Anyone any opinions?

guesswho (Antrim) - Posts: 56 - 12/10/2009 21:45:52    452393

100% not St Marys, St Malachys or St Louis Ballymena. The Academy or Omagh have it for as long as they want it.

CheFinny (UK) - Posts: 1358 - 13/10/2009 12:56:52    452905

should get a full picture of who the frontrunners are once group stages are finished and st.marys have finished there magean campaign

spy_in_the_sky (Antrim) - Posts: 273 - 13/10/2009 17:55:41    453306

CBS at absolute ease !

clogher14 (Tyrone) - Posts: 34 - 13/10/2009 18:58:30    453388

I have just done a bit of research on St Malachys. 1200 fellas and no MacRory cup football since the 1980s why is that? Does that not embarass you Antrim men?

CheFinny (UK) - Posts: 1358 - 13/10/2009 19:16:37    453409

they prefer to play crap like basketball and soccer nowadays you see.

cecil (Antrim) - Posts: 128 - 13/10/2009 19:47:57    453458

i think people stil underestimate st mary's...do any of you know how close they came to a final last year...

guesswho (Antrim) - Posts: 56 - 13/10/2009 20:58:20    453551

Close isn't good enough. Antrim came close to winning a senior all ireland hurling championship but didn't. The footballers came close to winning a game against Kerry this year but didn't. St Marys will win nothing and when all your county footballers are coming from that school youse will win nothing. The fact that probably not even one comes from a catholic grammar school with 1200 lads bemuses me. Why do they play basketball?

CheFinny (UK) - Posts: 1358 - 14/10/2009 09:21:05    453869

close means they're gettin there and have a shout of becoming champions, also that omagh team you talk off, st mary's are one of the only teams to have beaten them in previous years...

guesswho (Antrim) - Posts: 56 - 14/10/2009 15:51:47    454364

and when exactly did they beat them guesswho???

bigbairyhalls (Down) - Posts: 63 - 21/10/2009 22:32:01    462269

it was in fact in 1st year, buh it counts does it not...?

guesswho (Antrim) - Posts: 56 - 23/10/2009 16:54:22    464408

Is this not also the same St. Marys team that brought CBS to a reply when both were 4th or 5th year?

flankie (Antrim) - Posts: 281 - 24/10/2009 00:19:17    464820

3rd year flankie, there should never have been a replay, st mary's were robbed in the 1st game with a ridiculous amount of injury time

guesswho (Antrim) - Posts: 56 - 24/10/2009 11:33:01    464924

As an ex St. Malachy's man I agree that my old school's committment to Gaelic Games is quite shameful. For a College with 1200 pupils they should be challenging any Ulster school every year in both football and hurling but alas they have always been fixated with basketball, athletics, soccer and water polo. I know that the sons of middle class Castle Catholics have always gone there and they haven't always been the biggest cheerleaders for the GAA but they still have to say why the GAA is not on the priority list for such a great Irish speaking school. It is baffling!

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9816 - 25/10/2009 01:04:53    465547

I would say middle class famalies champion the GAA, considering the country grammar schools are full of them. Are all the wee hoods that come from working class areas gaelic mad then? Stupid comment.

CheFinny (UK) - Posts: 1358 - 25/10/2009 23:51:48    466204

Chefinny you clearly haven't a clue what you are talking about. Neither the Catholic middle class nor the Catholic working class are too Gaelic mad around north Belfast but good work is being done by the clubs in that area and St Malachy's are improving in GAA standards. I read on Hoganstand recently that 75,000 primary school kids in Dublin were put through Gaelic Development programmes and I know that there are roughly 2,000 Gaelic development officers in Dublin, there are 2 in Belfast. What is really needed is similar groundwork that has been done in Dublin and hopefully this new Belfast Rising plan will bring it. Some Catholics in north Belfast don't seem to know their heritage with most supporting a britball team and not knowing a single Antrim player while some even go to Belfast Royal Academy (the clue's in the name). So a change of attitude is probably needed aswell but this will hopefully come if they experience the GAA and see it is vastly superior to football or basketball.

Saffron (Antrim) - Posts: 216 - 26/10/2009 16:11:24    466597

In north Belfast I would be hard pushed to name a Gaelic pitch, and I can't even think of one nearer the city centre. I don't believe it's due to lack of interest in gaelic games, talking to friends. It seems to stem from lack of local amenities that both schools and clubs can avail of. Look in a west Belfast club team and you'll see players from north and south Belfast. But I must also agree that Belfast is lightyears behind Dublin in coaching within schools; but at least most Dublin school kids can after school go to the local public GAA pitch, or a local club to build on that coaching; how many north, especially inner city, Belfast kids could do that after school? I don't believe many.

Saffron_in_Dub (Antrim) - Posts: 85 - 27/10/2009 12:33:27    467231

A lack of facilities does also hamper the GAA's development in north Belfast aswell. By the way replace football in that last sentence with soccer, moderators don't like britball.

Saffron (Antrim) - Posts: 216 - 28/10/2009 11:11:21    468271

more importantly what has st mary's results been so far?

robinhood (Antrim) - Posts: 128 - 28/10/2009 11:32:32    468291

As an ex Malachian myself I totally agree with Ulsterman re lack of GAA in the school; responsibility lies totally with school principals as PE teachers are all bball and athletics background and this will remain the current emphasis albeit their success at these sports is highly commendable. The fault does not lie with middle class Catholics. St Mals lost McCrory status in mid 70's and since then have shown little interest in promoting gaelic games. This has also coincided with a siginficant increase in female teaching staff at the school who would have little interest GAA let alone sports. The mantle of GAA was left to one or two individuals to manage all teams at various levels and the lack of co-operation and support from powers that be meant that they were fighting a losing battle. I know for a fact that representatives of Club Aontroim approached the school with a databse of pupils who were registered with clubs in the schools catchment area and offered to fund equipment and coaching on school facilities Secondly, the demographics of North Belfast hardly lend themselves to dedicated GAA facilities as the neighbouring residents in any practical area are for want of a better word less than sympathetic to the ethos of the GAA and the safety of players, mentors and supporters could never be guaranteed. Witout facilities, how are members expected to flourish and become successful?

KevHill (Antrim) - Posts: 271 - 28/10/2009 13:00:50    468403