By Niall Gartland

ST PATRICK’S, Maghera skipper Cahal McKaigue comes from good stock and his famous cousin Chrissy is part of the management team who have engineered their run to Sunday’s MacRory Cup final against Abbey VS.

He’s very much the Sleacht Néill prototype – a talented footballer and hurler and already he has graduated to the senior men’s team in the club.

But his pressing priority is Sunday’s date with destiny against Abbey VS as he attempts to bring the MacRory Cup title back to the school for the first time proper since 2016 (the 2020 title was shared with St Colman’s, Newry as Covid-19 intervened).

McKaigue says there’s an acute sense of buzz and anticipation in the school calendars in the lead up to the big day, but they’re determined to keep their eyes on the prize and not get carried away with it all.

“That’s been the word around the camp, we need to stay grounded, stay humble, we’ll go out and do the best we can.

“At the same time there’s a massive buzz in the school, especially since the win over Armagh. The buzz has been massive, our first MacRory final in a good while, everyone in the school can’t wait.”

This Maghera group haven’t been especially successful coming up through the ranks at the school, but reaching a MacRory Cup final doesn’t happen by chance.

McKaigue commented: “We won the first year competition, the Oisin McGrath and that was about it. Obviously Covid hit around third and fourth year when we were going well, but hopefully we’ll add the MacRory Cup.”

“It’s what you dream of when you come into the school when you’re a first year –that if things go well you’ll leave the school having won the MacRory Cup.”

It’ll all come down to Sunday’s final showdown against an Abbey VS team making their first ever appearance. Time will tell whether that will be of some sort of advantage to St Patrick’s, but McKaigue isn’t assuming anything.

“I’ve definitely a lot of respect for them, their Four Masters players have been extremely successful. We’ll not underestimate them at all.”