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.

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.

[Dougal Maguire]

Not so sure about that. I think they'll be happy not playing St Colman's. I also think that with a lot of the team having been part of last years All Ireland winning team they should not let the occasion get to them. Someone suggested to me that the McCormack Cup defeat was the first time that group of lads had lost a final from they started at the school

[Any craic]

There are video clips here from the replay, including the Maghera goal and some great late points  http://www.ulstercollegesgaa.org/

[yellowcard]

Not so sure about that. I think they'll be happy not playing St Colman's. I also think that with a lot of the team having been part of last years All Ireland winning team they should not let the occasion get to them. Someone suggested to me that the McCormack Cup defeat was the first time that group of lads had lost a final from they started at the school

Only going on what I was told a month ago. Watched them comprehensively beat St Colmans in the group stages and I believe they simply have better players than St Colmans. You could be right about those lads winning the All Ireland last year but that was in the secondary competition. I hope Bessbrook can win it but its too hard to call. Before the quarter finals I wondered if St Pauls had put too much into the early stages of the competition but having watched them the last twice they have been just as impressive.

[Rawhide]

It would have a travesty if St Pats had not won that game today. Much better team, IMO 7-8 pts a better team. their FF won every ball but kicked seriously poor wides, when better options were available. Maghera are improving all the time, Glens ulster minor campaign has held their preparations back, but they are coming to the boil. St Paul's are playing well, but the team they played in the semi were so poor, how on earth did they beat Dungannon. tough to call but we are in for a good game.