Omagh CBS players and management celebrate after their MacRory Cup Final triumph.
By John Harrington
If you’re the sort of person who believes in serendipity, then you’ll have enjoyed Omagh CBS’s MacRory Cup triumph earlier this month.
They’d lost four Finals since last winning one in 2007, back when Diarmuid McNulty was the star forward on the team.
Fast-forward to September 2022 when former pupil McNulty joins the teaching staff and is immediately installed as the school’s senior football team manager.
Just five months later he helped mastermind the school’s first Danske Bank MacRory Cup triumph in 16 years.
It's no surprise to hear that it’s been a hugely satisfying return to his old Alma Mater for McNulty.
“You never want it to be about yourself but it is very gratifying that I have now won the MacRory Cup as a player and now as a manager,” McNulty told GAA.ie
“Definitely one of these things that's sweet for me personally, but I'm just delighted for the 35 boys in the panel who trained hard all year.
"2007 was a long time ago. Even the fact that we were the first Tyrone school to win it since 2009 was very satisfying because 14 years is a long time.
“An all Tyrone Final against Holy Trinity Cookstown, we knew what we were going to be up against and we were just glad to get out the other side and have the trophy back in the school. It's been great for the school and the whole community. “
There’s a nice circularity as well to the fact that Ciaran McBride, who managed McNulty when Omagh CBS won not just the MacRory Cup but the Hogan Cup too back in 2007, now coaches alongside him and Pat McNabb with the current team.
They’re not just passionate football men, they all care deeply about the school, so the season they’ve had to date means an awful lot to them all.
“This year we also won for the first time ever in the school's history the Corn na nÓg which would be the third year competition, so there’s that and the MacRory Cup in the one year,” says McNulty.
“We have 13 clubs represented in the MacRory squad. A few junior clubs, intermediate clubs, and senior clubs. Myself, Ciaran and Pat have really worked with the boys in terms of understanding the meaning of the whole thing.
“We had lost four MacRory Cup Finals since we last won so there was a lot of people putting a wee bit of pressure on the boys to deliver and they've only ever seen MacRory Cup Finals being lost.
“Our team captain was one year of age when we won the MacRory Cup the last time so for them to experience what it means to the whole school has been great for the whole school community.”
Omagh CBS captain Eoin McElholm lifts the MacRory Cup after victory over Holy Trinity Cookstown.
The challenge now for Omagh CBS is to replicate what they did in 2007 by following up a MacRory Cup win with a Masita All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Hogan Cup win.
Standing in their way in Saturday’s Hogan Cup semi-final in Clones is the formidable obstacle of reigning champions Naas CBS. McNulty is well aware of the scale of that challenge, but optimistic his players will give a really good account of themselves.
“The boys are in good spirits and looking forward to performing in a great venue like Clones,” he says. We're just looking forward to a really, really tough challenge against an excellent Naas team.
“They're the reigning champions and won't give that crown up any way easy, definitely not.
“I believe they have two starters and a good few panellists from last year. Ryan Sinkey is a Kildare U-20 footballer and you have Carl Lennox who plays for Shamrock Rovers and the Republic of Ireland U-19 soccer team.
“Cian Boran is still there from last year's team. He's at corner-back but comes out and man-marks around the midfield sector. Then you have Ciaran Murphy who is the full-back and was also on last year's team and was also full-back for the Kildare minor footballers last year.
“They've got a really, really talented bunch of boys with plenty of scorers.
“The prize of playing in Croke Park doesn't come around every day and we're trying not to play that up.
“But the boys in the back of their heads know that if they can get through the semi-final they'll be going to Croke Park on St. Patrick's Day and what a prize that is, really.
“You're looking at it as a way of really fulfilling boy's dreams. We're all looking forward to it. We know it's going to be a hell of a challenge and we'll not shy away from it.”
Saturday, February 25
Masita All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Hogan Cup Semi-Finals
Summerhill College v St Brendan’s Killarney, St. Jarlath's Park, Tuam, 12.30pm (TG4 YouTube)
Omagh CBS v Naas CBS, St. Tiernach's Park, Clones, 2.15pm (TG4 YouTube)