We had a brilliant day on Tuesday the 23 of April as we hosted our second Bertie Foley Blitz at the Ardboe O’Donovan Rossa Pitches. We were very fortunate to have Mr Foley able to attend out tournament last year and make the presentations to our our player of the tournament and the winning teams. Sadly not long after this Mr Foley passed away on the 19th of April 2023. Bertie was a past Principal here in St Patrick’s Mullinahoe from 1987 to 2001. His legacy and contributions to the wider Ardboe community was enormous and will live long into the future. Throughout his teaching career Bertie played an active role in promoting and organising gaelic games in primary schools across Tyrone and Ulster. It is fair to say Bertie’s impact in Tyrone and especially here in St Patrick’s Mullinahoe was huge and is still felt to this day.
On Monday we gave a warm welcome to boys and girls from our local schools; Derrychrin PS, Holy Family PS Magherafelt, St. John’s PS Kingsisland, St. Patrick’s PS Loup, St. Peter’s PS Moortown, St. Trea’s PS Ballymaguigan and our own teams from St. Patrick’s PS Mullinahoe.
The schools were divided into two groups in both the boys and girls sections. The action was non stop on all four pitches right up until lunch time when we were finally able to see who our four semi finalists were.
After the semi finals were played we had Derrychrin and Ardboe emerge to meet in the girls final. This was a great game where both schools displayed a very high level of skill and determination. Despite the best efforts of the Ardboe girls a very impressive Derrychrin team emerged as our Bertie Foley Cup winners, ending the day unbeaten!
In the boys final St Trea’s met St Patrick’s Ardboe. This was a very exciting game full of some excellent score taking and great tackling and blocking from both sets of players. St Patrick’s got the early goal first and held on to their lead despite some great work from St Trea’s. When they closed the gap the Ardboe boys always seemed able to hit back and score another goal to hold on to their lead. On the final whistle the Ardboe boys celebrated the win with some great support from the watching St Patrick’s pupils who were there to spectate.
We were very fortunate to have Joe Foley, Mr Foleys son, in attendance to make the presentations. First up was Sarah McGlade who lifted the Cup for the Derrychrin girls following in the steps of St Canice’s Dungiven, who won last years tournament. Derrychrin also left with the player of the tournament award, as the very skilful Casey Musgrave won it after impressing throughout the day with a series of super performances.
Then we made the presentation to our boys winners St Patrick’s Mullinahoe. Conal O’Neill proudly lifted the cup for St Patrick’s boys. The second winning team after St Patrick’s Galbally won it for the first time last year.
The boys player of the tournament went to St Trea’s with Daire McGlone lifting the award after catching the eye of everyone present with some excellent performance throughout the day.
A big thanks must go to all the volunteers who helped with the day to make it a success. To everyone who set up the pitches, the goals, marked sidelines, refereed games, acted as umpires, and sorted all food and refreshments for the staff present.
Once again thank you to all the schools who attended and to Ardboe O’Donovan Rosa’s GAC who pulled out all the stops to ensure the tournament was a big success. Thank you to Mickey Coleman and Shoreline Builders for their continued sponsorship of the blitz, and the Foley family for sponsoring the award for our girls player of the tournament. A special mention must go to Sharon Coleman and Brian McGuigan for all their work in organising the day and their continued support for everything in the school.
