Write a commentThe victorious St Colman’s MacRory and Hogan Cup teams of 2011 were in attendance at an ‘Evening of Celebration’ in Violet Hill on Friday 27th May. Catering was provided by the outstanding Diamonds Restaurant Warrenpoint.
Rain threatened throughout the day but thankfully never arrived and the drinks reception and photographs in the quadrangle before the evening’s excellent meal, was enjoyed by all.
The evening was added to by the presence of past Hogan Cup winning Captains, including Wolfe Tones man Noel Moore who captained the first Hogan winning team in 1967 and Ballymartin man Declan Rodgers who captained the second successful team in 1975. Also present was 2010’s captain Niall Mc Parland from Glenn and Newry Shamrocks player and captain of the 2011 winning panel, Connor Gough.
Guests of honour at the banquet were Ard Stiúrthóir CLG Páraic Ó Dufaigh and chairman of the All Ireland Colleges’ Albert Fallon. In Mr Duffy’s address, himself a former coach with St MacCartan’s Monaghan and indeed Principal of the same school reflected on the many battles he had faced as a player and Manager against St Colman’s. Mr Duffy also took time to praise the contribution of St Colman’s to the Association through the years and thanked all involved with teams in Violet Hill for their hard work.
St Colman’s Principal Mr Cormac Mc Kinney, in his first year as St Colman’s Principal thanked all those who made the trip to Violet Hill for the celebratory evening. He paid homage to the 4 coaches who mentored the team, namely Mr Cathal Murray, Mr Declan Mussen, Mr Eamonn Mc Evoy, and Mr Barry Kelly, the last of whom will take up a new position as Principal Of Aquinas Grammar Belfast in September.
Mr Ray Morgan, who coached 5 Hogan Cup winning teams was also in attendance and the GAA’s Director General alluded to the many years of crossing swords with Morgan in Ulster College’s Football.
St Colman’s now can boast of having two full size pitches, with another in the making and a state of the art 140 x 90 m 3G pitch which going forward, will allow teams to train outdoors in all types of weather.
