Summerhill bid to make Sligo history

BID TO MAKE HISTORY: Summerhill College players bidding to make Sligo History Pic: Summerhill College/Twitter

Summerhill College eye a place in history today as the aim to become the first Sligo school to win the Hogan Cup when the face Omagh CBS at Croke Park (1pm)

It is only the second final appearance by a Sligo school in the decider - Summerhill lost the 1985 final to Cork's Coláiste Chríost Rí.

Summerhill overcame fancied Killarney college St Brendan’s in the semi-final and joint-manager Mark Breheny just hopes his boys won't be overawed by the sense of occasion a trip to Croke Park inevitably brings. 

He told GAA.ie: “The immediate joy of winning the semi-final straight away parachuted your mind to Croke Park and the venue.

“But we're trying to reemphasise the point that we want to win an All-Ireland, that's our objective, and whether we play it in a small pitch or in Croke Park it's just about winning the game.

“Croke Park is certainly a massive factor and it's brilliant for any young player, but at the end of the day we just have to go about our business and win the match firstly. It's important to enjoy the occasion too. It's massive for their families, for the local community, the school itself.

“It's the first final our school will ever have played in Croke Park and it's an occasion that they're all looking forward to. I hope they're not overawed by it, I don't think they will be. I hope that they just embrace it and are up for the challenge of it.” 

Summerhill overcame St. Gerald’s of Castlebar, Rice College of Westport,  Ballinrobe Community School and Claregalway College to come out of Connacht, then upset the Kerry kingpins by three points in the semi-final.

“We were delighted with the win obviously over St. Brendan's. We knew their calibre from their Munster campaign. They were good throughout, we'd seen clips of the Munster semi-final and final.

"Thankfully we just kept working hard and I think the belief from the previous games coming near the end got us over the line.

“In fairness to our group this year they've shown they can reset very quickly. From the Connacht Final I think they had their eyes on a semi-final performance and weren't just happy with a Connacht Final win. I think that mindset was really, really good, and we saw it again immediately after the semi-final win.

“It took a couple of days to come down from the hype of it all, but once we got them back training their focus was immediately back on producing a huge performance for the Hogan Cup Final. They don't want to leave this one behind them."