St Patrick's College Maghera set their sights on All-Ireland glory

St Patrick’s College, Maghera, have their sights firmly set on glory when they take on Tralee CBS, The Green, in the Masita Paddy Buggy Cup All-Ireland B Final this weekend.

The Derry school secured a dramatic one-point victory over Coláiste Abhann Rí Callan of Kilkenny in last weekend’s semi-final in Longford to set up a final showdown with the Munster champions.

A 2-14 to 0-19 win over the Callan school afforded the Mageean Cup champions safe passage into the final, where they now stand just sixty minutes away from All-Ireland glory.

It appeared as if Callan had snatched victory right at the end when deep into stoppage time Alfie Lynch tapped the sliotar into the St Pats' net, only for the referee to rule the effort out for a square-ball infringement, confirming St Pat's place in the All-Ireland final.

Maghera have lifted the Paddy Buggy Cup on three previous occasions, most recently in 2011 after a 0-14 to 0-11 victory over St Raphael’s of Galway. Victory over Tralee would see them claim a fourth All-Ireland title and join Cross and Passion College at the top of the competition’s roll of honour.

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Earlier this year, the Derry school secured their fifteenth Mageean Cup title, overcoming reigning Ulster and All-Ireland B champions Cross and Passion College, Ballycastle. Maghera defeated the North Antrim school 4-12 to 1-13 in the decider, claiming their first Ulster crown in eight years, having last won the competition in 2018.

They will now aim to follow in the footsteps of last year’s champions to become the third successive Ulster school to claim the title, after Cross and Passion and St Killian’s College, Garron Tower, ending a ten-year wait for the Paddy Buggy Cup when they brought the trophy north the previous year. St Pats defeated both schools en route to their Mageean Cup glory.

Standing in their way is the formidable challenge of Tralee CBS, who are chasing a historic double. Their footballers are already preparing for a Hogan Cup decider on St Patrick’s Day against Coláiste Mhuire of Mullingar. The Kerry school were demoted to the Munster B competition following a restructuring of the prestigious Harty Cup, Munster’s famed under-19 schools’ hurling tournament.

Twelve months ago, it was St Patrick’s who were preparing for a Hogan Cup final, with the Derry school defeating St Colman’s, Claremorris, 2-8 to 0-4 to secure their sixth All-Ireland title.

Several members of the victorious Mageean Cup side were also part of the MacRory Cup squad that exited at the quarter-final stage earlier this season, losing out to eventual champions Abbey CBS of Newry.

Tralee CBS arrive in the final with an impressive run of results behind them. Last weekend they defeated Portumna Community School of Galway 1-19 to 0-20 in the semi-final in Tulla, with Jody Canning, nephew of Galway legend Joe, among their key scoring threats.

Prior to that came a Munster final demolition of Cork’s Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh on a scoreline of 3-21 to 0-17, before easing past Scoil Mhuire agus Íde of Limerick, last year’s All-Ireland C champions, by 2-19 to 0-16.

Eoghan Costelloe, Stephen Shanahan and dual star Eoin Flaherty will pose a constant threat in attack, with the trio combining for 0-13 against Portumna. Meanwhile, the towering Matthew O’Sullivan at centre-back will be one for Paul Boyle’s men to keep a close eye on, possessing both a superb strike and an excellent eye for long-range scores.

Tralee will also have dual stars Mikey Corridon and Ryan and Cillian Hurley available following their Hogan Cup showdown four days earlier.

For St Patrick’s College, much will depend on the influence of Sean and Padraig O’Kane, alongside captain and rising Lavey star Rian Collins. Padraig O’Kane and Collins were part of Derry’s All-Ireland minor triumph over Armagh two years ago, and the pair accounted for 2-6 of Maghera’s tally against Callan. PJ Glover and Sean O’Kane will be key attacking threats after contributing 0-2 apiece in the semi-final victory.

The Paddy Buggy Cup final is scheduled for a 1:30pm throw-in on Saturday, March 21 in Kinnegad GAA, County Westmeath.