Darragh McBrien and his St Michael’s team-mates are ready for anything Omagh CBS might throw at them in the MacRory Cup decider.

The talented Belnaleck club man has been one of the major attacking weapons for his side this year but he is putting his faith in his team’s defence to curtail what has been a free scoring Omagh attack.

When the two sides met in the McCormack Cup semi final earlier this season CBS hit five goals. They plundered another five in seeing off St Patrick’s Armagh in the MacRory Cup semi final:

“They were absolutely ruthless against us, there is no other word for it. We had done well for 25 minutes or so in the first half but they hit two goals and were just as ruthless in the second half. But we have confidence in our defenders to do a job on their forwards and then it is up to us at the other end to get enough scores,” McBrien said.

The strong running half forward was integral to his side’s semi final win over St Patrick’s Maghera with a brilliant last 20 minutes helping to propel his side into the final.

McBrien is his own harshest critic however and will be expecting more from himself come the final and he revealed that the team have been focusing hard on producing their best:

“We have been training very hard since the semi final and working on what we need to do to beat Omagh. It has been good to have a bit of a break. There has been a lot of hype around the school which has been great but we also have plenty of time to get down to work and make sure we do everything we can to be ready for the final and we are just counting the days now.”

This is the first final that St Michael’s will have competed in since 2012 but the College has a rich history in the blue riband colleges competition and McBrien pointed to manager Dominic Corrigan as a man who knows all about the importance of the MacRory Cup to the school.

“This is Mr. Corrigan’s seventh final in 20 years. He understands what the MacRory Cup means and he is a great man to have in charge. It is a great occasion and we can’t wait to get on to the pitch now,” he explained before concluding by talking about the team spirit that exists within in the squad:

“We have been together since September, We are a tight knit group and we enjoy the craic but when we get on to the pitch it is down to business. We all back each other up and we are all confident in our own abilities.”