🏆Ulster Colleges Champions – Again! 🏆

St. Michael’s College Enniskillen 3 18 | St. Malachy’s Castlewellan 1 12

St. Michael’s College, Enniskillen added a second Ulster Colleges hurling title to their 2025/26 honours on Tuesday afternoon with an outstanding win over St. Malachy’s, Castlewellan.

From the very first whistle, St. Michael’s set the tone. Captain Dara Donnelly opened the scoring almost immediately from a placed ball and with Conal McGrath also finding his range early on, we quickly moved into control. Our sharpness in attack and composure on the ball made a clear statement of intent.

The pressure soon told when Donnelly burst through the middle to finish expertly to the net, capping off a flowing team move. Castlewellan were dealt a setback soon after when a penalty chance struck the crossbar and they found it difficult to build momentum against a disciplined St. Michael’s defence. Alex Corrigan marshalled proceedings superbly at centre half back, with valuable support from Eoin Lunny and Aaron Quigley, while Charlie O’Brien impressed in goal with assured handling and accurate distribution.

By the break, St. Michael’s had built a healthy advantage, further boosted by a well taken goal from the No. 14 Odhran Hamilton just before half time to leave the score at 2 12 to 0 6.

St. Malachy’s emerged with renewed energy after the restart and enjoyed a productive spell, briefly reducing the gap to six points midway through the second half. However, any hopes of a comeback were firmly shut down as St. Michael’s responded with patience and confidence. Hamilton struck again for his second goal while further scores from Donnelly, McGrath and Michael Miller saw us finish strongly and pull clear.

The final margin reflected a composed, mature performance from a group determined to overturn last year’s disappointment. At the final whistle, the Maguire Cup was presented to captain Dara Donnelly by Ulster Colleges representative Séamas McAleenan who commended both teams for an excellent contest played in the right spirit.

A superb achievement for players and management alike — and a season to remember for St. Michael’s hurling.