Mount St Michael’s Randalstown are once again the South West Antrim, Allianz Ireland Cumann na mBunscoil indoor girls champions. On a day of outstanding football from all teams on show they went through the competition unbeaten and proved to be worthy winners.
As always, the competition was extremely well attended with 12 schools in the area competing, a true indication of how far the girl’s game has come in recent times.
With the competition split into two groups, Mount St Michael’s breezed through with St Patrick’s Rasharkin second placed in one group. On the other court goal difference was needed to separate Mary Queen of Peace Glenravel and Creggan. Thus we had our semi-finalists.
After exciting semi-finals, with great skill on show Mt St Michael’s and Mary Queen of Peace battled through to the final where the Randalstown girls went in front early and remained there for the rest of the game. Well done to them and all the girls involved in an exceptional day’s football.
Runners Up, Mary Queen of Peace, GlenravelWinners, Mount St. Michael’s Randalstown
Orlagh Prenter was very much to the fore as St. Ergnat’s Moneyglass repeated their success of last year when they defeated St. Paul’s in the LFFA Senior Football championship final in convincing fashion at Davitt’s on Sunday. Prenter was to amass an impressive total of 0-16 (0-14 frees) over the hour as the Marian Hill girls dominated from early in the contest to run out convincing winners in the end
St. Paul’s had been the dominant force in ladies football for nearly a decade but in recent years the balance of power has swung decisively in the direction of the South West girls who retained their senior title to add to a clean sweep of titles at juvenile level.
It was St. Paul’s who were first to threaten and Lara Dahunsi won possession from the throw in and her inch perfect pass placed Fionnghuala Rocks who looked set to open the scoring but her shot on goal sailed agonisingly to the wrong side of the post.
Had she scored then things might well have been different but it was Moneyglass who recovered from that early scare and Rebecca Bradley gave them the lead as she pointed her side ahead after six minutes to settle some early nerves and Orlagh Prenter followed with another before Fionnghuala Rocks atoned in part for her earlier miss with St. Paul’s opening score in the 10th minute.
Orlagh Prenter who top scored for St. Ergnat’s in their win over St. Paul’s
Slowly the St. Ergnat’s girls began to assert their authority on matters and they struck with the game’s first goal in the 15th minute when defender Elanor Mallon got on the end of a pass from Orlagh Prenter to blast to the net and put her side in a commanding position.
Prenter was having a massive influence on proceeding as she fired over a number of frees before Marie O’Neill added another from play as the girls in blue started to put distance between themselves and the opposition and St. Paul’s were badly in need of a score to keep their hopes alive.
And they were given a glimmer hope just before the break as Kirsty McGuinness pointed a couple of frees to reduce her sides half-time deficit to 9 but the Shaw’s Road girls still looked to have a mountain to climb in the second half as the half-time scoreboard read 0-6 – 2-9 in favour of Moneyglass.
St Paul’s started the second half on the front foot with Fionnghuala Rocks scoring from a free before Moneyglass were reduced to 14 after Emma Louise McAreavey was sin-binned as she brought down Kirsty McGuinness who looked in for a goal.
McGuinness placed the resulting penalty kick into the bottom left corner of the net, giving her side renewed hope as it cut the deficit to five points 5 points but they were unable to build on that early second half success.
Cathy Carey takes the long way round as the St. Paul’s defence close shop
It was Moneyglass who again grabbed the initiative as Orlagh Prenter replied from three converted frees as she punished some indiscipline in the St. Paul’s defence as a bit of frustration began to creep into their play.
Orlagh Prenter continued to dictate matters as St. Ergnat’s finished strongly as she pointed from over 25 yards to bring her total into double figures and it was clear at this stage that there would be no way back for the former champions.
St. Paul’s woe was increased as Caitlin McGuinness was sin-binned after dragging down Cliona Griffin inside the 21-yard line but they did keep going to the end and earned some reward as Hannah Doherty and Fionnghuala Rocks tagged on late points but it was to prove too little too late.
And it was that girl Prtenter who would have the final say as she brought her personal total for the evening to 0-16 to leave her side convincing 12 point winners in the end to bring about scenes of rejoicing at Davitt’s Park at the final whistle.
St Ergnats: A McCann, A McCauley, E L McAreavey, S O Neill, E Mallon 1-0, R Bradley 0-1, L McCann, C Griffin, C carey, M O Neill 1-1, A Devlin, O Prenter (0-16 14 frees), B Devlin
Subs: S McErlain, A Boyd, D Connolly, G Laverty, C McKeely, O Rooney, E McCoy
St Pauls: S Murphy, C Stewart, C Brown, O McGuinness, S Tennyson, S McCann, N Burns, L Dahunsi, A Tubridy, N Nic Ionnrachtaigh, N Ritchie, C McGuinness 0-2(1 free), K McGuinness 1-2 (1 pen), F Rocks 0-4 (4 frees), H Doherty 0-1
Subs: G McGroarty, N Matthews, M Hanna, E Kelly, A Healy, M Connolly, C Mervyn, O Murray
Four second half goals paved the way for a convincing win for St. James’ Aldergrove over St. Ergnat’s Moneyglass in this LGFA Junior Football final on Saturday. The Crumlin girls led 1-4 to 0-5 at half time with their goal coming from Nicole Jones in the 8th minute but Moneyglass finished the half strongly after a slow start and were well in contention at the break.
