DEAN MAGUIRC – PATH TO THE FINAL
Dean Maguirc College, Carrickmore have reached an Ulster Ladies U16 Final for the first time in the school’s history. The school has won previous U14 & U20 Ulster titles but the U16 title has always evaded them.
They face fellow Tyrone school, St Patrick’s Academy Dungannon on Tuesday 29th January in St. Patrick’s, Rock at 1pm.
The Dean’s Ulster campaign started back in September 2024 with a comprehensive win in their opening match against Aquinas Grammar, Belfast with a score line of 8 -14 to 3 -7.
Again, the Dean proved too strong against the next local rival, St Joseph’s
Grammar, Donaghmore. The Dean were slow to get going in this match and Donaghmore were competitive but once the momentum got going, The Dean ran away with it defeating Donaghmore 8 -09 to 1 -11.
The final group game was played before the Halloween break in Tír na nÓg, Portadown against another Belfast School, St Dominic’s. The Dean were in fine form once again and scored heavily against a talented St. Dominic’s.
Topping the group, the Dean progressed to the Ulster Semi- Final to play
Sacred Heart Grammar, Newry. This game was played in Éire Óg pitch in Carrickmore on 2nd December and was a very intense and closely contested match. Sacred Heart were very strong across the field but the Dean girls showed true grit and determination to overcome their opponents by 3 points. Final score 2-11 to 3 -05.
New Strength and Conditioning area at DMC
A project two years in the making reached fruition recently at Dean Maguirc College when the new strength and conditioning area opened.
The project would not have been possible without the support of the parents, businesses and GAA clubs associated with the Dean. Sponsorship raised from all these groups for our recent Sports Presentation nights facilitated the purchased of the equipment which was supplied and fitted by Odin Strength, owned by our past pupils Ruairi and Maire Grimes(Nee Mc Mahon).
A great debt of gratitude is also owed to past pupils, father and sons Sean, John and Paudie Conlon of CRS who supplied and fabricated the mesh partition wall and sliding door to close off the new area located on the gym stage.
Past pupils Francie and Nuala Gormley of FG Groundworks once again answered the call of their old school and contributed significantly to the overall financial cost of putting this area in place.
Today we also take the opportunity to thank our long-term sponsors of the Dean Senior Boys team – Brendan Loughran and Sons. They have been involved for many years now and came on board when the success we have enjoyed in recent years had yet to come. However, the winning of the Markey Cup in 2022 and the move to MacLarnon level has seen them get their just rewards.
S&C has become an integral part of the development of young people in sport and the installation of this area has allowed the Dean to keep pace with modern strength and conditioning as well as injury prevention programmes.
Once again, the collective will of the Dean wider community has won through by providing this facility for the growth and development of our pupils.
On Monday 24th June we celebrated the achievements of our KS3 pupils at our annual Junior Prizegiving Ceremony. Guest speaker for the event was past pupil Grace Conneely. Grace qualified as a pharmacist and is now working in Antrim Area Hospital. Those in attendance were delighted to hear of her time at school and her career pathway.
Pupils were rewarded for their effort and achievement in their subjects and through extra- curricular activities along with excellent attendance. For the Year 10 pupils this marked the end of Junior school as they now prepare to enter KS4 and their GCSE pathways.
Congratulations to Year 10 pupils, Grace McCullagh who was awarded the Hugh Rafferty Memorial Cup, Áine Mullan who received the KS3 Achievement Award. Most Endeavour award went to Cara Harte and the Joseph McKernan Cup was received by Marcus Conway.
Congratulations to our Camogs who have had such success making history this academic year by winning three Ulster titles in Camogie. Success came in victories over Bailieborough Community School, Co. Cavan in both the U–14 and U–16 Ulster Finals and in the Senior Girls’ Ulster Final, the ‘Dean’ defeated St. Joseph’s High School, Crossmaglen, Co. Armagh.
We look forward to recognising these achievements at our Celebration if Sporting Achievement on June 2oth in The Patrician, Carrickmore.
Dean Maguirc College booked its place in the final of The Corn Colmcille competition (U13.5) by beating Abbey Vocational School on Friday past at Irvinestown’s Bawnacre centre. Having topped the qualifying group with victories over St. Louis’ Ballymena, St. Ciaran’s Ballygawley and St Joseph’s Donaghmore, The Dean entered the semi final on Friday as slight favourites over its Donegal counterparts.
Weather conditions were not ideal as the players took to the pitch but both teams adapted well to the wet ball and produced high quality football from the outset. It was Abbey who impressed most in the early exchanges and got the first two scores on the board. The Dean duly upped the tenacity in their tackling and this paid great dividends with them scoring a goal on the counter attack through ace marksman Brayden McNally. This team prides itself on gaining turnovers and they did this regularly during an excellent first half. Great pressure was applied to the Abbey kickout and The Dean were rewarded with scores from Marcus Conway and Mark Harte. From then on goals were on the mind of the attackers and they went on to score three from Pauric Broderick, Finbar Donaghy and Brayden McNally again. Abbey kept themselves in the game by scoring a goal after some great work from their half back line. At the half time break Dean Maguirc College were seven points in the ascendancy with a score line of 4.3 to 1.5.
The second half was a more cautious affair with The Dean seemingly more determined to hold on to the lead rather than extend it. They suffered for this in conceding two goals to Abbey, one of which was a penalty. Some substitutions brought fresh impetus to The Dean’s attack and one in particular, Matthew Meenagh, can count himself very unlucky to have had his goal disallowed. A goal each for Marcus Conway and Brayden McNally, alongside to a point from midfielder Lochlann Gillen paved the way for a nine point victory for Dean Maguirc winning by 6.6 to 3.6. They go on to play another Donegal school, St. Eunan’s Letterkenny, in the final which is due to take place on April the 20th, after the Easter holidays.
