It is 42 years since Eugene Macken captained St Colman's College, Claremorris, to Hogan Cup glory against Carmelite College, Moate - and the south Mayo school is still the only school from the county to claim the top prize in school's football since it started in 1946.
On Saturday afternoon in Pearse Park in Longford, at 1.30pm - they go looking to make it back to the final for the first time since 1981, a time they were beaten by the Moate outfit - when they take on St. Michael's, Enniskillen, for a place in the national decider.
Two weeks ago they claimed their sixth Connacht title with a 0-15 to 1-11 win over St Gerald's College, Castlebar following up on their victory over the previous year's champions, Rice College, in the semi-final.
Two years ago, St Colman's reached this stage of the competition only to lose out to a stacked St Brendan's, Killarney side in Ennis by eight points, after a brave and battling display that saw the game only slip away from them after a lucky goal from David Shaw mid-way through the second half. The Claremorris based outfit have four squad members from that side still involved this year, in the shape of the impressive Cillian Golding, Liam Og Horkan, Enda Hession and James Jennings, and all four will be keen to make amends for not making the final two years ago.
At the back, St Colman's will be looking to the likes of Luke Gallagher and Justin Commins to keep it tight at the back in the full back line, while if Ethan Henry can provide a repeat of his Connacht Final performance, where he scored four points from play, and his general overall excellence that day, it will be a great addition to their chances. In the middle of the park, Golding will be expected to drive on his team in the engine room. Further up the field, Niall Tracey and Matt Saunders will be expected to work hard at wing forward, to create the space and chances for those further ahead of them, like Conor McGuinness and James Jennings.
Tomorrow afternoon they will face a St Michael's team, who claimed their seventh MacRory Cup title, beating Omagh CBS by 0-16 to 2-6 on St Patrick's Day, with their wing-forward Dara McBrien their leading scorer, hitting 0-7 over the hour. The Fermanagh outfit raced into a 0-11 to 0-3 lead at the break in that one and were able to hold off an early second half fight back from their opponents to hang on and see out the game. While McBrien was the star of the show on the scoreboard - the St Michael's team is sprinkled with quality players that Colman's will have to watch out for, like their captain Brandon Horan, James Largo-Ellis and Michael Glynn.
