Classy Charlie lights up Croker for CBS

FROM the fourth minute when he drove through to coolly slot over the opening point of the match Charlie Donnelly looked like a man on a mission.

The Trillick teenager lit up Croke Park on Saturday with a commanding showing in the Hogan Cup Final, chipping in with five superb points from open play as Omagh CBS retained their All-Ireland Schools title in wonderful fashion against Mercy Mounthawk.

His effective midfield partnership with Eoin Donaghy has been one of the key components of the Brothers march to glory this season, and his Loughmacrory mate wasn’t too far behind him in the individual battle for the man of the match accolade either (he split the posts twice).

The tandem seem to have a tremendous understanding on the pitch and Charlie states that off the pitch they are also very close.

“There is not enough words to describe Eoin. He’s my best friend and I will be playing against him in a couple of weeks time in the Senior League.

“It has been unbelievable playing with him with the school.”

Speaking in the immediate aftermath of Omagh’s 3-14 to 0-11 triumph Donnelly sought to take in the magnitude of the achievement with the CBS becoming the first Tyrone school to successfully retain the All-Ireland, and only the third ever from Ulster (St Pat’s Maghera 1989/90 and St Colman’s Newry 2010/11 were the other two).

“This is very special. At the start of the year we set out to defend the MacRory Cup. From last year we knew how big it was to win the Hogan Cup so after we won the MacRory we got our heads down to go for back-to-back All-Irelands. To come back here to Croke Park and do it on the biggest stage in Ireland is an unbelievable feeling.”

The contest was nip and tuck throughout the first period, with Omagh going in at half-time a point to the good (0-7 to 0-6).

However they surged to victory after the break, outscoring the shell-shocked Kerry lads 3-7 to 0-5, with Charlie very much to the fore in leading the maroon and white attacking onslaught.

“In the first half I thought we could have done a lot better. Ciaran (McBride) had a stern word with us at half-time and we came out for the second half and really pushed on.

“Space opened up and we really got up a head of steam.”

Donnelly deflected the praise for his own excellent personal scoring contribution to his colleagues further up the pitch.

“I was just trying to get forward as much as possible. You don’t realise how big Croke Park is until you are playing on it.

“You do be out of breath at times. Big thanks to the forwards they create space so you find yourself in pockets to shoot and it worked out for me.

“To set out at the start of the year and try and do it again to put yourself in the history books is really special.”