St. Columb's College heading to School's World Cup in Barcelona!

‘St. Columb’s College as world champions – it has a nice ring to it.’

So said Ryan Horner at yesterday’s announcement that St. Columb’s have become the first school in the country to be invited to compete in the prestigious Schools’ World Cup, which will be held in Barcelona in October.

Yesterday, famous alumni returned to the school to celebrate the historic achievement of three Northern Ireland Cups in a row, with Derry City’s Michael Duffy, Ben Doherty and Callum Doherty in attendance, alongside Fleetwood’s Jack Doherty, HW Welders Liam Mullan, Glenavon’s Jack Malone, Coleraine’s Aidan Tejada and Moyola’s Niall Fielding. It is the first time in the competitions’ 40-year history that any team has managed three successive titles.

“The players in St. Columb’s never let you down,” Mr. Horner explained. “It’s quite ironic because the current Year 10s, when they were in first year and the current Year 9s, when they were in first year, they actually won both their finals with the last kick of the game.  This year’s final was a derby against Lisneal, and we won 3-0, but it wasn’t a 3-0 game. It was actually a very tight final, and we got a penalty when we were 1-0 up, and that probably changed the game. When Lisneal pushed to get back into the game, I suppose we caught them on the counter-attack a wee bit, so I felt a wee bit sorry for Lisneal in terms of the 3-0 scoreline. It was a very solid performance, even though I don’t think we played particularly well, but in the final it’s all about getting over the line, and the boys did well to do that.”

The magnitude of the achievement is not lost on anyone at the school, with some very famous names and teams completing in the Northern Ireland Cup over the years.

“It’s the first time in the history of the tournament that any team has won it three years in a row,” Mr. Horner continued. “The tournament has been running since 1984, and that was actually our 40th Northern Ireland Cup, not including Year 8 of course, but right up to U18. Our first captain was actually Paul Curran, a great Derry City captain, and his son Ryan came through the school as well, and Ryan actually captained the team to Northern Ireland Cup success as well so we’ve had massive success since the competition started in 1984.”

Invitation

Ryan admits he was shocked to receive the invitation to come to Barcelona in October, but knew immediately that the team were ready for the next challenge.

“When we got this invitation, my first emotion as one of shock,” he acknowledged. “But it was very humbling and when you think about it, we probably do deserve it. We’ve been Five Nations twice in the last 10 years, we’ve been to the Euros in 2014 where we went to the semi-final and lost to the eventual champions Turkey, but we have never been invited to the world stage, so we are going to Barcelona in October where we will play in the Schools’ World Cup.

“For the boys, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and it will be a great life experience for them. Also, if we can go and compete. When I think of the World Cup, the first team I think of is Brazil, then Spain, and for our boys to have a chance of competing against teams from Brazil, Spain or wherever, it’s going to be absolutely amazing.”

As well as the excitement of an international tournament is the natural competitive mindset which has taken St. Columb’s College to this level.

“The current first years have never lost a game, so it would be strange for them to lose,” Mr. Horner explained. “When we go out there, we are obviously going out for the experience, but we’re also going to compete. The boys will give their best and I expect them to do well.”

St. Columb’s are grateful to O’Neill’s for their sponsorship ahead pf the forthcoming trip, but they are also hoping to attract other sponsors for what will be a financially-demanding trip for everyone.

“It’s obviously going to cost a lot of money, and we’re very lucky that we we’ve announced our sponsorship today with O’Neill’s,” Mr. Horner said. “They are going to sponsor our kit with a very, very generous sponsorship, but at the end of the day, a lot of these guys come from low-income families and we want to reduce costs for them as best we can, so if anyone is willing to sponsor then we would be very, very happy to accept any and all donations in terms of the trip.”

“Four staff members will be going away and it will be during term time during October, which is a very busy time of year for the school, and we’re very aware of budget cuts and lack of teacher cover, so the fact that the principal of the school has supported us, I want to go on record thanking Mrs. Caroline McLaughlin for fully endorsing this as well.”