PÁDRAIG McIlwaine played in four Mageean Cup campaigns for St MacNissi’s, Garron Tower and three of them were finals. On each occasion, the Tower came in second.
McIlwaine returned as a teacher to his alma mater at the turn of the millennium and Tower teams appeared in a further three losing finals before, last year, the school overlooking the Sea of Moyle finally bridged the gap to their last senior success back in 1963.
It is therefore a rare thing for the school – now St Killian’s – and its coach to be setting out as defending champions.
“It is, but I think we, the boys and the management, would have been very disappointed not to be back in the final,” he said.
“It’s our third year in a row in the final. That was our goal at the start of the year, we wanted to be back in the final and deal with whoever is in front of us when we got there.
“We have got through the hurdles in front of us so far and we have one left.
“I think that it definitely helps us that we got the monkey off our back last year. Some saw us as good enough to reach a final, but not good enough to win one.
“We have a good few of the lads from last year’s final back with us and we are going into the final knowing what’s ahead of us and what we have to do to win.
“Winning back-to-back Mageeans, even reaching three finals
in a row, is not an easy thing to do.”
The last school to achieve back-to-back titles was Cross and Passion, Ballycastle a decade ago, while you have to go back to the era of St Mary’s CBGS/St Patrick’s Maghera dominance for regular appearances in finals.
“We are delighted to be back in a Mageean final,” added McIlwaine.
“It’s a great event, the crowd on the night, the atmosphere. It’s a great opportunity for the players to showcase their talents in front of a big crowd.
“Getting to a Mageean final will always create a buzz in the local clubs, in the school community.
“Everyone is talking about the final and there were good crowds at both semi-finals.
“It has a good pull from outside the school community as well. Last year we were finishing the warm-up on the pitch and then were told that the throw-in would be delayed 15 minutes because the crowd was still coming in.
“It’s a big deal now and a great event for both schools.
“The semi-finals had to be delayed because of the snow and were only played last week.
“That doesn’t give you much time to do anything extra with the
team. You can maybe only get in one or two hard sessions, anything else will be light. But we are all hugely looking forward to the final.”
Will it help St Killian’s that they are not being tipped as favourites for the game?
“In last year’s final we would have looked to a number of the
players that have now moved on to third level or wherever.
“But I think we got a huge amount from our year 13s who are now the leaders in this year’s team. Younger boys have also come into the team this year and have been brilliant for us.
“We know it will be a tough game. We know the CPC boys well. They play against each other regularly for club and school.
“They play with each other in Antrim teams. We won’t find out
anything new about each other on Friday.
“We have got to win our own individual battles and be competitive in every position on the pitch. A wee bit of luck helps as well. But we believe we are good enough to win and we hope our performance on the night proves that.”
