CPC who were beaten in Saturday’s All Ireland Colleges A semi-final in Waterford.          Pic by Mark Doherty

All-Ireland Schools’ A semi-final

St Angela’s Waterford 2-9 Cross and Passion Ballycastle 2-4

By Seamus McAleenan

There will be a new name on the trophy for the All-Ireland Junior A championship after St mary’s New Ross came through their semi-final with St Brigid’s Loughrea and St Angela’s Ursuline Convent became the first ever Waterford school to reach an A grade final by taking out last year’s beaten finalists Cross and Passion Ballycastle at the Waterford IT grounds on Saturday

However had the Ulster champions been more accurate from placed balls they might well have stayed in contention long enough to get over the line. Having said that Becky Ellis was busy – and excellent – in goals for a good part of a closely-fought encounter.

Elsewhere Enya McShane, Katie Laverty, Cassie McArthur and Nuala Devlin had excellent games for CPC while Aoife Fitzgerald’s accuracy from frees kept her team just ahead.

Riana McBride opened Ballycastle’s account with an early point and the visitors had a couple of goal chances before Ursuline’s got their chances. Aoife Fitzgeral’s point was quickly followed by a goal from Clodagh Curham and still only 6 minutes played.

Aine Magill hit back with a fine individual point and the teams were level at 1-2 each after Annie Lynn cut through the Waterford defence for a goal.

Play after that became a little fractured with only three more points scored before the break, the home side taking a single point lead into the second half.

However they opened up a match-winning gap by scoring 1-4 without reply during the third quarter, Alisha Flynn the goal-scorer.

Katie Laverty moved into defence and sub Fionnuala Kelly added energy and Alicia Butler’s goal eight minutes from the end gave them a life-line.

However St Angela’s pulled back sweepers and Aoife Fitzgerald cemented her team’s position with a late free.

CPC : B Ellis, C McArthur, M McGarry, E Kyle, F Toner, C Laverty, C Hegarty, K Laverty, E McShane, A Butler 1-0, A Lynn 1-0, N Devlin, A Magill 0-1, R McBride 0-2, 0-1 free, O Laverty

Subs : F Kelly 0-1 for C Heggarty, C O’Kane for A Butler

St Angela’s:  E Gallagher, H Leamy, L Hogan, S Cantwell, S Farrell, S Maher, J Tuohy, C Carroll, H Ryan, R Walsh, Abby Flynn 0-2, C Hoctor, Aleisha Flynn 1-0, A Fitzgerald 0-7, 0-4 frees, C Curham 1-0

Pics by Mark Doherty

All-Ireland Schools’ A semi-final – Waterford IT, 12pm Saturday

St Angela’s Waterford v Cross and Passion Ballycastle

It is more than three months since Cross and Passion Ballycastle retained their Corn Eimhear title with a 9-14 to 4-7 win over first time finalists St Catherine’s Armagh, but they know that gap in competitive action can be bridged as they made light of it last year by beating Ursuline Tipperary to reach a first final since their title-winning year 2008.

They were not meant to have conceded as much in the Ulster decider as they had been winning all their games without any pressure on their full-back line and Becky Ellis. But Armagh found gaps and it will certainly have provided a focus in training in the interim.

Last Saturday’s confident display and victory over Presentation Thurles in the senior semi-final will have really lifted the north Antrim girls and two of this team featured in the senior effort.

Ciara Laverty, centre half-back for the Juniors, had a great game at corner-forward for the seniors, scoring two excellent early points into the breeze and making penetrating runs throughout, while her cousin Katie entered the fray as a second half substitute and did well.

Both are hard workers for the team, and Katie will contribute plenty of scores as well, although most of the scoring this year has fallen to Ballycastle club player Rhiannan McBride who helped herself to 3-7 in the Ulster final.

Overall the team has a good mix from the three strong north Antrim clubs, Ballycastle, Loughgiel and Dunloy, all of whom have performed well recently outside the county in Féile.

Many from the Waterford school have also performed well in Féile with the team leaders all coming from the Galltir club.

