By Niall Gartland

IT’S about more than the trophy on offer – a lot more. St Ciaran’s, Ballygawley go in pursuit of a prestigious All-Ireland Schools trophy on Saturday, and joint-manager Darren McCann hopes that their memorable trek to the top has a “ripple effect” down through the school.

St Ciaran’s take on Mayo-based Balla Secondary School this Saturday at 2pm in Ballyshannon under the tutelage of Darren McCann and Fionntan Devlin, who led the team to Markey Cup success in Ulster before swatting aside St. Paul’s College, Raheny at the All-Ireland semi-final juncture.

McCann played on a St Ciaran’s, Ballygawley team that reached an All-Ireland Vocationals semi-final back in 2004, but more recent years weren’t jsut so productive. That makes their run to Saturday’s showdown all the more meaningful for all involved – players, management, family and general well-wishers.

“I think the last time the school won an All-Ireland was 2005. Unfortunately, I was beaten in an All-Ireland semi-final in 2004 at this level in my last year,” said McCann.

“The last time the school was in an All-Ireland final at this level was 2017, when we were beaten by a Mayo school, and previous to that it was 2005 when we won.

“So these days don’t come around too often, but they do have a ripple effect, not just in the school but in the wider community. If you think back to the 2005 team, the knock-on effect from that was Aghaloo winning intermediate championships, Errigal winning senior championships, and Eskra getting promoted from Division Three all the way up to Division One.

“You have that knock-on effect of lads and girls getting more interested in football and wanting to win. We’ve been very fortunate over the last couple of years that we’re competing very strongly, but there’s savage work going on behind the scenes from both the boys’ and girls’ teams and from the coaching side of things. The time and effort being put in, we’re starting to see the dividends of that now.”

The St Ciaran’s management can call upon a supremely talented group of players with a strong representation of clubs from right across the school’s catchment area. Indeed, a number of the players involved have already made their mark at provincial and national level with Tyrone at underage level.

Darren McAnespie (Aghaloo) and Elliot Kerr (Errigal Ciaran) were integral to the county’s run to a first All-Ireland Minor Championship title since 2010 while Shea McDermott (Errigal) played an important role in the u-20’s run to back-to-back All-Ireland titles.

The likes of Clogher, Beragh, Eskra and Killeeshil are also represented while there is a bumper contingent of players from the Galbally Pearses club.

McCann acknowledges that it’s certainly beneficial calling upon McAnespie and McDermott and co, but adds that schools football is unique in its own right.

“Look, we’re blessed with four or five lads who obviously had great success with Tyrone u-20s and minors last year. You look to them to lead by example, but at the end of the day it’s a different stratosphere. You’re playing for your school, coming together with lads from different clubs.

“It’s quite similar to county minor football, but the friendships you build in school and the camaraderie of lads who have maybe been in class together for the last six or seven years is massive. Minor football is over in a short block of time, so there’s something different about this. Schools football brings the whole community together.

“We had a big breakfast the other morning in Canavan’s and it brought the community together massively. There’s a great buzz around the place. Anyone you’re talking to — Kildress, Errigal, Beragh and so on — they’re looking to get their underage matches changed to try and get down to support the lads from their clubs in the final.

“So it’s generated a great bit of excitement around the school community and long may that continue.”

Both St Ciaran’s and Balla enjoyed comprehensive victories over their respective semi-final opponents. The Ballygawley-based school ran out 5-20 to 0-4 victors over Raheny but McCann believes the Dublin side possibly underperformed on the day.

“I can only speak for our side – I went down and watched the Leinster final and Raheny were a strong outfit. It can work two ways.

“You can put in your preparation and your work, and the boys really bought into what we were trying to achieve against Raheny, and it just clicked on the day.

“It could have been a hell of a lot different. They missed quite a number of frees early on, and once we got on top our confidence grew.

“Look, the result probably made it look like it was an easy outing, but any school that comes out of their province, you can’t take it for granted. From our point of view it was a good physical challenge and our boys really clicked on the day.”