A sun-drenched Corrigan Park on the Whiterock road in Belfast was the setting for a magnificent team display from St. Paul’s High School Bessbrook as they combined a ferocious intensity in their work rate with a high level of skill to beat a very good Pius X Magherafelt team in the under 15 ½ final.
From the outset of the competition the St. Paul’s boys signaled their intent having had a tough route to the final beating St. Joseph’s Donaghmore (after a replay) before overcoming Our Lady and St. Patrick’s College Knock in the quarter final and old rivals from the Vocational Schools era St. Ciaran’s Ballygawley in the semi-final in Granemore.
There were many excellent individual performances on the day but the tackling, teamwork, support play and score taking was as good as many of the dozens of parents, local club representatives and supporters had witnessed in a team from the Camlough Road in quite a while.
With players from 8 local clubs the team was captained by Whitecross lad Adam Reavey who led by example in an industrious and almost faultless personal performance.
The defence was well marshalled by Tom Beattie in goals and his accurate kickouts were often the starting point for many flowing moves. Full backs Gavin O Rourke, Conor Donne and Oisin Bennett were in no mood for surrendering easy possession and stuck resolutely to their task.
Half backs Oisin Cunningham, Donal Coffey and Adam Reavey worked tirelessly in defence and provided a good supply of well-placed passes to their forward line and provided additional support when needed.
The midfield of David Crilly and Eoin Kane complimented each other perfectly with Crilly’s covering role for the defence producing the opportunity for his midfield partner from St. Patrick’s Carrickcruppen to dominate many passages of play and finish with a personal tally of 1-11 by the end of the game.
The forward line as a unit’s movement and willingness to help each other create opportunities for the team rather than the individual was simply excellent. Led by Fergal Boylan from Killeavey, who helped himself to 3 goals, the half forward line worked tirelessly and Shane Mc Parland and Tiernan Brown were superb in their ability to win the ball and provide quality deliveries to their inside forward line.
The vision, honesty and ability of the full forward line of Cian Rigley, Conor Loye and Shea Loughran provided a wonderful outlet for their teammates further down the field and always looked dangerous in possession helping themselves to scores along the way.
As is now so important in the modern game the substitute introduced in the second half added to the total performance on display in the home of “The Johnnies” on the Whiterock road. Eoghan Mc Keever, Shane Mc Cabe, Fionn O Tuthail, Oisin Mc Coy and Daithi O Callaghan.
These players had been pushed hard in many in-house games by the remainder of the panel who all played an important role even though they weren’t used on the day of the final.
3 certainly was the magic number in Corrigan on the 29th as St. Paul’s claimed their third Danske Bank Ulster Schools Treanor as not only did Fergal Boylan help himself to 3 goals but team mentors Mr. Shannon and Mr J Rafferty became the most successful coaching partnership in St. Paul’s Ulster Schools senior football adding the Treanor Cup to the Herald Cup and Mc Cormack Cup titles they have already accrued with previous teams.
Watch the Treanor Cup Final in full:
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