Ulster Colleges

[snoopdog]

What has changed is that in the last number of years incoming principal Oliver Mooney (Cullaville) put sport and football in particular at the level of focus that it should be for a school of that size and demographic.

Inexplicably, until recent developments with staff and coaching priorities football was largely ignored. You can imagine the sort of playing resources that would always have been available to a school which the overwhelming majority of males in s armagh would have attended. That the only school teams taken semi seriously for decades were soccer teams was such a waste. There is an extensive list of future armagh greats who went thru st pauls but many woukdnt even have seen a GAA jersey in their time.

Now they have started to harness that talent they will have the same potential as a school like maghera on an ongoing basis.

Traditionally any decent s armagh footballer who could get in would have travelled to colmans or abbey but if st pauls are starting to be seen on a footballing par with those schools that may begin to change

I would assume the 11 plus or whatever replaces it would be the reason why pupils go to one rather than the other. St Pauls isnt a grammer unlike St Colmans and the Abbey. I doubt parents would send their child to  st Pauls over the other 2 for footballing reasons if they get the 11 plus. After all st colmans are by far the most successfuly college in footballing terms in Ulster.

[Bearly on loose]

I would assume the 11 plus or whatever replaces it would be the reason why pupils go to one rather than the other. St Pauls isnt a grammer unlike St Colmans and the Abbey. I doubt parents would send their child to  st Pauls over the other 2 for footballing reasons if they get the 11 plus. After all st colmans are by far the most successfuly college in footballing terms in Ulster.


If not the most successful at teaching their pupils spelling and grammar it seems!! 

[yellowcard]

Was very impressed with St Pauls last night, they have been the most impressive team all season and show no signs of letting up. The only game they have even looked like losing all season was the McCormack cup final to Maghera which they won with a last minute goal. If they play St Colmans in the final they will have no fear of them after comprehensively beating them in the group stages. Individually I also believe they have superior players to St Colmans. Maghera could well be the only stumbling block. I believe that Maghera are the team they fear most and they were arguably the better team in the McCormack final even though they lost.

Should the final be against St Colmans then surely Newry would be the venue since the 2 schools are about a mile apart and I would see no point in taking them to Armagh.

I think St Pauls will be playing McRory football a lot longer than Kilkeel, they may even surpass St Colmans and Abbey long term. They have the catchment area of about half of South Armagh and I'd say any budding footballers from the region that may have previously went to the Abbey or St Colmans may well consider St Pauls since they have put a huge focus on gaelic football in the last few years. That said, this is a group of very good footballers and they will not be as strong every year. Rafferty has them playing fairly defensive football and they are very hard to break down but they do break out at speed with a lot of runners from midfield as well. 

[DuffleKing]

What has changed is that in the last number of years incoming principal Oliver Mooney (Cullaville) put sport and football in particular at the level of focus that it should be for a school of that size and demographic.

Inexplicably, until recent developments with staff and coaching priorities football was largely ignored. You can imagine the sort of playing resources that would always have been available to a school which the overwhelming majority of males in s armagh would have attended. That the only school teams taken semi seriously for decades were soccer teams was such a waste. There is an extensive list of future armagh greats who went thru st pauls but many woukdnt even have seen a GAA jersey in their time.

Now they have started to harness that talent they will have the same potential as a school like maghera on an ongoing basis.

Traditionally any decent s armagh footballer who could get in would have travelled to colmans or abbey but if st pauls are starting to be seen on a footballing par with those schools that may begin to change

I would assume the 11 plus or whatever replaces it would be the reason why pupils go to one rather than the other. St Pauls isnt a grammer unlike St Colmans and the Abbey. I doubt parents would send their child to  st Pauls over the other 2 for footballing reasons if they get the 11 plus. After all st colmans are by far the most successfuly college in footballing terms in Ulster.

You don't really get the football dynamic in s armagh if you believe that because many post primary school decisions are more than a little coloured by the perceived football development capacity of the school. It is not very difficult to get into St Colman's academically.

[snoopdog]

What has changed is that in the last number of years incoming principal Oliver Mooney (Cullaville) put sport and football in particular at the level of focus that it should be for a school of that size and demographic.

Inexplicably, until recent developments with staff and coaching priorities football was largely ignored. You can imagine the sort of playing resources that would always have been available to a school which the overwhelming majority of males in s armagh would have attended. That the only school teams taken semi seriously for decades were soccer teams was such a waste. There is an extensive list of future armagh greats who went thru st pauls but many woukdnt even have seen a GAA jersey in their time.

Now they have started to harness that talent they will have the same potential as a school like maghera on an ongoing basis.

Traditionally any decent s armagh footballer who could get in would have travelled to colmans or abbey but if st pauls are starting to be seen on a footballing par with those schools that may begin to change

I would assume the 11 plus or whatever replaces it would be the reason why pupils go to one rather than the other. St Pauls isnt a grammer unlike St Colmans and the Abbey. I doubt parents would send their child to  st Pauls over the other 2 for footballing reasons if they get the 11 plus. After all st colmans are by far the most successfuly college in footballing terms in Ulster.

You don't really get the football dynamic in s armagh if you believe that because many post primary school decisions are more than a little coloured by the perceived football development capacity of the school. It is not very difficult to get into St Colman's academically.

