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A very special visitor turned up at Abbey Grammar School, Newry last week along with some high achieving past pupils. The Sam Maguire cup and members of the victorious 2024 All Ireland winning Armagh senior football team got a rousing reception.
Past pupil Paddy Burns arrived first with Sam and after a brief introduction with staff it was straight to a question and answer session with some of the school's football teams. The senior MacRory panel, the Rannafast finalist and the Dalton team who played in this week’s semi final were treated to stories of school days, playing days and stand out moments from the summer of 2024.
The session was hosted by the Abbey’s new GAA development officer, Mr Kevin McKernan, an initiative part funded by both the Armagh and Down County boards. It was a lovely to see a former Down star putting the questions to the Armagh corner back, county differences set aside as two Abbey men and indeed Burren GAA club men spoke to the enthralled audience.
As the morning went on the Abbey welcomed other past pupils Callum O’Neill, Sean Conlon and Niall Rowland who met staff and had photos taken with staff and students alike. It was a great morning with lots of reminiscing about the great days of last summer and also years gone by.
An Abbey spokesperson said "We are very grateful to the members of the current panel and extend our congratulations also to those past pupils who were not able to attend, Kieran McGeeney, Connaire Mackin and Finbar Burns. The current student body will no doubt try to emulate the feats of these great past pupils as they wear school, club and county jerseys with pride."
The school currently has over 80 pupils at Yr8 training and have GAA panels and development squads in all other year groups.
It was a day to celebrate the Abbey's proud sporting tradition, inspirational role models and a bright future.