Aldergrove found another gear in the second half however with Nicole Jones striking her second goal in the 33d minute and Caitlin Taggart, Katie McArt and Emma McArt all rattling the Moneyglass net as they pushed on for an excellent victory.
Aldergrove made the early running and two points from Aoife Taggart, either side of Nicole Jones opening goal saw them lead 1-2 to 0-0 after 9 minutes and it would be another 5 minutes before Alicia McAuley raised St. Ergnat’s first white flag.
Dannielle Connolly, Ciara O’Boyle and Alica McAuley add further point for Moneyglass by the 24th minute to close the gap to one and they looked to be getting on top but Aldergrove replied through Caitlin Taggart and Aoife Taggart to move three in front.
Nicole Jones who was in great form for Aldergrove and scored two goals in their win over St. Ergnat’s
The final score of the half fell to Alica Boyd who pointed in the 29th minute for the girls in yellow to leave just two in it in favour of the Crumlin girls at the break and the scene looked set for a tight second half.
Once again it was St. James’ who grabbed the initiative at the start of the second half and the excellent |Nicole Jones fired home her second goal with only three minutes gone with Caitlin Taggart, Aoife Taggart and Emma McArt adding points to move the girls in Red 8 ahead by the 38th minute.
As in the first half, St. Ergnat’s found it difficult to get going but they did come back with points from Ciara O’Boyle and two from Niamh McKeefry by the 44th minute to give their support some hope as we entered the final quarter.
Those hopes were quickly dashed as St. James came back with a vengeance as they hit three goals in a six minutes spell between the 46th and 52 minute through Caitlin Taggart and the McArt’s to put the game firmly to bed.
Niamh McKeefry 0-2, and Michelle Mullin added consolation points for he Marian Hill girls with Aoife McTaggart and Emma McArt completing the scoring for an excellent Aldergrove side to run out convincing winners.
Aldergrove: 1 Lucy Simpson, 2 Alannah McMaster, 3 Anna Crossan, 4 Bronach Mallon, 5 Aine Kelly, 6 Paula McMasterson, 7 Rebecca Marquess, 8 Colleen McGuinness, 9 Katie Rose Bell, 10 Roisin Crossan, 11 Nicole Jones, 12 Caitlin Taggart, 13 Aoife Taggart, 14 Anna McBride, 15 Emma McArt, 16 Katie McArt, 17 Caoimhe Bell, 18 Sophie Nugent, 19 Mia Dunlon, 20 Edel Neeson, 21 Meabh Rooney, 22 Orla Rooney, 23 Shannon McGarry, 24 Grace O’Neill, 25 Clare Hanna, 26 Bronagh McGuinness
Josephine (Jo-Jo) Darragh struck an impressive 2-6 as St. Ergnat’s Moneyglass claimed the U16 ladies title with a win over St. Paul’s at Dunsilly on Tuesday night. The talented centre-half-forward was the outstanding player in an excellent all round Moneyglass side with Leah Cassidy at mid-field another who caught the eye for the South West girls
First half goals from Leah Cassidy, Leah Stewart and Jo Jo Darragh paved the way for a Moneyglass victory over old adversaries, St. Paul’s in the ladies U16 Football final. St. Ergnat’s took the game to their opponents from early in the game and looked in a strong position when they led 3-7 to 1-6 at the interval.
Jo Jo Darragh who scored 2-6 for Moneyglass in their win over St. Paul’s in the LGFA U16 final at Dunsilly on Tuesday night
St. Paul’s gave it everything and an early goal from Cara McCleave gave them a good start to the game and despite trailing by 7 at the interval they still looked well in contention but when Darragh struck her second and her side’s fourth goal early in the second half it looked a long way back for the Shaw’s Road girls.
The ‘Hoops’ never gave up but significantly, failed to score in the final quarter and a 5th goal from Leah Cassidy in injury time saw the Marian Hill side celebrate another title in what has already been an excellent season for the Moneyglass girls.
Moneyglass advanced to the LGFA U16 final when they defeated a spirited Gort na Mona in the semi-final on Tuesday night and now go forward to meet St. Paul’s in next Tuesday’s decider. Goals from Maria McNally, Leah Stewart and player of the match, Jo-Jo Darragh, set the foundations for a fairly comprehensive victory but the Turf Lodge girls should be commended for their contribution over the hour.
Darragh got St. Ergnat’s on their way with a point in the 4th minute but Gort na Mona were giving as good as they got during the early exchanges and replied through mid-fielder, Casey Meighan to draw level with 10 minutes gone.
Leah Stewart for Moneyglass and Nicole Dobbin for the ‘Gorts’ exchanged points before Josephine Darragh and Cara McKeefry replied with further points for the South West girls by the 16th minute as they began to take control.
St. Ergnat’s pushed on strongly during the second quarter and a goal from Maria McNally in the 18th minute put a bit of distance between the sides with Leah Stewart adding a point and finishing the half with a goal and Mia Mills replying with two points for the Belfast girls to leave the half time score 2-5 to 0-4 in favour of Moneyglass.
Orla McNulty for Gort na Mona and Josephine Darragh for Moneyglass exchanged further points at the start of the second half but Jo-Jo for the Marian Hill side was beginning to stamp her class on proceedings and she struck with her side’s third goal in the 44th minute to put them in a strong position going into the final quarter.
The same player added two further points and another from Katie Kearney put the contest out of reach of a Gort na Mona side who battled right to the final whistle and were rewarded with points from the excellent Mia Mills 0-2 and Orla McNulty to bring their total to 8 for the hour.
