Glory for Ballinrobe CS in All-Ireland Senior C final
Lidl Post Primary Schools All-Ireland Senior C final
Ballinrobe CS 2-9
St. Anne’s SS 0-4
By Deniese O’Flaherty
Ballinrobe CS captured the Lidl Post Primary School All-Ireland Senior C title with a comprehensive win over St. Anne’s from Tipperary played at the impressive Glenamaddy GAA grounds in Galway.
Great credit to both sides who had to brave the wintry elements to serve up a good game of football in a final which had to be switched from Banagher in Offaly due to an unplayable pitch. From the start Ballinrobe looked the sharper in front of the posts and their defence was solid too.
Maura Hughes kicked the first score of the game after three minutes. Both sides had plenty of possession but the next score didn’t arrive until the 14th minute when Chloe Stagg fired over a free for Ballinrobe. St. Anne’s soaked up the pressure and got their first score in the 18th minute when Roisin Carew kicked a fine point.
At the other end Stagg kicked two more frees to put three between the sides in the 22nd minute. One minute later Hughes passed the ball to Kate Brennan and she buried the ball to the net to extend the lead to six points.
Chloe O’Neill got a much needed point for St. Anne’s in the 26th minute. Just before the break Carew kicked her second point from a free to leave four between them at 1-4 to 0-3.
In the first minute of the second half Ballinrobe had a goal chance but Emily Hughes shot straight at Anne’s keeper Caoiinn Grogan. St. Anne’s had chances to get more scores on the board but two frees were caught on the line by the Ballinrobe defence.
Two more frees from the boot of Stagg and a good point from Hughes extended Ballinrobe’s lead to seven after 49 minutes of play. St. Anne’s struggled to get scores and needed a goal, which they couldn’t get. Carew converted a free in the 51st minute their first and what turned out to be their only score of the second half.
Substitute Tara Fitzpatick kicked a fine point in the 52nd minute for Ballinrobe and four minutes later the Mayo school got their second goal through substitute Ursula Shaughnessy. Ballinrobe captain Ali Hughes got up at the end to fire over a point to seal a fine win for her school.
Scorers – Ballinrobe CS: C Stagg 0-5 (5f), K Brennan, U Shaughnessy 1-0 each, M Hughes 0-2, A Hughes, T Fitzpatrick 0-1 each.
St. Anne’s SS: R Carew 0-3 (2fs), C O’Neill 0-1.
BALLINROBE CS: K Hughes; E Shaughnessy, S Vahey, S McHale; R Gallagher, A Hughes, L Tiernan; K Brennan, R Burke; R McGrath, M O’Donnell, E Jennings; A Reilly, M Hughes, C Stagg. Subs: T Fitzpatrick for Reilly 11, U Shaughnessy for Jennings 53, A Wade for S McHale and L O’Connor for McGrath 58.
ST. ANNE’S SS: C Grogan; C Gubbins, T Ryan, R Crosse; J Nugent, L Maher, O Crowe; M Crowe, I Heuston; S O’Grady, R Carew, L O’Dwyer; C O’Neill, E Gleeson, G Crowe. Subs: A Butler for Gleeson 41, A O’Connor for O’Dwyer 56, L Kennedy for Crowe 60+3.
REFEREE: Angela Gallagher (Meath).
Glory as Belfast school becomes the latest new All-Ireland winner
Lidl Post Primary Schools Senior A final
Our Lady and St. Patrick’s College, Knock 4-11
St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Spanish Point 2-7
By Eoin Brennan
The dream-maker that is the Lidl Post Primary Schools Senior A championship continued its historic record as Our Lady and St. Patrick’s College became the 13th successive first-time winner following a superb final performance in Netwatch Cullen Park.
Four timely goals in a twenty-minute spell shared equally either side of half-time copper-fastened the Ulster champions’ superiority with Grace Guest (two), player-of-the-match Evie McHugh and Holly Donnelly on target to complete the perfect year for the Belfast school.
Indeed, three goals defined the first half in which Spanish Point had the elements in their favour. Guest had belied the conditions to edge the Belfast school 0-2 to 0-1 in front, only to be overturned when Emily Shannon’s over the top effort was cooly finished to the net by Ellie Hanrahan in the eighth minute.
It was a lead that the west Clare school maintained for the next fifteen minutes when Our Lady & St. Patrick’s College stunned their opponents with a brace of goals in the space of a minute through chief threats McHugh and Guest.
Both stemmed from intercepted kick-outs and they might have grabbed a third major in 90 seconds but the electric McHugh snatched at the chance which drifted wide.
With St. Joseph’s beginning to panic, a Hanrahan free was matched by another goal sighting, this time for Abigail Hanvey whose effort just cleared the crossbar at 2-5 to 1-3 by the break.
With time to regroup, Spanish Point did re-emerge with two of the first three points through joint-captain Kayla-Talty Darcy and Hanrahan. However, any Banner backlash was quashed when Rose Horisk teed up Donnelly for a goal which was the catalyst for a 2-4 unanswered blitz culminating in an emphatic finish for Guest’s second goal at 4-10 to 1-05 entering the final quarter.
Despite finishing with only 13 players while the winners also lost their captain to the sin bin, Spanish Point never lowered their heads and were rewarded with a Simone Considine goal on the hour mark.
It was merely a consolation though as there was no doubting the merits of Our Lady and St. Patrick’s College’s victory as they became the 25th school to carve their name onto the prestigious Lidl All-Ireland Senior A trophy.
Scorers – Our Lady and St. Patrick’s College: G Guest 2-3; E McHugh 1-3 (1f); H Donnelly 1-1; A Hanvey 0-2; H Cassin, C McDermott 0-1 each.
St. Joseph’s Spanish Point: E Hanrahan 1-3 (2f); S Considine 1-0; M Sexton, Aoibheann Ryan, K Talty-Darcy, E Shannon (0-1 each).
Our Lady and St. Patrick’s College: E Boyle; M McLornan, H McGeough, D Cotter; H Cassin, C Hefferon, N Napier; I McCarron, L McNicholl; H Donnelly, A Hanvey, O Hughes; R Horisk, G Guest, E McHugh. Subs: C McDermott for Cotter (37), O Mann for McLornan (52), Florence O’Brien for Hughes (54), C O’Donnell for Horisk (56), E Farrell for Guest (56).
St. Joseph’s Secondary School: E Cushen; L Darcy, A Martin, E Talty; A Gallagher, S Considine, A O’Keeffe; A Kelly, I O’Connor; Aoibheann Ryan, Allisha Ryan, K Talty-Darcy; M Sexton, E Hanrahan, E Shannon. Sub: A Mescal for O’Keeffe (54).
Referee: Philip Conway (Armagh).
