Largy College chase first All-Ireland title

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Colm Shalvey

Excitement is growing in Clones and surrounding clubs as Largy College prepare to contest the All-Ireland Boys’ Senior ‘D’ Final this Saturday in Tubberclair, Co Westmeath.

After battling from five points down to win a competitive Faul Cup Final last month against St. Aidan’s Comprehensive School, Cootehill, Largy advanced to the Br. Edmund Ignatius Rice Cup, where they had a comprehensive victory over Mountmellick Community School in the last four.

Currin’s Ronan King, who manages the Largy team alongside Jermaine O’Rourke of Killeevan, says there has been a great atmosphere in the school during the build-up to this weekend’s final against the aptly-named Rice College from Ennis.

Speaking to the Celt on Monday evening, just as the venue for the final was eventually confirmed, King noted: “There’s a great buzz around the school and the communities over the last week or so since the semi-final. The lads are enjoying the craic around the school. It’s the first All-Ireland run the school has gone on, so it’s a big occasion and the boys are making the most of it.

“Preparations are going well on the pitch and the lads are looking sharp. Chances to win an All-Ireland don’t come along too often, so you have to make the most of it and let them soak in the moment and enjoy it. There’s still a game to be played on Saturday and we need to keep the heads grounded, but to enjoy the moment too.”

Opponents Rice College are battle-hardened, having dug out narrow wins over opponents from Kerry and Mayo in their last two games.

The Clare side followed up a Munster decider win against Causeway Comprehensive School by pipping St. Brendan’s College, Belmullet last time out. Keeper Tony Burke made vital penalty saves in both of those games, while Rhys Murphy and Niall Doyle netted the goals that saw off Belmullet.

Agreeing that going up against new teams can be akin to a release of the pressure valve for young players, who had been “let loose” against Mountmellick from Laois, King acknowledged: “When you leave Ulster, it’s hard to know who other schools might have. We just went off [Mountmellick’s] previous results and we knew we’d have a tough game as any team that gets out of their province deserves to be there. All year, we’ve mainly focused on ourselves.

"You put the hard work in and everything else follows on from that. When it came to preparing, you can only control what you can do on the day. The lads really took that on board; I don’t think it really mattered to them who they were up against, they were going to go out at 100 miles per hour and compete to the highest level.

“We have great lads to execute the game-plans, but at the same time, you have to have that bit of freedom on the field to let them go out and express themselves. We have talented boys who are well fit to do that and on their day, they are hard to beat. An All-Ireland final is a great spot to be in. We don’t want to get too bogged down with other teams and changing what we’ve done up to now.

“Since our very first group game against Cootehill, we just said we would take each game at a time and try to win every game. That’s the way we went about things and it has brought us this far, so we’ll keep going with that mentality. It’s just another game and hopefully we’ll have another trophy at the end of it.”

Five clubs are represented on the Largy College panel, which features: Rían Quigley, Stephen Cusack, Morgan Howell, Shane McPhillips, Odhrán Carolan (all Aghabog); Phelim Brady, Caolán Connolly-Smith (both Currin); Donncha Quigley, Jamie Dowds, Eoin McElvaney, Paddy McDonald, Ryan Brogan, Jay McCormick-McDonald, Matthew McCaughey (all Clones); Jude McGinty, Mantas Paulauskas, Noah McGinty, Caolán Rice, Jamie McCarville, James Rooney (all Éire Óg); Ryan Murphy, Ultan Martin, Dane McAviney, Aidan McFarland, Aaron Brady, Conn McGuigan, Killian Lynch (all Killeevan).