VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS FOOTBALL:IT IS not the most storied school name in Gaelic games lore, but there is an undeniable brightness to the achievements of Carrick Vocational School this year.

Today, in Healy Park, the school’s under-16 team will participate in the Gerry Arthurs Ulster final against Holy Trinity from Cookstown. This appearance is the high point of a season which has seen the tiny Donegal school net vocational titles at U-14, U-16 and U-18 grades.

Such a haul would be considered a landmark achievement in most schools but the remarkable thing about Carrick is that just 210 pupils are enrolled there, just half of whom are boys. And for most of last winter, the football teams showed up for training before school began.

“It was no joke, but they don’t treat football as a joke around here,” says Paddy Boyle, a teacher in the school and coach of the U-16 team – he will patrol the sidelines with one Peter Canavan as the opposition manager today.

“If you want success you have to put the work in and it was the students themselves who opted for the morning sessions. We did those two or three mornings per week but only with the older teams – the U-14s went in the evening. But most of the lads would have had a bit of a journey to get to the pitch so they’re getting up between 6am and 6.30 just to make it there.”

Carrick is made up predominantly of youngsters from the Kilcar and Glencolmcille areas, two parishes with proud football traditions that had begun to suffer in recent years.

County senior manager and 1992 All-Ireland winner John Joe Doherty was a member of the last Carrick side to win a county title, in 1985. Martin McHugh, the alchemist on that 1992 side, has a son, Ryan, playing in today’s final. Paddy Hegarty, who along with his brother Noel was a mainstay on Donegal football teams throughout the 1990s, is one of those who has helped train the school teams over the past few months.

The rise of the teams at all three grades is hugely significant in an area where population decimation can threaten the welfare of clubs. Carrick have gained a reputation across Ulster this year not just for their achievement but for the style their teams employ.

The school have a number of highly promising young players on their books now, with Patrick McBrearty, a big, left-footed full forward, reaping havoc on Carrick’s path to the final. He scored 2-11 in the first round victory over Claudy and earned the man-of-the-match accolade against Kilkeel.

“People are on a high,” says Noel Ward, the teacher who spearheaded the GAA programme in the school. “I think there were years during the Celtic Tiger that lads were leaving school early and going off working and they wouldn’t be around the area but they are staying on now and both clubs have put a lot into developing these players too.

“There is a great buzz about the place that we won three county titles and 99 per cent of the people from the area will be in Omagh for this final. Everyone is very proud of this and of the effort that the boys have put in. They had to be on the field for half seven to get set up or it isn’t worth your while. We made a conscious decision, too, that it wasn’t right to take them out of school. And parents helped out.”

After two years when the morale of the teaching body has taken an absolute bashing, it seems remarkable there are still teachers out there ready to set their alarm for 6.30am for early morning coaching sessions.

This project has been going on for a while.

Two years ago, Ward took an under-18 side into Ulster and they played out a riveting drawn match with Castlewellan of Down. The understanding was there would be a replay but through some confusion, it was decided extra-time would be played on the day.

By the end of normal time, Ward had three players unfit to continue and two others clearly fatigued and he simply didn’t have the numbers to replace them.

“They put their hearts into it and there was no way I was sending them out for extra-time to get hockeyed so we decided not to play it. We just didn’t have the numbers and that is a disadvantage to us. Castlewellan went on and won the All-Ireland vocational title that year so we knew we were close.”

Carrick will be outsiders today as well. But for a school who have been given every excuse not to even field teams, let alone win titles, that status will be no deterrent.