‘We want to test ourselves against the best and go for it’ coach Conor Sweeney on Abbey CBS final

"We just want to be in the game coming down the stretch," says Conor Sweeney, football coach at the Abbey CBS in Tipperary Town whose team will take the field to win the Paddy Drummond Cup this Saturday when they play Tyrone and Ulster representatives St. Patrick's Donaghmore in the Masita All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior Football B Final at the Connaught Centre of Excellence in County Mayo at 2.30pm.

The final leg of the journey comes into view this Saturday for both sides who yearn for glory but for Abbey CBS the destination is in sight after a road full of twists and turns that began three years ago.

Conor Sweeney, the 2020 Munster senior football winning captain with Tipperary, has been teaching in the school and coaching this group since before some of the players sat their Junior Cert: "This project began two years ago when we really got stuck into it and decided to give it the best possible shot. We recognised that we had a lot of talent in the school at the time. Every stage is learning and last year we won the Munster B Schools final but got beaten in the All-Ireland semi final. 

"We hung onto a lot of those players from last year's team and we realised a lot of them would be stronger this year so we went at it again and got back to the Munster final and wanted to go again another couple of steps further this year. That's where we find ourselves now and hopefully we can get over the line in this one." says Conor. 

The semi final victory against St. Attractas of Sligo was a dramatic occasion as the game went to extra time and penalties.

The Abbey CBS were to the fore in the game and held their nerve in the shootout to secure a place in the All Ireland final.

For Conor Sweeney, the game should have been won before it reached that sudden death scenario: "Maybe it was brilliant for outsiders but we felt we should have won it in normal time but we didn't and then that we should have won it in extra time but we didn't. We performed better with the penalties though and I was delighted to come out the right side of it as the lads were nine points down at one stage but they stayed in the game and kept battling which is a good sign when the chips are down." he said. 

The clubs across west Tipperary received a boost recently with Cashel Community School triumphing in the Harty cup and most of the clubs in the region are once more represented by the Abbey CBS in the All-Ireland final next Saturday who have a chance to win something rare. Conor Sweeney says the support has been there from two counties for the school. Surrounding clubs from Tipp, and indeed Limerick, have skin in the game next Saturday:

 "There's a big catchment area there with Arravale Rovers obviously providing a lot of players with the school being in the town but we do get a lot from Bansha, Cullen, Aherlow, Cappawhite, Solohead, Knockavilla Kickhams and we do get a few from Oola in County Limerick as well. Our captain is actually from Limerick. We have three Oola players on the starting team. The school community and surrounding areas have really got behind us too, which is great and that is important to us so we'd love a big vocal support on Saturday again."  says the Tipperary football captain.

Sean Mullins and Kieran Hickey are also part of the management team that have led Abbey CBS to this All Ireland final and of course the principal there is Limerick hurling manager John Kiely. He hasn't played a role in managing this school team but Conor says the All-Ireland winning manager is always there to bounce an idea off:
"He doesn't have any role in the coaching or anything like that. Its just the three of us involved. John is always there if you need to float something by him or bounce an idea off him but at the same time he has enough to be doing!

"It is great to have someone like him there but it's just the three of us managing the team. The atmosphere is good in the school and it means a lot to have everyone behind us on Saturday." says Conor.  

It promises to be an intriguing final which will pit two different styles against each other. Tyrone school St. Patrick's Donaghmore boast a number of county minors while Abbey CBS will have a number of dual players in their ranks as hurling is also played by a large portion of the team. Conor Sweeney says the tradition of gaelic games is strong in Abbey CBS: 

"There's a good history down the years. That is in both codes. The school has won All-Ireland titles in both codes. I think we have 9 Munster B football titles and we will be playing A football next year. We want to test ourselves against the best and go for it. The culture is there within the school and the panel gets that. They carry themselves well on and off the pitch because they are representing the school.

"Hopefully this team gets their reward on Saturday but as you know, you don't always get what you deserve in sport so we will just have to go out on the field and fight for it really."