Inspired by their fallen friend

REBEL ÓG MONTHLY SPORTS AWARDS

The journey to All-Ireland schools success only took them so far towards the light at the other end. Shane Murphy’s death offered them perspective and understanding.

“With sport in schools, you are using it as a vehicle of education,” says their legendary coach, Mickey ‘Ned’ O’Sullivan. “The death of one of their friends, one of our pupils, was a trauma that was extremely difficult to deal with at the time, the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with, but they’ve come out of it positively.”

Each time the achievements of the school’s football team is mentioned, Shane Murphy will be prioritised. He was, and remains, their inspiration. The day he died last year, Coláiste Ghobnatán were struggling to match Kinsale CS. After the trauma came the teaching — and not just about football.

“The lads needed to grasp that team work, work ethic and discipline were far more important as life values than the result of any match. I couldn’t give a damn about the result if I couldn’t get those basics right. That was my job as an educator,” says Mickey Ned, a coach for close on 40 years. “Towards the end of the journey, the penny dropped. Without those attributes, we won’t end the journey successfully.”

It ended in April in Portlaoise, with All-Ireland SCFC success against Ardee CS in the final. This week, the innovative Rebel Óg awards honoured their achievements.

You’ll hear plenty more of them. There’s potentially three Cork minors and a Kerry minor captain jostling for inter-county jerseys this summer. Two of them, Maidhc Ó Duinnín from Naomh Abán and Dan O’Donoghue from Spa in Killarney might even mark each other in the Munster MFC final on July 6.

“They’re an exceptionally talented group, even though small in number. We only had a 21-man squad,” Mickey Ned said. They were led admirably by captain, Tomás Hallissey, of Naomh Abán.

Having once competed in the now-defunct vocational schools competition, this was Coláiste Ghobnatán’s first campaign in the All-Ireland Colleges series after emerging from a Munster campaign where they trophy was named after 16-year-old Shane Murphy. They beat Lisdoonvarna in the provincial last 16, Hospital from Limerick in the quarter-final, Rice College, Ennis in the semi and Thurles CBS by 2-9 to 0-5 in the Munster final.

Baile Bhúirne won a squeaker over Ballinamore CS from Leitrim in the All-Ireland semi-final before the April 5 decider against Ardee.

Muskerry Gaeltacht is not noted for its hurling prowess, but this year Coláiste Ghobnatán also competed in the college sector for the first time and under the tutelage of teachers Shane Ó Duinneacha and Gearóid Ó Creimín, they triumphed in their Cork Colleges Championship grade.

Principal Breandán O Lionaird said: “The All-Ireland was a mammoth achievement from a team which a year ago was rocked by the untimely death of their classmate.”

The Rebel Óg awards, now in their third year, are backed by the Rochestown Park Hotel, Cummins Sports, the Irish Examiner and Red FM. They shine a light on the work and diligence shown at club and school levels for young players. Explained chairman Marc Sheehan: “We’re especially conscious of the contribution of clubs and schools to the nurturing and development of youngsters. There is no finer example of this than Coláiste Ghobnatán.”