Captain Callum honoured to lead Omagh to glory

OMAGH CBS’ captain fantastic, Callum Daly, has described his ‘immense pride’ at leading this special group of players to back-to-back MacRory titles for the first time in the school’s history.

The Omagh lad played a massive role in their surge to last season’s MacRory and Hogan Cup titles, so in that sense, he was a natural successor to Eoin McElholm in the captaincy stakes.

He delivered a string of top class performances en route to climbing the winning steps at the Athletic Grounds on Sunday against St Pat’s Academy, leading by example in every respect.

Speaking after their six-point victory over the Dungannon boys, Daly said, “It’s the same feeling climbing the steps as last year. It’s just a different speech, at the end of the day, but it’s such an honour for me to collect the cup on behalf of all these lads.

“I’m so happy with the result.”

Yesterday marks the culmination of a gruelling run through the MacRory Cup competition.

There’s so much hard work that goes on behind the scenes, and Daly says he was extremely mindful of the responsibility that comes with captaining the school’s flagship team.

“It’s a big thing. You walk into the school and see your name on the wall and I tended to look at it every morning.

“It reminded me of the responsibility that I have, but it’s an honour to be able to lead these boys out. They’re a great bunch of lads so I’m delighted with how it’s all turned out.”

Most onlookers had pencilled in Omagh CBS as favourites to land the title, but the team couldn’t take anything for granted especially against a St Patrick’s Academy team with some really classy performers of their own.

Daly knew they had to be at the pitch of things, but at the same time held a firm belief that if the Brothers played to their potential, they would ultimately prevail on the day.

“From the outside looking in, it probably looked like we were confident because we had players still involved from last year’s team, but we knew within the squad it was going to be a difficult challenge. There’s huge belief within the boys and we knew if we moved the ball fast and did things right then we’re almost unstoppable.”

Daly was one of six starting members of last year’s panel still involved this time around.

Some panellists stepped up to the first 15 while there were some new faces entirely. He says that they all rowed in the one direction and that their sense of kinship helps on the field of play as well.

“The bond is really good between the lads. There were lads I didn’t really know coming up through the school and we’ve turned out to be really good friends, and that helps on the pitch too.”