All Ireland feile history made by Greencastle

Tuesday 15.08.2023

All Ireland Series

The Greencastle girls feile team created history last weekend with another outstanding All Ireland grade one success in the softball feile event in Collooney, County Sligo.
The five girls have now completed a sensational division one feile double by adding the All Ireland 60×30 prize to their historic 40×20 honours achieved back in May.
It has been a remarkable year for the Greencastle quintet of Alice McGlinchey, Aimee Fox, Grace Teague, Mary Jo Morris and 12 year old Emma Conway who had to see off the challenge of three leading Kilkenny clubs last Saturday in Sligo to capture another major title in brilliant style.
Between the two feile triumphs, Greencastle had four girls on the Ulster team which recently captured the interprovincial 60×30 girls team championship for the first time with victories over Leinster and Munster in Croke Park.

Alice, Emma and Aimee starred in all three title wins and were joined for the feile double success by Grace and Mary Jo.
Last year Loughmacrory became the first Tyrone club to win All Ireland division one girls feile titles with wins in both codes and the two titles will now stay in Tyrone for another year and there’s the promise of even more feile glory to come for Greencastle as they have a very young team.
These girls are also excellent footballers and camogie players and have been able to transfer their skills over to the handball court to win at the highest level.
All of those skills were on display in Collooney last Saturday as the Tyrone representatives defeated Kells, Clogh and Kilfane to qualify for the All Ireland final against Kells.
Emma and Aimee were the first doubles team to take the court and they served up a thrilling 16-15 victory to give Greencastle a dream start in the All Ireland final.
Emma and Aimee had excelled as a doubles pairing for Ulster in the Interprovincial competition two weeks earlier and they carried that form into feile with another sparkling doubles performance.
Alice and Grace then had the task of finishing the job off in the second doubles encounter and they did it in great style with a 21-7 win, with Alice showing why she was selected as the division one skills award winner with her silky two handed skills.
Grace performed superbly alongside Alice in the final, while Mary Jo also played a big part during the day and was a key member of this winning group.
These girls have brought tremendous honour to their club and county with their historic exploits on the national stage in 2023 and have certainly established Greencastle handball club as a serious force at juvenile level.

Meanwhile Loughmacrory boys feile team missed out on division one glory in Collooney last Saturday but returned home with a notable victory in the division 2 softball feile final.
Ciaran McCrystal, making a welcome return to competitive action following the serious arm injury he sustained during the All Ireland 40×20 championship earlier this year, led his young teammates to an impressive win over Cork side Ballydesmond to take the division two 60×30 title back to Loughmacrory for the first time.
Ciaran was joined on the team by three U13 players, Owen Kelly, Michéal McCrystal and Damhán Meenagh, who will all be eligible for feile for two more years and will surely have a big say in the division one title race next year.