MacLarnon Cup Final: Rathmore Grammar, Belfast v St Joseph's, Donaghmore (Friday, The Dub, 7.30pm)
With Dean Maguirc, Carrickmore winning the Markey Cup on Wednesday night and two Tyrone schools contesting Sunday’s MacRory final, only Rathmore stand in the way of a clean sweep of the U19 grade for O’Neill County.
St Joseph’s, Donaghmore will be bidding to cement Tyrone’s dominance at the grade when they face Rathmore in the MacLarnon Cup final on Friday night at The Dub.
The Convent are backboned by a number of Tyrone Ulster Minor Football Championship winners from last season while St Patrick’s Donaghmore have won back-to-back minor titles.
Rathmore boss Gearoid Adams knows his side will have a huge challenge on their hands in Friday night’s decider.
“Any Tyrone school with five or six county players will be tough to beat,” said Adams.
“A few of them played against Antrim in the Ulster semi-final last year at Minor level.
“They’ve got some great players and they’ve beaten two Antrim teams to get to the final.
“They beat St Mary’s quite well and they defeated St Louis in the semi-final - they are a very talented team.”
The last Tyrone team to win the McLarnon Cup was Holy Trinity back in 2018 and the Cookstown side will take on Omagh CBS in Sunday’s MacRory Cup final in Healy Park.
It will be their second successive appearance in the MacRory final while last season’s MacLarnon Cup winners Patrician, Carrickmacross only lost out in this year’s MacRory semi-final to Omagh by one point.
Adams knows there is a great opportunity to advance to the ‘A’ competition, but he insists his side are fully focused on the challenge ahead.
“During my time with St Louis, Ballymena, a lot of the teams we played against at MacLarnon level are now playing MacRory,” stated Adams.
“We played Holy Trinity, Cookstown a lot. We are just focused on the MacLarnon Cup at the minute. There’s a lot of good work being done at the school, from junior level right up.
“If you win the MacLarnon, it is a great stepping stone. You have to be realistic too. You’re in Antrim and we haven’t been in a final since 2007. The vast majority of this team played ‘C’ football right up until fifth year. For some of them, they’ve only been playing ‘B’ football two years.
“While it would be great to win the MacLarnon and, potentially, play in the MacRory Cup, we’ll just take it one step at a time. There are a lot of really good teams at MacLarnon level. If I had a team that I thought could compete at MacRory level, I’d be there.
“St Pat’s, Knock were the last team from Belfast to play MacRory and they found it difficult enough. It is a massive step up.”
With the majority of the team playing for clubs in south and west Belfast, Rathmore should feel at home at The Dub and Adams says it is a great venue for a schools’ final.
“The team is mostly lads from St Brigid’s and Glenavy. We’ve a few Bredagh players and the rest are from West Belfast clubs - Sarsfield’s, Davitt’s and O’Donnell’s,” added the former Antrim boss.
“With the final at The Dub, there should be a great atmosphere. It also means the players can go home for an hour or so before the game rather than having to listen to me!
“I was involved in a Mageen Cup final there and it is a great venue - I just hope the players can do themselves justice on the night.”
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