Colaiste Choilm manager delighted to be putting shoulder to wheel in old alma mater

MANAGING Colaiste Choilm, Tullamore in Saturday's Leinster Colleges Senior Football Championship final against favourites, Naas CBS will be an emotional occasion for their manager, Mark Plunkett.

The affable Tullamore man went to the school for five years from 1982 to 1987 and he is really enjoying putting his shoulder to the wheel as they bid to win a historic first title in the “A” grade.

Despite having some very good footballers there during his time in the school, the then Tullamore CBS were in “B” grade and didn't manage to win anything. Plunkett was one of many very good footballers in Tullamore CBS at that time. He was outstanding as Offaly won the All-Ireland U-21 Football Championship in 1988, played international rules for Ireland in 1990, senior for Offaly for a few years but health and injury problems meant that his career was not as long as he would have liked.

They won a couple of North Leinster titles but couldn't get over the line in the full province. Niall Bryant and Adrian Corcoran from Mucklagh and Rahan, Tullamore's Paddy Berry and the late Paul Jordan, Daingean were among the very good players there in his time.

They stayed in “B” football for most of the years since then, with only a couple of brief forays into the top flight but the wheel has turned quite spectacularly in the past few years. A very talented squad, including such outstanding footballers as John Furlong, Cormac Egan and Niall Bryant, won the “B” title in 2020 and Colaiste Choilm have reached the last three semi-finals in the “A” grade.

Naas CBS broke their hearts in the first two but Colaiste Choilm finally got across the line this year, staging a great come from behind win to pip St Pat's of Navan last Friday.

It is Plunkett's third year as manager and the involvement of him and Ballinagar man Paurig Gallagher – also a past pupil of the school in the 1980s – has been a welcome development in recent years. For decades, school teams were left to teachers but with a dwindling number of teachers willing to run GAA affairs, the County Board, clubs and interested parents have finally woken up to the reality that they needed help.

Tullamore senior footballer manager Niall Stack was the manager when they won “B” in 2020 and Plunkett and Gallagher came in after that – their sons, Harry Plunkett and Robbie Gallagher were students and key players at that stage but it has been a labour of love for the duo who have stayed on with teachers, John Lydon (a Mayo man who has been in the school since the late 1980s) and Rahan man Rory Kearney – another local man Ray Murray is the physio.

Cork native Ray O'Donovan, another survivor from the 1980s, is still putting his shoulder to the GAA ship in the school – Offaly senior footballer David Dempsey is teaching there now, taking charge of teams in younger age groups while former county hurler Colm Cassidy is ensuring the small ball game is not left behind.

There is many more and asked about his involvement, Plunkett smiled: “The head of football in Tullamore is Ray O'Donovan and Ray O'Donovan taught me, he was my manager when I was in school. I am just delighted to be able to do it for the school, to help and do my little bit for the school to get them into the final where they deserve to be.”

He talked about the importance of Colaiste Choilm competing at this level.

“It's a feeder school for Offaly and a lot of clubs. Not just Tullamore, you have Shamrocks, Daingean, Cappincur, all the clubs around. You have everywhere. I mean the best footballers around this part of the world are coming to Tullamore and they deserve to be in the A. They had a little thing a couple of years ago where they didn't think they would be good enough but you good see there they are good enough. That is Pat's of Navan, not just any team. They are a massive traditional school and you have Naas and Mel's (Longford) in the other semi-final. Massive schools so we are competing with the best which is great for the school.”

He was thrilled and relieved with the character Colaiste Choilm showed to beat St Pat's on Friday. Having lost the last two semi-finals to Naas, there was pressure on to get across the line but it looked like history was going to repeat when St Pat's led by three points with five minutes left.

“The one thing we had this year is we had a great panel and the subs we brought on made a big difference to us. It think that got us over the line.

“The first year we were beaten by Naas, we were beaten by a better team but last year we threw it away. This year we were determined and we didn't panic when they went ahead and got those couple of points. We knew we had the players to bring on. Cian Bracken when he came on made a massive difference. Cormac Whittle, Eoin Rouse. They all contributed. The lads who came off were spent but still we have a panel and that is what it is all about.”

He didn't panic when it seemed that St Pat's had repelled Colaiste Choilm's best inside the closing quarter.

“They did weather the storm but Cillian Bourke got to grips around midfield and started winning the ball. Once we didn't panic and then Niall Furlong kicked some great scores when the pressure was on. Even when Cian missed that free, we didn't panic. They are a very mature bunch of lads. They knew they could get ahead and they knew the next ball would be theirs.”

In injury time, Cian Bracken put Colaiste Choilm ahead with a fisted point, even though he was in one on one on the goallkeeper. Were you shouting at him to go for goal and end it?

“No the fisted point was the right thing. They had to go all the way up the field to get a score and that had to go over the bar. It showed maturity by cooly fisting it over.”

While reaching the final was a huge bridge for Colaiste Choilm to cross, Plunkett is not settling for that.

“Even though it is great to win it and be in a final and it is great for the school, we are determined to go on and win it.”