By Niall Gartland

MACRORY Cup finalists Abbey CBS is Down-based by address, but their catchment area reaches across county lines into Armagh and there’s a neat symmetry to an outstanding group of footballers.

Managed by Dan Gordon, Head of PE at the school and a former Down footballer, they booked their spot in Sunday week’s blue ribbon showpiece with a very impressive win over Omagh CBS last Sunday.

Two of their best performers – Diarmaid O’Rourke and Keelan McEntee – are sons of former All-Ireland winners with Armagh (Aidan and Tony) but there’s plenty of Mournmen on the team as well.

“The squad is actually half and half – half Down, half Armagh – just by accident.” said Gordon.

“We’re seen as a Down school but we’ve a lot of roots in south Armagh, and we’re delighted and privileged to have the Armagh boys on board.

“We have a lot of sport from the Armagh County Board and the Down County Board, and we all work very well together.

“In our first 15, from 1-8, we don’t have any Down players. It’s Armagh defenders, and one Louth defender – whose father is from Louth. He’s Finn Madine. And then from 9-15, there’s only one Armagh lad (Oisin Byrne).”

This is Abbey’s first MacRory Cup final appearance since they won the MacRory and Hogan double under the late Jody Gormley back in 2006.

But while days like these don’t come around too often, they actually have a storied history in the competition having played in a total of 14 MacRory Cup finals – winning five and losing nine. As it happens, their captain that year was a former Down teammate of Gordon’s, namely Kevin McKernan, who is GAA Development Officer at the school.

Standing in their way of a sixth title is St Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon, who are in a similar enough boat – they’ve also won five titles, their last in 2009.

Gordon said: “There’s a good pedigree in the school – in fact, we’ve a lot of famous pass pupils who have come through the school, who went on to play for Down and Armagh. Unfortunately it’s a first final in 20 years – and that was the last time we even made the semi-final.

“There’s a lot of time been invested into the current crop of players from junior school upwards, and hopefully this is the fruition of a lot of hard work by a lot of teachers.”