2, Peter Fitzpatrick (Ballymartin) 1-1, Christopher Morgan (Attical) 0-1
Ritchie Annett (An Riocht) 0-2, Rory McManus (Ballymartin).
Subs; Kevin Quinn (Attical) for McManus, Mark Rafferty (Bryansford), Patrck Smyth (Longstone), Paul Curran (Bryansford), Paul Sherry (An Riocht), Luke Byrne (Bryansford), John Fitzpatrick (Ballymartin) and Andrew Sloan (Attical).
Luke Toner (Castlewellan) and Kevin Keenan (An Riocht) both injured.

St. Macartans College;
Gerard Gilsenan, Conn O’Hanlon, Neil McRory, Dairmuid McCague, Darach Mooney, Mark McCaffery, Niall McCooey, Neil McAdam, Stephen Driver, Paul Whelan, Nicky Treanor 0-6, Darren Hughes, Paraic Atkinson, Shane Smith 0-2, Paddy Lonergan 0-1.
Subs; Damien Murray, Conor Galligan, Ciaran McKenna, Damien Connolly, James Turley, Dean Fanning, Shane Brady, Niall Coyle, Emmett Caulfield, Ronan McNally, Paul McPhilips, Niall McMeel, Colin Donnelly, Darren Malloy, Mark McDevitt