Your right its not if you get your 11 plus or whatever the equivalent is now, and a lot of kids fail this who would be more than capable for any grammer school.
I think parents would make the academic decision for their kids if it would be better for them academically to go to the Abbey or St Colmans.  you would have to seriously question a parent who would put an amateur sport ahead of their childs future.  Crossmaglen as we all know is a great Gaelic football area how do St Josephs Crossmaglen get on at the level they partake in??

[ranch]

What has changed is that in the last number of years incoming principal Oliver Mooney (Cullaville) put sport and football in particular at the level of focus that it should be for a school of that size and demographic.

Inexplicably, until recent developments with staff and coaching priorities football was largely ignored. You can imagine the sort of playing resources that would always have been available to a school which the overwhelming majority of males in s armagh would have attended. That the only school teams taken semi seriously for decades were soccer teams was such a waste. There is an extensive list of future armagh greats who went thru st pauls but many woukdnt even have seen a GAA jersey in their time.

Now they have started to harness that talent they will have the same potential as a school like maghera on an ongoing basis.

Traditionally any decent s armagh footballer who could get in would have travelled to colmans or abbey but if st pauls are starting to be seen on a footballing par with those schools that may begin to change

I would assume the 11 plus or whatever replaces it would be the reason why pupils go to one rather than the other. St Pauls isnt a grammer unlike St Colmans and the Abbey. I doubt parents would send their child to  st Pauls over the other 2 for footballing reasons if they get the 11 plus. After all st colmans are by far the most successfuly college in footballing terms in Ulster.

You don't really get the football dynamic in s armagh if you believe that because many post primary school decisions are more than a little coloured by the perceived football development capacity of the school. It is not very difficult to get into St Colman's academically.

Your right its not if you get your 11 plus or whatever the equivalent is now, and a lot of kids fail this who would be more than capable for any grammer school.
I think parents would make the academic decision for their kids if it would be better for them academically to go to the Abbey or St Colmans.  you would have to seriously question a parent who would put an amateur sport ahead of their childs future.  Crossmaglen as we all know is a great Gaelic football area how do St Josephs Crossmaglen get on at the level they partake in??

St. Paul's has a great academic record, especially for a non selective school.

[snoopdog]

What has changed is that in the last number of years incoming principal Oliver Mooney (Cullaville) put sport and football in particular at the level of focus that it should be for a school of that size and demographic.

Inexplicably, until recent developments with staff and coaching priorities football was largely ignored. You can imagine the sort of playing resources that would always have been available to a school which the overwhelming majority of males in s armagh would have attended. That the only school teams taken semi seriously for decades were soccer teams was such a waste. There is an extensive list of future armagh greats who went thru st pauls but many woukdnt even have seen a GAA jersey in their time.

Now they have started to harness that talent they will have the same potential as a school like maghera on an ongoing basis.

Traditionally any decent s armagh footballer who could get in would have travelled to colmans or abbey but if st pauls are starting to be seen on a footballing par with those schools that may begin to change

I would assume the 11 plus or whatever replaces it would be the reason why pupils go to one rather than the other. St Pauls isnt a grammer unlike St Colmans and the Abbey. I doubt parents would send their child to  st Pauls over the other 2 for footballing reasons if they get the 11 plus. After all st colmans are by far the most successfuly college in footballing terms in Ulster.

You don't really get the football dynamic in s armagh if you believe that because many post primary school decisions are more than a little coloured by the perceived football development capacity of the school. It is not very difficult to get into St Colman's academically.

Your right its not if you get your 11 plus or whatever the equivalent is now, and a lot of kids fail this who would be more than capable for any grammer school.
I think parents would make the academic decision for their kids if it would be better for them academically to go to the Abbey or St Colmans.  you would have to seriously question a parent who would put an amateur sport ahead of their childs future.  Crossmaglen as we all know is a great Gaelic football area how do St Josephs Crossmaglen get on at the level they partake in??

St. Paul's has a great academic record, especially for a non selective school.

Ok. not aware of the whole school tables as i dont live in the north anymore.
Best of luck to them in the Final i will be shouting for them if they play Maghera.
Will be some boasting rights for them if they can beat the college in the final and by all accounts they have a team that are more than capable of doing it.  hopefully though number 20 will be winging its way down the Violet Hill avenue come 17th March. Maghera and Bessbrook will have a lot to say about that though.

[Orior]

What time is the match on tonight?

[Feckitt]

What match?  St Colmans v Maghera is on Saturday

[yellowcard]

Match is live on destination newry at 2.30pm though the link seems to be down at the minute?

http://destinationnewry.com/videos/macrory-cup-semifinal-replay-st-colmans-v-st-patricks-maghera/

[snoopdog]

think its a 2pm throw in

[snoopdog]

think its a 2pm throw in

maghera lead 1.05 to 0.06 at HT

[snoopdog]

think its a 2pm throw in

maghera lead 1.05 to 0.06 at HT

maghera win by 2. st colmans blasted a pen over the bar. better team won though

[drici]

[yellowcard]

I think Maghera deserved to win that game though if St Colmans had scored the penalty, who knows the result may have been different. There can be no argument that the 2 best teams are now in the final of the competition. A repeat of the McCormack cup final that Bessbrook won with an injury time goal to win by a point. Tradition will come down on the side of Maghera and a lot of their players will be used to being involved in colleges finals and this particular group have won most, if not all competitions at this age group I think. Can St Pauls play the game rather than the occasion since its a whole new experience for the school?

I do know that Bessbrook would much rather have played St Colmans in the final if given a choice. On the other hand they will have the advantage of playing the final in the Athletic Grounds since all their players are Armagh based.