Planting the seed of Gaelic games is crucial for the future in Belfast and attempts to grow the interest in football are bearing fruit with Stranmillis PS set to compete for silverware on Friday in just the first year of fielding a team.

It's Raffo Cup finals day at Rossa Park and the South Belfast school with take on St Oliver Plunkett PS in the B final - a measure of how they have come in such a short space of time.

Clubs rely on youth coming through the ranks to bolster their squads with the overall aim to develop senior players and it's in the primary schools where the first seeds are planted.

Therefore, developing the feeder schools is vital, and St Brigid's GAC continue to identify new pathways as Joe McCarney, a senior footballer in the club who also acts as a Participation Officer, saw an opportunity to initially introduce Gaelic football and, having discovered the talent, a team at Stranmillis was born.

McCarney's old primary school is St Bride's, which already has an established Gaelic football programme with many youngsters involved in clubs, but Stranmillis was a little different as its student body comes from a vast number of different backgrounds.

"Stranmillis falls within the St Brigid's catchment area and they would be the second feeder school into the club, so we went in there and started Gaelic football from scratch," he explained.

"I went to St Bride's (PS), which is massive, but we always knew there were some kids there (Stranmillis) who played for St Brigid's.

"Parents in the Stranmillis PTA (Parents Teachers Association) asked the club to get involved, so I began it as a bit of craic after school for the boys and the majority who came were with clubs already: two from Bredagh, 11 from St Brigid's and a few rugby lads who decided they would give it a go.

"I work with St Bride's too, so we organised a few friendlies between the schools and discovered there is serious talent in Stranmillis, so we decided to put our name in the hat."

Initially, an offer was made for Stranmillis to enter the Raffo Cup competitions in the D grade, but the coach quickly realised there was scope to aim higher.

Although the A competition was beyond them, going into the B grade proved an astute move, as although as a school they were newcomers, the majority of the players had a background in the game from playing up to U12 for their clubs.

Throughout the competition, Stranmillis impressed in the group stages before coming through a good test against St Kevin's in the semi-final.

Now, they have a final to look forward to on Friday when they take on St Oliver Plunkett PS as a prelude to the A final between St Bride's and St Anne's.

In fact, St Bride's have three teams involved in Friday's finals day, with the girls involved in their B final and a boys' development team at that grade, translating into upwards of 60 youngsters involved with St Brigid's GAC taking part.

Next year, McCarney hopes to have a girls' team up and running. An initial training session earlier this week drew some interest, which will likely grow as more catch the football bug and seeing their classmates playing in a big final this week will only serve to add to that interest.

"It would be great to have lots of the kids there to see their school in a final, as, regardless of the outcome, it's a day out and helps promote the game," McCarney added.

"For the younger pupils, they might not be from a GAA background but can see that it's fun to play and want to have a go themselves, so building that is what I want to do.

"Some people think Antrim is on the down slope in terms of numbers, but it's clear there is plenty of interest and potential there to develop.

"The school (Stranmillis) has been so open and accommodating to the introduction of Gaelic football and we hope to build upon that."