The Ulster Colleges’ All Stars

The current Colleges All Stars scheme was launched in 1988, but the concept of Ulster selections has a much longer pedigree. Ulster Colleges affiliated to the All Ireland Colleges Council in January 1928, and throughout the next 2 decades, an Ulster Colleges combined team played in the annual inter-provincial football competition against Connacht, Munster and Leinster. This was a high profile and prestigious competition, and was an integral part of the GAA’s annual calendar of events at national level. Places on this team were coveted, and players selected entered into the folklore of their schools, particularly in the case of those who had not won the MacRory Cup.

The Hogan Cup (All Ireland Colleges ‘A’ title) started in 1946, and the inter-provincial competition subsequently died a natural death. Up until 1946, there had been no All Ireland Colleges football competition for individual schools; the Croke Cup in hurling had been established in 1944. The first winners of the Hogan Cup in 1946 were St Patrick’s Armagh who beat St Jarlath’s Tuam by 3-11 to 4-7 in a game in which the diminutive Iggy Jones (Dungannon and Tyrone) scored 3-4, and Sean Purcell scored 0-5 for Tuam.

It was decided to resurrect this inter-provincial Colleges competition for one year as part of the celebrations around the Centenary Year of the GAA in 1984. Trials were held in Ulster, and  hurling and football panels were selected to represent the province in Nowlan Park in Kilkenny.  The football team included future All-Ireland senior medallists Barry Breen, Danny Quinn, Damien McCusker and Enda Gormley, while the hurling selection featured Seamus and Henry Downey, Owen Donnelly and Colm McGurk.

The 1984 jersey became a collector’s item, and the positive feedback encouraged the Ulster Colleges’ Council to contemplate the introduction of its own annual All Star Awards scheme in both football and hurling; the first such awards were made in 1988.There was enthusiasm for the idea, but the timing of the trials in the early years (i.e. close to Easter) clashed with the MacRory and Mageean Cup winning teams preparing for All-Ireland semi-finals and finals, with the result that the MacRory winners did not send players to the trials in case they got injured. Meanwhile, the hurling trial invariably doubled as a trial game for the Mageean champions against the Rest to prepare them for the upcoming O’Keefe Cup.  Teams were selected by the teachers who attended the trials.

The selection process subsequently evolved, and independent selectors, who are divorced from the education sector, now oversee the trials. The question has been raised as to why the All Stars cannot be selected on the basis of performance in the actual competitions, but that would exclude many excellent players who play for schools which do not feature in high profile competitions and games. The scheme has to be, and is, inclusive, and a player in either code at ‘C’ level deserves, and gets, his opportunity.

Currently players are selected over the course of two trial games in each code towards the end of Term 1, after being initially nominated by their own schools.  The teams are announced  just before Christmas, with the Presentation Banquet taking place at the end of March when the Senior competitions have been completed. The scheme rewards excellence in skill and in sportsmanship and a player who has been sent off in any game between September 1st and  23rd March is ineligible for an award.

The millennium in 2000 was marked by the schools getting together to select teams in hurling and football covering the period1988-2000.Not surprisingly, both Millennium All-Stars teams contain household names with Sean Martin Lockhart (St Patrick’s Maghera then and now as a coach) gaining the unique distinction of being selected on both teams.

Millennium Hurling All-Stars team :

Karol Keating, Michael Kettle, Owen Colgan, Aidan McCloskey, Kieran Kelly, Sean Martin Lockhart, Ronan Donnelly, Johnny Flynn, Kieran Killyleagh, Kieran McGourty, Conor McCambridge, Brian McCormick, Eoighin Farren, Michael Collins, Connor Arthurs.

Millennium Football All-Stars team :

Jonathon Kelly, Paddy McGuinness, Sean Martin Lockhart, Fergal P McCusker, Tony McEntee, Kieran McGeeney, Karl Diamond, Paul Brewster, Paul McGrane, Eamon Burns, John Duffy, Paddy McKeever, Raymond Gallagher, James McCartan, Oisin McConville.