Glenravel Camogs travel to Dublin on Saturday to take on British Champions Fullen Gaels of Manchester in the All Ireland Junior A Camogie Championship. The Glenravel girls, who were All Ireland champions at this level back in 2022, have had a great fun so far, beating Loughgiel in the county final in Ahoghill, Ballyholland of Down in the Ulster semi-final at Fr Maginn Park and Dungiven of Derry in the Ulster final in Portglenone.
Dungiven was their hardest game of the campaign and it took two great goals from Aimee Traynor and one from Molly Woulahan to see them through.
Saturday’s opponents are something of an unknown quantity. The strength of exile teams over the years can vary but the fact that the won the British championship is a fair indication that they will be strong, considering the strength of some of the teams in London.
However the Glenravel girls have prepared well under managers Chris Dornan and Ronan Donnelly and travel in good spirits looking forward to the challenge, and if they can reproduce the form they have shown in the campaign so far then they won’t be far away.
St Pauls FonaCAB Ulster Minor Football Tournament preview
Prelim Round –Portglenone v Ardboe, Sunday 23rd November, 1pm throw-in at Colaiste Feirste
By Kevin Herron
PORTGLENONE Minor manager Gareth Kelly admits that he was hopeful – like all the other nine participants, that his side would avoid the Prelim game in the St Pauls FonaCAB Ulster Minor Championship draw, but insists they will give it a go when they meet Ardboe on Sunday (1pm at Coaliste Feirste).
The Antrim Minor Champions make their debut in the competition having beaten St Paul’s in a thrilling final under lights in Dunsilly last month and Kelly feels that they are up against one of the favourites for the tournament.
“Like most teams, you are probably looking to avoid the Prelim- especially against one of the favourites” Kelly admits.
“Ardboe are a very good team. They’ve a lot of Tyrone U-17s in that team. They are well trained and Chrissy McKaigue I know is involved.
“We’ll go and give it a go, it’s a bonus and like every other team here, we still want to win games and we’ll look forward from there”.
Kelly believes that his side are comfortable with the underdog tag that they are up for the challenge ahead.
“We’ve drawn one of the favourites here in Ardboe. Themselves, Four Masters and Dungiven would have probably been eyeing this competition from a long way off, whereas we take this as bonus territory.
“Every game we’ve played so far- we’ve been underdogs- and we sort of suit that title. It’s a good challenge, I’m sure our boys will accept it and we’re just happy to be here and be in this competition”.
The Ports manager explains that their journey is unique, in that they have featured in B competitions down the years and only last year tasted success – winning the Minor B football Championship- their first success at Minor level as a stand alone club, having previously won Minor Football titles as part of the successful Sean Stinson’s amalgamation with neighbours Ahoghill.
“If you said to Ryan McKeever our captain four years ago when we started this that we’d be here in this competition, you’d be absolutely laughed at” he insisted.
“We were sitting playing B football and our story is different from everybody else. They were competing at A year after year.
“We spent several years rebuilding and last year we won the Minor B- our club’s first Minor title. This year we’ve won the A, so it’s all about progressing.
“These boys have broke the ceiling at this stage and it is the bonus stage. We’re looking forward to the game. It is a big undertaking for us, but we will enjoy it – we’re just delighted to be here”.
Alongside their Minor triumph in 2025, the U-16s also claimed the U-16 A title and Kelly is hopeful that senior success will soon follow.
“We’re definitely putting in the work (underage) and our seniors aren’t that far away. Outside of Cargin, we’ve probably been the most consistent team in Antrim over the last 10-years or so”
“It’s a game of inches too for them, hopefully they will get over the line very shortly – hopefully next year. We can only look forward to the Minors here at the minute, we are just delighted to be here”.
Dominican College Fortwilliam 3-10 St Aidan’s Cootehill 2-5
CAPTAIN Rosa O’Connor was the star player as Dominican College Fortwilliam won their first ever provincial schools’ camogie title on Thursday afternoon in St Colman’s College Newry.
The St Enda’s midfielder dominated the middle third and picked off eight points in a competent performance alongside eight of her club mates. Others to shine for Dominican College, who only re-entered camogie competitions in the last few years, were Hannah McMillan and Orla Graham in defence, Aoife Downey alongside O’Connor at midfield while Anna O’Kane and Sofia Privilege were a handful up front.
Seamus McAleenan of Ulster Schools GAA presents the Junior Medallions Shield to Dominican Fortwilliam captain Rosa O’Connor
Aoibhin Callaghan was the key player in the Cootehill team, bagging all their total, while there was good stick work from Ella Rose Boyle and Grace Geoghegan and Gráinne Hughes had an inspired hour in goals.
Rosa O’Connor opened the scoring with a point in the first minute and was involved in the lead up to Sofia Privilege’s goal a couple of minutes later.
Anna O’Kane added a second goal before Aoibhin Callaghan got St Aidan’s Cootehill off the mark with a 45 that went all the way to the net. However O’Connor and her midfield partner Aoife Downey hit back with the next three points before Sofia Privilege forced home her second goal from a goal-mouth scramble.