Also in attendance were two guest speakers, who needed no introduction, Martin Penrose and Stephen O’Neill. Both shared some of the experiences with the boys and provided grounded advise about playing in high pressure games. They emphasised the importance of a strong panel and the need to have prepared mentally for what lies ahead.
Dean Maguirc College would like to thank all of the club representatives, most of whom have Dean connections, for taking time out to attend the event. We would also like to thank both guest speakers for being so generous with their time and advise.
Club representatives..
Beragh : Niall and Paul Owens.(past pupils)
Loughmacrory: Ciaran Meenagh past pupil and current parent)
Greencastle: Sean Teague(current parent)
Killyclogher: Sean O’Kane .
Pomeroy: Enda Kilpatrick.
Carrickmore: Jonathan Monroe(Past pupil)
Dean Maguirc Carrickmore 3-8 Coláiste Cholmcille Ballyshannon 1-10
History was made at Roslea on Wednesday evening when Dean Maguirc Carrickmore won the Ulster Schools Markey Cup for the first time in their history with a deserved four point win over Coláiste Cholmcille Ballyshannon.
It was a superb game of football played on a perfect surface between two well drilled sides. The winners grabbed goals either side of halftime and while their opponents battled back the Dean were able to keep their noses in front. Dean keeper Kilian Kerr was called into action in the opening seconds to save well from Anton Govorov while he also blocked two follow ups as well. Kevin Cuddy opened the scoring before Sean Og Teague doubled Dean’s advantage but by the 11th minute the sides were level thanks to efforts from Aongas Sweeney and Ryan Barrett.
The Dean though were enjoyed a purple patch with Michael Rafferty, Pierce Byrne, James McCallan, Ronan Fox, Teague, Davagh Loughran and Aidan Woods all to the fore and efforts from Teague and Woods (2) moved them 0-5 to 0-2 in front. They missed a number of chances though and that allowed their opponents to reduce the deficit to the minimum with points from Jack Gallagher and Barrett. In the final attack of the first half though midfielder McCallan surged through and gave keeper Aaron Cullen no chance with a thumping shot to the top left hand corner of the net to leave it 1-5 to 0-4 at the break.
Things got even better for Dean Maguirc in the first attack of the second half when Woods finished in style to the bottom right hand corner of the net to give them a firm grip on proceedings. Loughran tagged on a point and at this stage it looked as though the Dean would assume complete control. The Donegal lads though had other ideas and a brace of points from Kyle McNulty was followed by a brilliant goal from Govorov in the 38th minute to leave just a single score between the sides.
Gallagher then reduced the gap to two and the momentum appeared to have turned until the Dean reasserted themselves. Mickey Joe McGlinchey got a vital point for he winners and that was quickly followed by a quality score from distance from Cuddy. With eight minutes to go substitute Callum Stewart gave the Dean some breathing space with their third goal. That proved to be their last score but they had done enough. Gallagher kicked a brace of points before being sent off while McNulty registered again but the night belonged to Dean Maguirc as they secured a fabulous and well deserved win.
Dean girls win Ulster U20 title
The under 20C colleges game between Dean Maguirc College and Largy College took place on Thursday at the Bawnacre centre, Irvinestown.
The Dean girls had come through two very tough games to qualify for the final. They beat Virginia College Cavan in the quarter final by 1pt after extra time and then St. Louis, Ballymena in the semi-final by 1pt in a replay after extra-time. The girls had shown real character to come through these battles. However, the team had lost Claire McGarrity through injury.
Winning such games stood to them going into the final. In the first half the girls played against a strong wind. The Dean started off well and went 2 points up, however, Largy College took control of the game and took full advantage of the wind and went 2-2 to 4 points up after 15 minutes. Once again the Dean girls dug deep and started to crawl their way back into the game. Maeve McCrystal was very influential during this period and scored 1-3 to bring the girls back into the game.
The game flowed from end to end and at half time only a single point separated them. Dean 1-06 to Largy 2-04.
The wind had a bearing on the second half and Largy college found it increasingly difficult to work the ball out of their defence. The dean team became more confident and started to dominate the play. The addition of Meaghan Clarke coming on further boosted the dean with her ability to run at the Largy defence. This helped settle the team and through Caitlin Gormley and player of the match Mairead McGarrity began to take control of the game. A few excellent frees from Sorcha Gormley helped the Dean pull away from their opponents and a late goal from Clodagh Munroe sealed the title.
Overall it was an excellent team performance and the girls now go onto to represent the school in the All-Ireland series. The game finished Dean Maguirc College 2-19 to Largy College 2-06.
Dean Team: Aoibh Kerr, Aoibhinn Daly, Sarah Devlin, Aimee McGuigan, Cloda McNamee, Eimear McGarrity, Mairead McGarrity, Leah McGuigan, Caoimhe Warnock (0-1), Alanagh McCallan (0-1), Caitlin Gormley (0-3), Sorcha Gormley (0-3), Mollie Clarke (0-1), Meave McCrystal (1-7), Clodagh Munroe (1-2): Subs used: Blaithnait Kerr, Meaghan Clarke (0-1), Aine Grimes, Laura Corcoran and Siofra Loughran. Caitlin Conway, Aine McPhillips, Seanna Clarke, Ebony-Leigh Johnston, Mary Gormley, Anna Sweeney, Maebh McGarrity, Aoibhean Kerr.