A decade since Coláiste Choilm went all the way

THE schools season for the 2013/14 campaign was just about to get underway and one of the sleeping giants of schools GAA were still trying to get their house in order.

Coláiste Choilm in Ballincollig were tipped for big things for many years going back to the start of the 21st century where they were supplying Cork players like there was no tomorrow.

2001 could arguably be seen as the starting point. Coláiste Choilm won the Frewen Cup in that year and the following year the team retained the trophy and also reached the Corn Uí Mhuirí quarter-final in 2003, but lost to a star-studded Douglas outfit who were led by Eoin Cadogan.

That period of success resulted in Coláiste Choilm supplying eight of the Cork minor football panel that were defeated by Kerry in the 2003 Munster final, but recovered to reach the All-Ireland final where they fell short against Dublin. Daniel Goulding, Paddy Kelly, Brian Cotter, Steve O’Donoghue, Conor Barrett, Shane McCarthy, Niall Horgan and Colin Weste were all on the Rebels team from the school. 

For the 2007/08 schools campaign , another special crop of players came together but despite a good run in the Corn Uí Mhuirí, claiming the prestigious trophy remained elusive. St Brendan’s College knocked out the Ballincollig school at the quarter-final stage. Ciarán Sheehan, Kevin Hallissey, John Dineen, JP Murphy, Liam Jennings, Ian Coughlan and Liam Murphy were just some of the well-known club players on the team. The team did claim a first Simcox Cup title for the school.

In the intervening years, Coláiste Choilm kept churning out brilliant players, but for one reason or another, it didn’t translate on the pitch.

And that brings me back to the introduction. It was the start of pre-season if you would like to call it for the school teams, it was early September 2013, the start of the Corn Uí Mhuirí was a matter of weeks away, and there was still no white smoke regarding a manager, which is always the first step to success.

Eventually halfway through September, John O’Shea took the reins. A teacher in the school, from Sneem but living in Ovens and was heavily involved and successful as a coach of various teams in Éire Óg. He wasn’t new to the scene, he had been involved with the Coláiste Choilm senior footballers previously, but little did he know by the end of the campaign his charges would end up in the big house in Dublin, Croke Park.

The fact that O’Shea’s appointment came late in the day so to speak, Coláiste Choilm didn’t enter into the Corn Uí Mhuirí for that 2013/14 season.  

It would turn out to be a remarkable, historic, stunning season and whatever other words you want to use. It was the stuff of dreams. It all started with the Simcox Cup competition as Coláiste Choilm were bidding to win it for only the second time. The previous occasion was in 2008. We won’t dissect every game otherwise we would take up the whole of today’s paper, but Coláiste Choilm would eventually end up in the final. 

It was expected to end in disappointment against a well-oiled De La Salle Macroom side. But, played in CIT (now MTU Cork), the Ballincollig school pounced for three second-half goals to claim the crown. Current Cork senior hurling captain Seán O’Donoghue, Cian Kiely and Ronan O’Toole grabbed the all-important goals in a 4-13 to 1-18 victory.

Coláiste Choilm made it all the way to the Munster Colleges Senior B football championship final and it took a replay for the Muskerry school to win the prize against Hamilton High School Bandon. Having conceded a late goal in the drawn game, Coláiste Choilm were determined not to let it slip again and they didn’t as they won 2-10 to 0-11, played under the lights in Cloughduv with Donncha Kelly’s two goals all so important.

In the All-Ireland semi-final, Galway’s Holy Rosary Mountbellew provided the opposition. Conor Hughes and Cian Kiely hit goals in each half as Coláiste Choilm recovered from a slow start to win 2-9 to 2-8. They had made it to Croke Park.

Dublin side St Aidan's, were the opposition on this day 10 years ago. Coláiste Choilm were big underdogs against the alma mater of Liam Brady and Bertie Ahern. The Ballincollig based outfit looked in trouble at various stages of a well-matched encounter but a superb goal by substitute Declan Hyland within a minute of his introduction helped turn the tide irrevocably in his team’s favour. O’Shea’s charges kept their composure to eke out a 1-11 to 1-10 success at GAA HQ. Coláiste Choilm’s greatest GAA day so far.

This scribe was lucky enough to have been in attendance that day, a 4th year pupil in the school at the time, it was a pleasure to have been there and the celebrations afterwards said it all.

Scorers and the team from the famous day in Croker below.

Scorers for Coláiste Choilm: S O’Donoghue 0-6 (0-4 f), D Hyland 1-0, C Kiely 0-2 (0-1 f), D McCarthy, A O’Raw, D Murphy 0-1 each.

COLÁISTE CHOILM: C Kelly (Éire Óg); K O’Regan (Ballinora), K O’Sullivan (Ballincollig), P Cronin (Ballinora); D Murphy (Éire Óg), M Lordan (Ballinora), D McCarthy (Éire Óg); A O’Raw (Inniscarra), R O’Toole (Éire Óg); L Collins (Inniscarra), S O’Donoghue (Inniscarra, capt), S Curzon (Kilmurry); C Kiely (Ballincollig), D Kelly (Éire Óg), C Hughes (Canovee).

Subs: D Hyland (Inniscarra) for S Curzon (49), E O’Shea (Éire Óg) for D Kelly (61), M O’Leary (Ballincollig) for C Hughes (62).