Despite two late points from Callaghan, Dominican led by 3-6 to 1-2 at the break.
Although Callaghan pointed a free for St Aidan’s in the first minute of the second half, Dominican kept adding points at regular intervals to the score-board. They hit five before the 50th minute and four of those came from Rosa O’Connor.
Although they were well ahead at this stage, there was a little sting in the tail with Aoibhin Callaghan imposing herself on the final stages with a goal and two points. However they were too late to impact the outcome.
Dominican:S Reilly, A Scullion, T Kalu, ER Hughes, K Sheehy, H McMillen, O Graham, R O’Connor 0-8 (4 fs), A Downey 0-1, A O’Kane 1-0, A Reilly, O Lynch, A Conwell 0-1, S Privilege 2-0, M McGarrigle.
Subs: É Vallely for M McGarrigle (45), R McQuillan for A Sullivan (56)
St Aidan’s: G Hughes, C McBreen, L Fitzpatrick, M McDermott, S Dempsey, ER Boyle, K McMullen, G Geoghegan, N Fitzpatrick, E Lynch, A Callaghan 2-5 (1-4 fs), L Morris, A Smith, E Farrelly, A Byrne.
The St. Paul’s Fona/Cab Ulster Minor Football championship, 2025 starts this weekend with Clontibret of Monaghan and Derrygonnelly of Fermanagh getting the action underway when they meet at Colaiste Feirste at 3-00pm on Saturday.
Sportslann Colaiste Feirste is the venue for all three of the weekend’s games and later at the same venue on Saturday Southern Gaels of Cavan and Bredagh of Down cross swords at 6.30pm.
The following day Antrim champions, Casement’s Portglenone make their Ulster bow and face what looks like a difficult opponent in Ardboe of Tyrone in a Preliminary round game at 1pm.
As always these games are sure to attract good crowds to Colaiste Feirste and we will bring you all the action from the weekend games in the Saffron Gael and continue to bring you coverage of the tournament as it progresses.
1/11/2025 Defending champions Fourmasters will face Dungiven when they put their Fonacab Ulster Minor Tournament on the line in December . It is a repeat of the 2022 decider won by Derry Champions with a late , late winner , The reining champions are striving for three titles in a row , having come through Donegal for the forth successive year . Fourmasters , Dungiven and Clontibret are the three teams in the draw who have won the competition before with Ardboe and Southern Gaels losing finals . Tyrone champions Ardboe will face Portglenone in the preliminary round with Dromintee waiting in the last quarter final Picture Seamus Loughran
St Patrick’s Maghera 3-15 St Killian’s Garron Tower 2-12
St Pat’s Maghera turned in a polished performance to see off the challenge of St Killian’s, Garron Tower in Tuesday evening’s Mageean Cup semi-final at Portglenone to book their place in the final for the first time in four years. St Killian’s, the 2023 champions, stayed with the Derry boys well in the first half and were only three points adrift at the break, but St Pat’s upped the pace at the start of the second half and a powerful third quarter sealed their place in the decider.
Two late goals from St Killian’s Connlaodh McNaughton gave his team a glimmer of hope, but St Pat’s had the groundwork done as they won by seven in the end.
To their credit the Garron Tower boys produced a strong finish and two goals from corner forward Connlaodh McNaughton gave them late hope. McNaughton was in on goal again in the final minutes and could have cut the deficit back to a single score, but St Pat’s keeper Dnnacha Collins made a good save to deny his side a nervy finsish and they pointed at the other end a minute later to seal a deserved seven point win.
The early stages were evenly contested when points from left half forward PJ Glover and centre-forward Padraig O’Kane were matched by Connlaodh McNaughton and Oisin Gillan for the Tower and the boys from the Antrim coast actually hit the front when Canice McIntosh put his team ahead. However St Pat’s were holding the upper-hand and when Rian Collins fired home their superiority began to show on the scoreboard. Collins added a point from a free as they began to pull away, but some well taken from points from McIntosh brought his team back to within three by the time match referee Colum McDonald sounded the half time whistle.
Fionn Cartin celebrates after scoring St Pat’s third goal
When Maghera beat CPC in the first group game at the same venue they blitzed their opponents in the opening ten minutes, but this time around that surge came at the start of the second half and three point advantage was stretched by the minute as they played some sparkling hurling, despite far from ideal conditions. Collins kept adding to his total before corner-forward Ultan McCloskey grabbed his team’s second goal as the gap was soon out to eight. Full forward Fionn Cartan grabbed St Pat’s third goal with a powerful finish from close range and it was all over bar the shouting, or so it seemed.
There was a few anxious moments near the end for the Maghera fans when Connlaodh McNaughton grabbed two quick goals for the Tower, but the their anxiety was short lived as Rian Collins pushed the gap out to seven in injury time.
St Pat’s await the winners of Thursday’s other semi-final between CPC and St Louis, which is fixed for Cushendun at 2pm.
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