This is the first time a Waterford school has won the Munster A grade schools’ title and they did so emphatically enough with a 3-16 to 3-7 win over defending champions Ursuline Thurles three weeks ago, although they trailed by 2-5 to 0-7 at the break.

Two goals in the opening three minutes of the second half from Clodagh Curham and Clodagh Carroll changed the game and they pushed on with scores from Abby Flynn, Aoife Fitzgerald and Curham to seal the win.

The combination play between Gailltír teammates Clodagh Curham, Clodagh Hector and Aoife Fitzgerald was a feature of that game and Ballycastle’s defence will look to break that down.

The Waterford school has risen rapidly in camogie. They were playing in the Munster C grade two years ago, won the All-Ireland B title last year and collected the Munster A crown at the first attempt.

They won’t be easily knocked out of their stride, particularly with a home tie against a Ballycastle side that has to travel the length of the country. But the visitors came close in last year’s All-Ireland final and perhaps that experience can help them through this difficult assignment.

 

On this day last year CPC’s Catherine McShane and Finvola McVeigh dropped to their knees side by side at the final whistle of the All Ireland Senior Colleges Camogie semi-final as their brave bid came up just short against Ursaline College Thurles. The tears flowed freely as they thought of what might have been and Im sure the words of their coaches “There is always next year” sounded pretty hollow.
Yesterday in Cushendun they found each other again at the final whistle, but this time it was tears of joy they cried as two great friends who shared a special journey in the CPC colours celebrated the team’s great win over Presentation College Thurles.
Well done to Dylan McIlwaine for capturing these  great images.

All-Ireland Colleges Camogie  – Senior A semi-finalCPC’s Maeve Kelly solos away from the Thurles defence. Pic by Dylan McIlwaine

Cross & Passion Ballycastle 4-10 Presentation College Thurles 3-4

Cross & Passion Ballycastle controlled Saturday’s Schools’ camogie semi-final in Cushendun from start to finish to become the first Antrim school to reach the All-Ireland senior final.

The Ulster champions played against a very stiff breeze in the opening half and led by two points at the break. Indeed that margin could, and should, have been greater but for a couple of mistakes that resulted in goals for their visitors from Tipperary in the 9^th and 28^th minute.

On the re-start however they powered away with some excellent scores including two individual goal strikes from Player of the Match Roisin McCormick who bettered Presentation’s total with a personal tally of 3-5.

Equally as effective was midfield general Maeve Kelly who tagged on two magnificent long range frees during that period of dominance in the third quarter. Indeed it is difficult to pick out a Ballycastle player who didn’t produce the goods on the day with the defence exceptional in their hooking, blocking and tackling.

The only down side on a superb day was a red card issued in the 44^th minute to midfielder Bronagh McKeague which slowed up their scoring although they continued to control the game from the back.

Ciara Laverty got the home side off to a great start with a first minute point and the score-board read 0-2 each when a long range free from Casey Hennessey was blocked into the path of Ciara Dwan for the opening goal.

Cross and Passion responded positively and points from Laverty, Roisin McCormick and Charley McCarry tied the teams at 0-5 to 1-2 after 17 minutes of play.

Two minutes later CPC took the lead; Anna Connolly’s shot was parried by the goalie under pressure from McCarry and McCormick rushed in for a one-handed ground-strike to the net.

Things got better in the 26^th minute when more pressure from McCarry on the goalie produced a loose ball and it seemed ages before she kicked it over the line for a second goal.

Although Cora Hennessey struck a free straight to the net a couple of minutes later, Ballycastle still led by 2-5 to 2-3 at the break.

The wind died a little during the third quarter, but CPC put the game to bed fairly quickly after Maeve Kelly had placed Roisin McCormick for the opening point.

Bronagh McKeague then picked out Roisin with a diagonal cross-field pass and the Loughgiel ace rounded her marker to drive home from close range. In the 38^th minute she chased in to block down a clearance from the goalie, pick up the sliotar and round a couple of players and change the score-board to 4-7 to 2-3.

At this point there was only one team in the game and Maeve Kelly and Aoibheann Clancy swopped points from frees before the red card was issued.

