GAA: The biggest day in Schools football is back as the MacRory Cup Final returns
St Mary's Magherafelt v Holy Trinity Cookstown - Athletic Grounds, Armagh. Sunday February 13th, 2.30pm
It's been three years in coming...but for some, it's been a lifetime in the making.
St Mary's Magherafelt and Holy Trinity Cookstown meet in Armagh to contest the first Schools GAA Danske Bank MacRory Cup Final since 2019.
The following year, the trophy was shared between St Colman's College, Newry and St Patrick's Maghera after Covid-19 took hold here. Last year, the competition wasn't played at all due to the pandemic.
But, Sunday February 13th will see a packed out Athletic Grounds play host to the showpiece clash between 2017 winners St Mary's and first-time finalists Holy Trinity.
The Magherafelt school got the better of Omagh CBS 1-10 to 1-7 in the semi-final, while Holy Trinity emerged victorious 0-10 to 0-5 against St Patrick's Maghera in their last four encounter.
For St Mary's Manager Kevin Brady, he feels it's important that the showpiece event in Ulster Schools GAA will be played again.
"I think it's great for the Ulster Schools GAA and for all the schools to have the final back, with the big crowd back on not restrictions on numbers," he said.
"I do feel sorry for the players that missed out on the MacRory Final last year and then the year before when it was shared. We're happy that we've been able to get our team to the final this year, when everything seems to be bac to some sort of normality."
"We had to play in three before we won one. But, St Ronan's Lurgan showed that it can be done and that's what Holy Trinity will be hoping - we're hoping the other way!," Brady smiled.
"Training's been going well. John McElholm and Ronan Devlin have been training the team and brought them back down to earth after the high of winning the semi-final. We're preparing well and we've got a clean bill of health.
"We've got a big support within the school and the community around us," he added
"The final's no longer on St Patrick's Day, but if we can get the victory on February the 13th, we'll remember that date as well as we remember the 17th of March back in 2017."
While it's unknown territory for Holy Trinity Cookstown, given they've only been competing at this level for three years, Manager John McKeever says it isn't a case of being happy with what they've got to date.
"We're delighted. To get over that game with St Patrick's, Maghera was massive for the school and there's a great buzz about the place. It's the third year we've been in the MacRory Cup and we were beaten by Maghera in the quarter-final a couple of years ago. The big challenge this year was to get to the semi-final. We got there. Now we're into the final, it's nearly bonus land s it's a great place to be.
"But we're certainly not going to make up the numbers," he adds.
"We're up against St Mary's, Magherafelt and we know the great school they are, the management team they have and the players they have. We know the challenge in front of us and we're looking forward to it.
"We're fortunate that we have a good group of players who are very level-headed, very grounded and very humble.
"They've played in big games before, so they know what's ahead of them.
"If we were to get over the line, it would be a dream come true for us.
"We've been working at this for a number of years. We came up through the vocational level and four years ago, we won the MacLarnon. We wanted to get the timing right before we moved through the competitions. We made the step three years ago to make the step up to MacRory football. If we were to get over the line, I can't even tell you how good it would be."
The ties throws in at the Athletic Grounds this Sunday at 2.30pm.