MacRory Cup exit helped push St Patrick's to Mageean Cup glory

St Patrick's Maghera captain Rian Collins felt that raising the Danske Bank Mageean Cup above his head on Wednesday evening was the lift everyone needed after the school’s exit from the MacRory Cup on Sunday evening in Celtic Park.

Collins was one of eight Maghera dual players who played in that MacRory Cup quarter-final defeat to Abbey CBS Newry. Niall McNicholl, Pádraig and Seán O’Kane, Darragh O’Neill, Dáithí McCloskey and Odhrán Doherty all started in Celtic Park with Finn Cartin coming off the bench late in the game.

“Sunday hurt,” said Collins after raising the Mageean Cup in the Dub. “It could have been very easy to be coming into the final with the heads down, feeling sorry for ourselves. It was a three-day turnaround and that doesn’t give you long to process losing a MacRory quarter-final.

“There was a bit of extra motivation I suppose as well. Once we got focussed on Monday evening, we wanted to push on. We didn’t want to be left feeling sorry for ourselves again. It’s not a nice feeling.”

There were questions raised before the game about the amount of hurling the team had done since beating St Killian’s Garron Tower in the semi-final all of eight weeks ago.

“We did a fair bit of hurling. I think both management teams handled the situation very well. It’s never easy managing the dual thing. We do our fitness work together, the Mageean and MacRory panels; there’s a big overlap of players.

“We kept ticking over with the hurling for there was a fair bit of football to play. As well as the training sessions, you get a bit of hurling in at home.”

Collins was joined on the team by younger brother Donnacha in goals. Rian made a bit of history by following in the footsteps of his father Michael as a winning Mageean captain. In the 73 years of the Mageean Cup the only other father-son pairing to lift the trophy as captain is Brian and Matthew Donnelly.

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“Yeah, that’s nice for the family and for my father as well. Growing up, we were always aware of his achievements. He won two Mageean titles, the second as captain. Maybe Donnacha can go on and equal that.”

The winning captain with his scoring contribution of 1-8 edged the race for the James O’Kane Player of the Match award. O’Kane, who had managed the school to five Mageean titles, died after a short illness in 2013.

His two sons Pádraig and Sean, both MacRory and Hogan medallists last season, featured prominently on Wednesday evening with Seán very much in the running to collect the O’Kane trophy that was presented by his mother Lorraine.

“It’s a fantastic night for the family,” said Seán. “We have watched the Mageean final every year to see who gets the trophy. It’s always emotional for us as a family. Mum was very emotional tonight making the presentation.

“But I am sure she is very proud that Pádraig and I were playing tonight. She always tells us how much he put into preparing teams and how much the Mageean Cup meant to him.

“He took Maghera to the All-Ireland title in 2006 and that was the first time in over 30 years that any Mageean team had gone on to win the All-Ireland.

“St Killians (2024) and Ballycastle last year both went on to win All-Irelands and I know we too will want to push on from tonight.”