During the last quarter there was just one score for each team, Roisin McCormick finishing off a good day in front of the posts with her third point from a free and Ciara Dwan scrambling her second goal in the 58^th minute when the result was already sorted.

Cross and Passion : Aoife McGowan, Catie McCaughan, Katie Lynn, Aoife O’Mullan, Méabh O’Neill, Catherine McShane, Finvola McVeigh, Bronagh McKeague, Maeve Kelly 0-2 frees, Anna Connolly, Kirsty McKendry, Dearbhail Magill, Ciara Laverty 0-2, Roisin McCormick 3-5, 0-3 frees, Charley McCarry 1-1.

Subs: Katie Laverty for K McKendry (46), Carla McGarry for A O’Mullan (51), Aoife Toner for A Connolly (56)

Presentation: Aoife Butler, Megan Quigley, Anna Gavin, Molly O’Connor, Mary Ellen Phelan, Dervla Heffernan, Niamh Sweeney, Grace O’Donnell, Aoibheann Clancy 0-3 frees, Aoife Finlay, Katie Ryan, Julie Brennan, Saoirse O’Meara 0-1, Ciara Dwan 2-0, Casey Hennessy 1-0 free.

Subs : Ruth Ryan for A Finlay (40), Kate Laffan for ME Phelan (55)Player of the match Roisin McCormick who scored 3-5 in her team’s win over the Munster champions. Pic by Dylan McIlwaine

 

All-Ireland Senior A semi-final – Saturday, 12pm in Cushendun

Cross & Passion Ballycastle v Presentation Thurles

There will be a third All-Ireland semi-final in the space of 12 months against a Thurles team for most of the Cross & Passion Ballycastle squad tomorrow (SATURDAY) in Cushendun. Last year the Ulster champions played the Ursuline Convent side in both the Junior and Senior semi-finals with a victory each – Thurles winning in Senior, but Cross and Passion convincing at Junior level – although both went on to lose the final to Loreto Kilkenny.

This year the other girls’ school in the Tipperary home of hurling, Presentation Convent, has emerged as Munster senior champions to make the long trek north to take on Ulster’s best.

Arguably Cross and Passion hadn’t a fair shot at last season’s senior title. Delays caused by the weather at the knock-out stage in Ulster delayed the provincial final. Then they and Maghera drew on the Sunday and replayed on Tuesday with Ballycastle winning and travelling to Thurles for a Saturday semi-final.

They came up short on the day, but made amends a week later with the under 16s beating Thurles in Ballycastle by 5-12 to 2-5 to reach their final.

Most of that under 16 team will start for CPC in Cushendun with the pace and artistry of Maeve Kelly and Roisin McCormick the cutting edge to a very good panel of players.

Despite that quality, they only stumbled over the line in the Ulster final three weeks ago against St Louis Ballymena who surprised everyone with the discipline of their performance – but Ballymena didn’t have the score-takers to get home.

Left – Catie McCaughan. Right – Catherine McShane

That game, that ended 0-8 to 1-3, will have been excellent preparation for grounding a team that hadn’t been challenged at all in the province as the half-back line of Bronagh McKeague, Catherine McShane and Finvola McVeigh was so dominant.

That defensive dominance continued in the final, but their attack was also well shackled and this created a really tough physical game.

Meanwhile in the Munster final Presentation Thurles were even luckier to survive as they trailed Coachford 0-12 to 2-5 going into injury time.

That game ended in a bit of controversy as the referee appeared to signal to the Thurles goalie that a long range free in the sixth minute of added time would be the last play of the game. Her delivery dropped short but fell to defender Grace O’Donnell who rounded a player and struck her side’s third goal.

Presentation Thurles is a boarding school and draws players from the neighbouring counties as well as from clubs close to the school. Indeed the O’Connor sisters, Molly and Lucy, featured in the Laois team that beat Antrim in the All-Ireland under 16 final replay back in August.

The visitors will present a tough challenge for the Ulster champions. But Cross and Passion came close to winning the under 16 title last year, they have experience of contesting a senior semi-final already and have a “home” venue with an expected vocal partisan support. That can swing it.