WEST Belfast Grammar school St Mary's have welcomed a quartet of the Tipperary All-Ireland winning squad to their lecture hall as part of their Gaelic Games and education campaign.
Last month the Glen Road school welcomed former Kilkenny All-Star and eight time All-Ireland winner Richie Power to their campus for a meet and great along with a question and answer session.
As a continuation of that, last week saw All-Ireland champions Tipperary come to Belfast, where they paid a visit to a number of schools in the West of the city, culminating with a brilliant Q&A session at St Mary's.
Tipperary manager, Liam Cahill, answered some important questions from St Mary's students
In attendance were manager Liam Cahill, Tipperary keeper Rhys Shelly, All-Star forward Willie Connors, and last season's GAA Young Player of the Year Darragh McCarthy.
Ahead of their arrival, the Andersonstown News spoke with St Mary's principal Brendan McComb.
"It's been a fantastic opportunity for us to welcome some of the guests that we have in recent weeks, we have had some truly special visits with Richie (Power) a few weeks back and now today the All-Ireland champions."
Darragh McCarthy's attendance was one that the St Mary's principal saw as an opportunity for younger students to look at as inspirational after the forward came out on top after a tough debut campaign in senior hurling.
"One thing we really believe in here at St Mary's is giving young people second chances when they make mistakes," he said.
"Darragh is the essence of that, obviously getting sent off twice in his debut campaign but coming back and winning the All-Ireland and performing the way he did is tremendous. He can be a role model for all young men involved in Gaelic Games. Everyone makes mistakes, they set you up to go and correct that and become a success, that is something we are massively promoting within the school."
The St Mary's principal said the school encourage students to pick-up extra curricular activities, whether it be sport or not.
"It keeps momentum going for us. We want our school involved in sports from a health and lifestyle perspective, but also sport is a great chance for character building, we are massive in St Mary's on extra curricular activities.
"At St Mary's we offer a plethora of after-schools programmes and it does not just have to be sport, we have the debating club, chess clubs to public speaking and science clubs.
"We find when the students apply themselves to extra curricular activities it makes them better students. I have to show my appreciation to the parents who are very active in supporting their children in their desire to push for that within the school, make them feel comfortable in uncomfortable situations."
The West Belfast grammar school have been trailblazers this past year, having won an Aisling Award for their commitment to sport after becoming the first school to appoint a full-time Games Development Coordinator.
"In GAA terms we are trailblazers, and it would be fantastic if Antrim schools can follow. We want as many Belfast schools to follow that path and make a dent in Ulster Colleges (GAA) and that is something we hope we can inspire. But internally we provide as many opportunities to get the best out of these boys in the school, it's something we really push to achieve.
Liam Cathail posed with some young hurlers from St Mary's CBGS
"Seamus McKenna was appointed as Games Development Coordinator which was a huge part of the reason we recently we won an Aisling Award. We are the first school to have a full-time coordinator for Gaelic Games and it is something we are proud to have.
"It enriches our senior lads and gets them out to become role models with younger people. We have had them across the city in primary schools encouraging young children to participate in Irish sports. This is only the start. I want (St Mary's) to become the GAA centre of Excellence of Belfast and these illustrious visitors are all a part of that being a success," added Brendan.
The St Mary's principal also reflected on how successful the school has been at producing high-level GAA athletes, referencing the St John's Championship winning side which had 14 past pupils in their ranks.
"That St John's team which won the Antrim Championship, it had 14 St 'Maryians' on the panel. As a school we have more representations than any in the county. We have staff in Conor Johnston who competes at that level, one of the things he does every day is over the split lunch he encourages as many boys as possible to use the hurling wall, and promote the game."
Tipperary star and GAA Young Hurler of the Year Darragh McCarthy took time out to tell the Andersonstown News why he feels that Antrim are not too far away, and believes that the right blend of youth and experience can point Davy Fitzgerald's side on the right path.
"Any standard of inter-county hurling is a great standard and really competitive," he said. "I'm not an expert but do not let anyone tell you what you can and can't do."
He added: "Last year was my first year in the senior panel, but before that at Under 20's and Minor I was never even playing, so it's about how you come back from those downfalls and you have to get angry and thick about it and push yourself to get up the ranks in hurling. If you believe in yourself you can go out and prove everyone wrong.
"Liam (Cahill) was great at mixing us up, lads my age and lads older in training. You need to mix the youth with the experienced and cute heads. The young blood are always raring to go and try and learn of these older guys who have been there, so yeah that would be one thing I'd say, trust the younger guys if they are good enough."
The St Mary's principal spoke of the pride he takes in seeing young students with a hurl in hand as they enter the school grounds every morning.
"It's a privilege to see boys walking up the lane with a hurl in hand in our uniform, it's part of our identity, it's part of who we are," he added. "We want to create a student athlete, but lads have to be performing academically, we are so apparent on that if you want to have the opportunity to represent your school or your county the classroom is what always comes first."
