St Paul’s Year 10 Hurling team has claimed the school’s first-ever Ulster Colleges School title by winning the Danske Bank Bro Mallon Cup in a very competitive final against St Columba’s College, Stranorlar.

The team made their way through to the final of the competition following very strong performances in the qualifying rounds versus Castleblaney College, St Macartan’s College, Monaghan, and St Aidan’s College, Cootehill, and followed that with another strong victory in the semi-final against Coláiste Leitir Ceanainn.

The final saw St Paul’s pitted against Donegal school St Columba’s College, Stranorlar, and the game was played in the Centre of Excellence in Garvaghy, County Tyrone.

St Paul’s set the tempo from the beginning of the game with their slick stick work and handling matched by their sharp pace in attack. Some early match nerves in front of the posts curtailed a purple patch, but it was Hayden O’Callaghan who led scoring proceedings for St Paul’s with a finely struck free against the breeze from 55 metres. This settled the team, and they went on to hit further points from play from Jack Cunningham, Oisín O’Hagan, and once again from Hayden O’Callaghan. Stranorlar were proving to be a combative opposition, and with a breeze at their back, they used a long ball option into the full forward line. Luckily for the St Paul’s boys, they had Filip Posmyk, who had only recently returned from injury, and he exerted his influence on the game as he and goalkeeper Ronan Carr marshalled the full back area during this spell.

Aided by Thomas Murphy and Dillon Drislane in the corner back positions, they kept the Stranolar team under immense pressure and turned possession over repeatedly. Wing half backs Shay Rafferty and Cormac Fearon were fierce in the ruck ball, and this line was spearheaded by Cian Kelly, who led the way in finding some excellent pinpoint passes to set wing forwards Tiernan Shannon and Kalein Mc Quade on their way. The pressure on Stranorlar was mounting as the full forward line of Eoin Bradley, John Mc Glade, and Oisin Malone were beginning to link up, and with two shots whizzing just past the goal, it really was only a matter of time before John Mc Glade rattled the back of the Stranorlar net in the 25th minute to help leave St Paul’s going into the half time break with a 1:6 to 0:3 lead.

If the second half was to be all about St Paul’s, the Stranorlar boys certainly didn’t read the script and they upped their game to match the occasion. Running in waves at the St Paul’s defence and aiming direct ball towards their full-forward line, they put St Paul’s on the backfoot. In what is a clear indication of the development of this group of hurlers, the St Paul’s team never panicked and instead did what was necessary to steady things. The teams then traded points with Oisin O’Hagan and Jack Cunningham doing the scoring for St Paul’s while O’Callaghan found himself being very well marked by the Donegal centre-back. Stranorlar found themselves receiving a number of frees which they slotted over. As the game moved towards the final minutes, the referee awarded a penalty to Stranorlar which they fired over the bar and while it looked like a grandstand finish may be in the reckoning, it was the St Paul’s boys who turned the heat up on things in the closing minutes with joint captain Hayden O’Callaghan losing his shackles and taking three fantastic scores followed by one from his co-captain Jack Cunningham from 50 yards to finish the match and claim victory on a scoreline of 1:14 to 1:7

Congratulations to the St Paul’s victorious team and their coach and mentor, Mr Fiachra Bradley, on this historic win.