THROWBACK THURSDAY: Reliving Saint Nathy's Hogan Cup triumph

WHEN the boys in green and white jerseys take to the pitch on Saturday, they set about to repeat a famous success from 69 years ago.

Back in 1957, St Nathy's College claimed the biggest trophy to be won in schools Gaelic football. The Ballaghaderreen team brought home the Hogan Cup bestowed upon the winner of the schools Senior A All-Ireland final.

On April 13 1957, St Nathy's were 'easy winners' over St Colman's College, Newry, wrote the Roscommon Herald in its edition a week later. 

It's worth of note, that the Hogan Cup final in 1957 was the first time this championship was held since 1948. It was a fairly new competition, only started in 1946 and was paused two years later, before its resumption in 1957.

Just in time for St Nathy's golden generation of players to take advantage of, some might say. The Ballaghaderreen school senior team was trained by Fr Tom Lynch.

Captain was a certain Fr Eamonn O'Hara, uncle of Sligo legend of the same name, who famously won his county a Connacht medal in 2007 against Galway.  

Interestingly, the St Nathy's team consisted of eight players from Mayo and seven from Sligo.

St Nathy's had a fantastic run up to the Hogan Cup final 1957. In their Connacht final, the Irish Independent wrote in 2007, they overcame their stiffest challenge by beating St Jarlath's Tuam on the slimmest of margins, 1-5 to 0-7.

And then a 2-10 to 0-1 rout over Roscommon CBS followed.

In the All-Ireland semi-final a close game was expected but St Nathy's turned in a blistering display to coast to a 3-7 to 0-4 victory.

In its analysis, the Roscommon Herald didn't shy away from being blunt: “It was rather an anomaly, that in their hour of triumph St Nathy's were never called on to show their true worth.

“Thus did the Ballaghaderreen lads climax a year of achievement, which included winning the Connacht Colleges title after a lapse of eight years.”

And the paper didn't hold back as the article surmised: “On the whole it was a poor enough game but this does not detract from the splendour of the Nathy's victory.”

Top scorer in the final was Jackie Maddien, who recorded 1-3. Both teams weren't really on the mark with regards to their shooting. St Nathy's had 21 wides, while St Colman's registered 20 missed attempts. 

“Croke Park nerves may have had an effect on the players but once the Ballaghaderreen boys got the feel of the game they set about winning the Hogan Cup.

"While they were not over-impressive in the manner of their victory, they proved that they were worthy champions in the sphere of colleges football.”

It is safe to say, no one at St Nathy's College would mind similar lines being written after Saturday's Senior B All-Ireland final, if the outcome is the same and the Ballaghaderreen boys bring home the Paddy Drummond Cup.  

The St Nathy's team that beat St Colman's in the final is as follows:

St Nathy's: J T Cribben, M Hanrahan, JJ McManus, M Joyce, C Maguire, T Maguire, E Stenson, M Ruane, E O'Hara (0-1), S McMahon, J Madden (1-3), T Kilcoyne (0-2), J O'Grady, G Boland (0-1), P Maye.