Abbey Vocational School chase the double with two Ulster Schools finals

This is going to be a busy week for Abbey VS, Donegal Town as they contest two Ulster finals on successive days.

The AVS U-16½ team will play in the Rafferty Cup Ulster final against St. Pius, Magherafelt today, Thursday, with throw-in at 1pm in Celtic Park, Derry.

Then on Friday, the U-14½ boys, will take on Carrickmore in the Loch An Iuir Ulster final. This team had a great win over St Mary’s of Belfast in the semi-final on Monday, winning by 4-12 to 5-4. This final is fixed for the Tyrone Centre of Excellence, Garvaghey on Friday, 27th with a 12 noon throw-in.

Teacher Stephen McGurren has a foot in both camps and by Friday afternoon will have been involved in one of the busiest weeks of his life at the Donegal Town school.

The U-16½ team qualified for the knockout stages in a group involving Ballygawley and Carrickmore. They defeated Ballymena in the quarter-final and Castlewellan of Down in the semi-final prior to Christmas.

“We now have St Pius, Magherfelt in the final and we are looking forward to it,” said McGurren, who jointly manages the team with Darren Russell.

“It is a very good standard. We lost to Carrickmore last year in the U-15½ which was in the division below. There is very little difference between the Ranafast (Division 1) and Rafferty (Division 2). There are 12 teams in the A and 15 in the B.

“We are well fit for it. Ourselves and Carrickmore came up last year. We had a great battle with them this year, coming from 12 points down,” said McGurren, who said the squad would be up to MacRory level next year.

The Abbey success comes on the back of a great run by the Four Masters minors, losing out in the Ulster minor club final, and there are a number of the minor team involved, including Kevin Muldoon, Conor McCahill, Terence McGovern, Turlough Carr, Daniel McGinty, Tiernan McBride, Theo Colhoun, Lewis McCaughan, Oisin Doherty and Cian Gallagher.

LOCH AN IUIR
On Friday in Garvaghey the U-14½ side will take on Carrickmore in the Loch An Iuir final. McGurren is also involved with this team, helping out Shane O’Neill.

This side came through the group stages which included St Columba’s, Glenties, Ballygawley and Carrickmore. In the quarter-final they accounted for Ballymena and on Monday last won their semi-final against St. Mary’s of Belfast.

And while they lost to their final opponents, Carrickmore, in the group stage, McGurren is confident that they have improved in the meantime.

“They were very strong but we had one or two missing at the time. We were not bang at it when we met. But we had a great battle against St Mary’s in the semi-final on Monday and that sets us up nicely. They have been sitting around since the beginning of the month.

“I would be very hopeful. Having two finals on successive days is a headache, but it’s a nice headache to have. “There has been a great buzz about the school in the last few days,” says McGurren.