THE Paul McGirr Ulster Club U16 Football Championship is nothing new to Derry champions Magherafelt.
This will be their fourth time participating in the competition, but still, it’s an honour to take part according to manager Kevin Purvis.
Magherafelt featured in 2015, 2016 and 2019, and were beaten by the eventual champions in Clann Éireann (Armagh), St Eunan’s Letterkenny (Donegal) and Burren (Down) on all three occasions.
County stars and Ulster SFC winners such as goalkeeper Odhran Lynch and 2023 All-Star defender Conor McCluskey, as well as sharp-shooter Cormac Murphy, have all represented the club at Gardrum Park
“Derry was just short-notice for me and I had to pull back” - Philly McMahon impressed by Oak Leaf management talks but the timing was wrong for Dublin legend
‘For a fella of Brian Fenton’s status to leave at 31, something’s gone wrong...’ Philly McMahon struggling to accept that Dublin legend has gone for good
Glen are the only team from Derry to have won the competition, and they did it twice in 2009 and 2010, so Magherafelt will be keen to change that record this year. They kick-start their involvement against Monaghan’s representatives Donaghmoyne this (Sunday, 1pm).
“As a team, we are thrilled to be in Dromore representing Derry in such a prestigious tournament as the Paul McGirr,” said their manager ahead of Sunday’s showdown.
“With the age group change in Derry this year, we have benefited greatly from keeping the same group together for two successive seasons and have gone on to enjoy quite a bit of success together winning back-to-back Derry championships.
“It’s now a great chance to test ourselves against fresh challenges and the best teams in Ulster at this level.
“Donaghmoyne themselves have won league and championships at U14 and U16 level this year, so we know we are in for a real tough test, but we can’t wait to get going.”
Purvis admits he doesn’t know too much about their quarter-final opposition, other than what he can dig up on social media, but his side do have an insight into some of the other teams that are chasing silverware.
“We know a bit about Portglenone, we’ve played them a few times in challenge games,” explained Purvis.
“We’ve played Carrickmore a few times in challenge games. We were actually up watching them in the Tyrone final last Saturday.
“We met Four Masters in the group stages and in the All-Ireland Féile final last year in Division Two and we beat them convincingly enough, but it was in the short games so it’s hard to read too much into that.
“Donaghmoyne have just caught us cold to be honest. All we have on Donaghmoyne is what we can rustle up on twitter,” Purvis laughed. “They won the U14 and U16 league and championship this season, so it’ll be a tough test for us.”
Magherafelt are the kingpins in the Oak Leaf county at the minute, having secured back-to-back championship titles at both U16 and U18 level and provincial tournaments such as the Paul McGirr and St Paul’s is the perfect stepping stone for the club.
“When you see the teams (that have won the Paul McGirr Cup), nearly all those teams are flying high at the top of Ulster football at the minute. It’s a brilliant stepping stone and our minors our involved as well, we’d have quite a few boys overlapping.
“There’s maybe six boys that are going to be starting for the minor team the following week in the St Paul’s tournament, which has proved tricky enough during the year, but that exposure to minor football has probably helped them.”
