Longford school Cnoc Mhuire Granard fired up in bid for All-Ireland title glory

This Saturday is a major occasion for Cnoc Mhuire Granard with their impressive senior footballers contesting the All-Ireland Post-Primary Schools ‘B’ final harbouring high hopes of lifting the Paddy Drummond Cup at the Sean O'Heslin's GAA grounds in Ballinamore this Saturday, throw-in 2,30pm.

The opposition in the eagerly awarded title decider are the Connacht champions iSt Nathy’s College, Ballaghaderreen (Mayo) and it promises to be a cracker in the quest for All-Ireland success.

Winners of the now defunct All-Ireland Vocational Schools Senior ‘A Championship back in April 2013 after beating Holy Trinity College Cookstown (Tyrone) by a single point (2-13 to 2-12) in a thrilling final at Croke Park, Cnoc Mhuire are just one step away from further glory on the National stage.

Backboned by no less than seven players from the St Mary’s Granard club, the proud north Longford secondary school have brought great honour to the catchment area with players from neighbouring Cavan also part of this extremely talented squad. 

The highlight of their march to the All-Ireland final was the pulsating North Leinster decider  against St. Joseph’s CBS, Drogheda with Cnoc Mhuire coming out on top by the narrow margin of three points (3-16 to 1-19) in a classic encounter.

That super success proved to be a big boost in the confidence factor as they scored a comprehensive 4-16 to 2-10 win over Gorey CS in the overall Leinster decider and then cruised to a very easy 1-21 to 0-7 success in the All-Ireland semi-final against the Ulster champions Aquinas Grammar School Belfast.

Particularly prominent in that excellent victory was the towering figure of Odhran Madden (Gowna) at centrefield, along with the lethal St Mary’s Granard trio of Ben Blessington, Cian O’Donnell and Brendan Martin Burns in the full-forward-line with the classy quartet clocking up a total of 16 points between them and which included five quality two-pointers (1 free).

The marvellous Madden is partnered at midfield by Dylan Ledwith (Abbeylara), son of former Longford defender Donal Ledwith, and comprising a strong half-back-line are Niall O’Donnell (St Mary’s Granard), Aaron Plunkett (Mullahoran) and the inspirational captain Liam Greene (Mostrim) who could also feature in the attack.

The star man on the St Nathy’s team is centre-half-forward Dean Casey, scorer of 7 points (brace of two-pointers) for the Roscommon U-17 team who beat Mayo in last year’s Connacht Minor Football Championship final.

The excellent Casey fired over 8 points in St Nathy’s most emphatic 3-18 to 0-11 win over the Munster champions Mount St Michael’s Rosscarbery (Cork) in the All-Ireland semi-final and is clearly a serious threat.

Corner-forwards Ryan O’Sullivan and Conor Moriarty, midfielder Sean Buckley and defenders James Casey and Declan Duffy are other fine footballers and the Ballaghaderreen bunch (drawn from Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo) will be hard beaten

But there is tremendous belief in the Cnoc Mhuire team,  packed with plenty of scoring power, and they will be hoping that things go their way in the bid for All-Ireland glory. 

CNOC MHUIRE GRANARD line-out v Aquinas Grammar School Belfast in the All-Ireland semi-final: 

Eoin O’Hara (St Mary’s Granard); Caolain Madden (Gowna), Mel Mulligan (Abbeylara), Jacob Gaynor Brady (St Mary’s Granard); Karl O’Hara (Abbeylara, 0-2), Aaron Plunkett (Mullahoran), Niall O’Donnell (St Mary’s Granard); Dylan Ledwith (Abbeylara, 0-1), Odhran Madden (Gowna, 0-5, a brace of two-pointers free and play, 1 free); Sean Fagan (Abbeylara, 1-0), Liam Greene (Mostrim, captain, 0-1), Daniel Corr (St Mary’s Granard); Ben Blessington (St Mary's Granard, 0-3, 1 two-pointer play), Cian O’Donnell (St Mary’s Granard, 0-4, 1 two-pointer play), Brendan Martin Burns (St Mary’s Granard, 0-4, 1 two-pointer play).

Subs:- Jake Brady (Gowna) for J Gaynor Brady (41 mins); Padraig Cahill (Mostrim) for C Madden (46 mins); Kian Lynch (Mullahoran, 0-1) for D Corr (48 mins); Dylan Corr (Gowna) for N O’Donnell (51 mins); Shane O’Hara (St Mary’s Granard) for K O’Hara (53 mins).