Rice College back for another dance with All-Ireland glory

IT’s that time of year again in Westport’s Rice College.

No, not the bloody exams!

For the third spring in a row, the 37-year-old secondary school are gearing up for the U-17 Tom Ticher National Junior Cup final.

They still talk about Cillian McGing’s winning goal against St Mary’s of Enniscorthy in last year’s final – and will for some time to come.

But for the last few weeks, the glories of yesteryear have been parked.

Four of the lads who started on that glorious day in Athlone will be back in the Midlands tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday) for one last dance at U-17 All-Ireland glory.

But nothing is taken for granted.

All-Ireland winning manager, Darragh Connolly, is back at the helm alongside Brian Flannery this year.

The múinteoir Gaeilge is absolutely certain the occasion won’t get the better of a bunch that are as dedicated as they are talented.

“They are asking for training sessions. There’s not enough days in the week for them with the amount of training they’d like to do,” Connolly tells The Mayo News.

Drawn predominantly from Westport United, this group of players have been kicking ball together in Horkan’s Hill and United Park for the guts of a decade.

They’re no certainly strangers to silverware – a few of them were even part of the club’s historic Quigley Cup/league title-winning U-18 team last year.

Sitting in Mr Connolly’s room on a mid-Friday afternoon, questions about last year inevitably arise.

Unsurprisingly, most of those who played second fiddle in Athlone that day are now soloists for the school’s latest tilt at All-Ireland glory.

“We were kind of on the fringes,” says Ethan McGing, who got a few games while his older brother, Cillian, was injured.

“It’s great to be more involved this year. It feels even more special. Last year was fantastic to be involved but now that we’re the older lads; it’s even more important.”

Brian Flannery, Darragh Connolly’s trusted lieutenant, sees two very talented but very different teams when comparing the classes of ’23 and ’24.

He explains: “School football can vary a lot more than the likes of club football. So if you are making it to an All-Ireland final in club football, you have a better understanding of the progression through the years through the club, whereas in school a lot of things can chop and change - a star footballer comes through that makes a team really strong.

“But the difference, I suppose, with the team this year and the team from last year was last year we had a few lads who really stood out and were superstars. This year, we have lads who are playing football since they were very small together at club level and you can really see a sense of togetherness and they play really well together, they just understand how to play with each other.”

Rice College Principal Michael Rabette knows a thing or two about soccer, having been part of the U-17 setup last year.

In his eyes, academics and sporting prowess can compliment each other, rather than simply peacefully co-exist.

“A lot of time in school you will find that the guys that are well-prepared are well-prepared in class also and are achieving high academically. There’s no reason why you can’t do both.

“I would say if we look back at the Student of The Year over the years, we’d pick the same person for Student of The Year and for Sportsperson of The Year. There’s a huge correlation between the two in terms of self-awareness, self-reflection. These guys have reflected on matches, they reflect on class, so their skillset is quite similar there in terms of academics and sports side of things. There’s a huge overlap.”

Darragh Connolly sums up how far his troops are willing to go to retain their All-Ireland title in one anecdote.

“We have a guy flying home early from a trip to Bulgaria to the match. If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is.”