Council Chair hosts a reception for Omagh Christian Brothers School Rannafast Cup Champions

Recently the Chair of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, Councillor John McClaughry, hosted a reception for the OMagh Christmas Brothers School Rannafast Cup Champions.

The following is the speech made by the Chair at the reception:

Good afternoon Councillors, Ladies and Gentlemen

As Chair of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, I am delighted to welcome you all here to Strule Arts Centre, Omagh for this reception in honour of the Omagh CBS Rannafast Cup Champions.

Your competition commenced in September 2024 when you took on St Patrick’s, Maghera and won 0-13 to 0-05.  This was followed by a close encounter against St Malachy’s, Belfast winning by two points with a score of 0-11 to 0-09.

Your next match against St Paul’s, Bessbrook resulted in another victory of 2-11 to 1-09 earning you a deserved place in the Quarter Finals.

You enjoyed a comfortable quarter final win over St Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon and semi-final win over St Pat’s, Cavan with scorelines of 2-15 to 1-05 and 6-12 to 2-07 respectively.

The final took place on 18 December 2024 in O’Neill Park, Dungannon against Abbey CBS, Newry.  This was a close match with both teams matching point for point in the first half and it was Abbey CBS who took a two point lead in the interval.

You came out in the second half with the determination to win and 3 minutes after the restart you levelled the score.  Abbey fought back again, however, following scores from Diarmuid Martin and Aodhan Corry the match was all square again.  Peter Garrity got a terrific score with just 6 minutes to go and, after you had a goal denied, Abbey CBS levelled the score again.  It looked like extra time was inevitable, however, up stepped your Captain to score in injury time to lift the title of Rannafast Cup Champions.

This win was even more significant as you made history by being the first team in the school to win the Dalton, Corn na Og, Oisin McGrath and Rannafast titles in successive seasons.  This is truly remarkable given the high standard of success by Omagh CBS in Gaelic games.

I know the school also won both the Dalton and McGrath Cups at Ulster Level this year.  I convey our congratulations to the teams and we are pleased to be joined by the Captain and Vice Captain of both teams today.

Playing sport teaches you the technical aspects of the game and provides you with the opportunity to be active.  However, it also teaches you the importance and value of being a good communicator, listener and team player; having resilience and bring able to adapt to change.  These are all important qualities that will benefit you as you continue to play sport and also in your future careers.

Each of you have demonstrated these qualities to a high level and I commend you for this and for the exceptional talent you showed throughout the competition to achieve an unbeaten run.  I would also like to commend you on your commitment to training as you have your school and personal commitments alongside this.

I would like to commend the coaches, Pat McNabb and Conor McFlynn on your work to coach the team to enable the boys to enjoy success and special moments of history such as this.

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council is committed to ensuring that our people are healthy and well and have opportunities to be active.  By providing extra-curricular activities such as sport in school helps us to achieve this.

On behalf of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, and on my own behalf, I would like to congratulate the Omagh CBS Rannafast Cup Team on your success and on making history within the school.  You have done yourselves, your family and friends, your school, your football Clubs and your District proud.  I wish you continued success for the future in your sporting, academic and career endeavours.

Thank you.