Mags Gargan
St Mary University College Belfast Football Team after winning the Sigerson Cup. The winning team from St Mary’s University College, Belfast “gave thanks” at Knock Shrine after defying the odds in an incredible ‘David and Goliath’ football final.
St Mary’s is the North’s only Catholic institution of higher education and with just over 1,000 students and less than a quarter of them male, the underdogs unseated the Sigerson Cup holders UCD in a gripping GAA final at Bekan in Co. Mayo at the weekend.
The team, who had not appeared in a final for 24 years, had to beat the top university teams in the country including NUI Galway, DCU and UCC.
Luck
Team captain Conor Meyler, who is studying religion, said it was a real “David and Goliath story”. “We stopped in Knock after the semi-final against UCC to say thank you. A lot of boys who were injured were fit to come back and we just seemed to have a wee bit of luck that we hadn’t got in the year before, so someone was looking down on us,” he said.
“We stopped again after we won the final to say thank you. There was a lot to be grateful for and moments in the game when things went in our favour, and it seemed appropriate to stop and say thank you.”
Professor Peter Finn, Principal of St Mary’s University College, said the “entire institution is immensely proud” of the team’s “remarkable achievement”.