By Niall Gartland

FORM an image of Sean Marty Lockhart in your mind’s eye and there’s a fair old chance he’ll be wearing a Derry jersey.

One of the best defenders of his or any generation, Sean Marty served Derry with distinction for 15 full years at senior inter-county level, but he also has a long association with MacRory Cup football.

Now manager of the team, he played in three MacRory Cup finals in a row between 1993 and 1995, losing out in 1993 before responding with back-to-back triumphs.

He was part of the management team that landed MacRory honours in 2013, and was also involved when the title was shared between themselves and St Colman’s in the Covid-interrupted 2020 season.

So it’s fair to say he knows a thing or two about the competition, but at the same time he wasn’t quite sure whether this team had the goods to go deep into this year’s tournament. They have, and he attributes their success to good old fashioned hard work as they look ahead to Sunday’s final against Abbey VS.

“To be honest, when you gauge things up through the school, they weren’t strong. They never got past a quarter-final but they came in this year and showed a lot of determination.

“They’ve worked very hard over Christmas and we’re just happy to be back. Last year’s team was seen as stronger and they got caught in the quarter-final so you need a bit of luck on top of everything else.”

Also part of the management team are William McAteer, Chrissy McKaigue, Ollie Cummings and Tiarnan McHugh. One man conspicuous by his absence is St Patrick’s legend Paul Hughes, who recently retired, but he’s still very much keeping tabs on their progress.

“I got a big hug after the last match up in Derrylaughan. Paul’s a gentleman and I’d just like to take this opportunity to say that he’s done so much for our school. He’s put us on the map, he does so much work and he’s an unsung hero and we all miss him.”

St Patrick’s pedigree in the competition goes without saying – they’ve won 16 titles, second only to St Colman’s who can boast 20 titles – but Lockhart says there’s zero sense of entitlement within the ranks, particularly because they haven’t been quite so successful as in previous generations

“I think in years gone by there were periods where we were very dominant. This year you have 18 schools playing MacRory and a lot of those schools will have gone into the competition believing they could go all the way.

“Other schools are doing just as much work as us, it’s become very competitive which is good to see. There were times when there were St Pat’s teams in the final every other year but that just isn’t realistic any more.”

Maghera will have to be at their very, very best if they’re to overcome an Abbey VS side backboned by a vaunted Four Masters underage set-up. Thirteen of their starting line-up come from the club and that’s something St Patrick’s will have to contend with.

“That’s a big plus for them and you have to give them credit because they won the All-Ireland last year, the MacLarnon, and two Ulster minors, so they know each other inside out. You’ve got to give them respect because they’re in the final on merit.

“How we gauge this, in our own county, Magherafelt won our minor final and played Four Masters in the final and lost. Four Masters are a good team and are blessed with good players.”