Ulster Schools’ MacLarnon Cup Final
Rathmore v St Jospeh’s, Donaghmore (The Dub, Friday, 7.30pm)
 
A FIRST MacLarnon Cup success is on offer for Rathmore at The Dub on Friday night as the Belfast school takes on St Joseph’s, Donaghmore.

One must go all the way back to 2007 when the school last reached the final but were undone by a Michael Murphy-inspired St Eunan’s College, Letterkenny.

The South Belfast Grammar dropped down in grades since, but there has been an upswing in trajectory in recent years that has coincided with the arrival of former Antrim joint-manager Gearóid Adams as head of PE as the school began to turn things around on the field and that has culminated to this year’s run to the final.

So far, they have negotiated the group stage containing St Louis’, Ballymena; St Patrick’s, Downpatrick and Loreto, Milford before edging local rivals Aquinas in the last eight.

A rematch with Loreto would follow in the semi-final and Rathmore produced a fantastic display to claim a 1-10 to 0-8 win to book their place in Friday’s decider.

Michael Morgan grabbed the all-important goal, with county minor Rory McErlean chipping in with four points, Fintann O’Boyle with a brace plus Garrett Cowan and Cormac Blaney with one apiece.

Yet, defensively they were sound with another pair of Antrim minors from 2022, Thomas Lloyd and Conor Logue, excelling at half-back and they will hope to continue that momentum into Friday’s final.

“People have asked whether we have more experience, but when I came into Rathmore five years ago, we were playing C football - Markey Cup,” said Adams, head coach of the team.

“This group at Upper Sixth we have now only started playing MacLarnon two years ago. It’s been a big pus for them to play in the MacLarnon as it’s such a good competition and to get to a final is massive.

“Donaghmore has five or six county players from the (Tyrone) minor team last year and they coasted through their group.

“They beat St Mary’s (CBGS) in the quarter-final and St Louis in the semis - two Antrim teams - so they are a good team and we know we are going to be up against it.”

Those Red Hand minor stars include Noah Grimes and Ronan Molloy who contributed 1-8 of their team’s semi-final tally of 1-12 in their win over St Louis’ with Grimes finding the net, while they have fellow Tyrone teammates from 2022 for company in Joey Clarke, Ben Hughes, Conor O’Neill and Leo Hughes.

The strength of Tyrone schools’ football can be measured by not just Donaghmore’s presence in the MacLarnon final, but by the MacRory final being an all-Red Hand affair between Omagh CBS and Holy Trinity, Cookstown.

It is no coincidence that the strength of football in the O’Neill County is backed by the performance of their schools as young players are accustomed to top-level competition from an early age.

While some young Antrim footballers get a taste of this environment when representing schools from outside the county, those in Belfast have not had the same experience and perhaps that has been a factor in not only Antrim county teams failing to match up to their Ulster rivals, but city clubs falling behind those from the South West.

It would be a massive shot in the arm for football in the city should Rathmore get over the line on Friday and play up at MacRory level to raise the standards and with a good spread of clubs represented on the team including St Brigid’s, Glenavy, Bredagh, Sarsfield’s, Davitt’s, O’Donnell’s and Lámh Dhearg, there is more of a South Antrim than merely South Belfast interest.

“(Our Lady and St Patrick’s College) Knock were in a MacLarnon final a couple of years ago, but unfortunately Covid came (the game was never played so the title was shared) and St Mary’s always seem to be there or thereabouts as there is plenty of talented footballers up there,” Adams noted.

“Obviously, you want to be playing MacRory and I have asked this question for years. You are probably not that far away, but the jump from MacLarnon to MacRory is big. You really need to win MacLarnon and then have a good set of kids coming after to do that.

“I was up in St Louis’ for eight or nine years and we got beat in four McLarnon semis in-a-row.

“It’s a very hard competition to get to the final of and the teams we played in those years like Holy Trinity (Cookstown) are now up in MacRory and thriving.”

An Ulster schools’ final is always a special occasion and it is anticipated a huge crowd will descend on the QUB Arena on Friday evening.

That can bring its own pressures, but can also provide an invaluable experience for the players who will look to graduate into the senior ranks for club and county over the next number of years.

Keeping the excitement under wraps this week will have been a task for all at Rathmore, but they have the experience of playing in last month’s Casement Cup hurling final at Corrigan Park which drew a massive crowd.

It didn’t go their way on that occasion with St Mary’s, Magherafelt claiming the silverware, but the hope is that they can get over the line on this occasion and bring a first major title back to the school.

“There’s a nice atmosphere about the school and the boys have done well to get there,” said Adams.

“We played the Casement Cup final against Magherafelt and there were about 1000 people there at Corrigan.

“There will be similar numbers or maybe even more at The Dub on Friday, which is good for the boys because they get the experience of playing in front of a bigger crowd.

“It’s great for our kids to be in a MacLarnon and there will be a great atmosphere at The Dub. Hopefully, this can whet the appetite and we can get a lot of these boys pushing through the ranks.

“Win, lose or draw, there are enough good players to be playing county football over the next number of years.”