BECOME AN ADVERTISER
St Ciaran’s Prepare for Ladies U20 Final
Thursday 23.03.2017
LIDL All Ireland Post Primary Schools Under 20 A Final
St Ciaran’s Ballygawley V John The Baptist Community College Friday 24th March Mullingar 1pm
Ulster champions St Ciaran’s Ballygawley face two time all Ireland winners John the Baptist Community School from Limerick in the Under 20 final this Friday in what promises to be one of the most keenly contested deciders in years. Cusack Park Mullingar is the venue for the game.
The Limerick school have enjoyed success at B, C and Junior grades over the past two years with the bulk of the squad very much the same. The side have evolved from Under 16 success together. That experience means that they will go into the final as warm favourites.
Under the watchful eye of experienced coaches Neamh Woods and Selina Oguz, themselves no strangers to big occasions as players, the underdog tag will rest easy with the Ballygawley school. Few gave them a chance in Ulster let alone this All Ireland campaign. They burst through the Ulster semi-final with some aplomb easing past a fancied Loreto Cavan, holders of the All Ireland title. In the Ulster final they played well against Our Lady’s Castleblaney before storming into a commanding lead against Scoil Chriost Ri of Laois in the All Ireland last four.
The progress of the Limerick school this year is underscored by the fact that they secured a place in this decider against St Ciaran’s. It does not surprise team manager Seamus Dollery though, an experienced and well known name in the ladies game.
“We won Munster B last year and the C the year before and a lot of the girls have played on all three, and most of them have two All-Ireland medals. This year was our first Munster A final but they are a terrific bunch of girls. We are in the junior A final as well in a couple of weeks now too.” Look out for Anna Rose Kennedy who is a clinical finisher. Eimear Kirby and team captain Grainne Condon are also big game players and potential match winners.
The St Ciaran’s girls might be inexperienced at this level but the Ulster championship success was followed by a battling display at Ashbourne in the All Ireland semi-final. They will hope that Chloe McCaffrey, Maria Canavan and Tara O’Hagan will step up on the big day.
Neamh Wood’s is looking forward to the game admitting there will be little between the sides. “We think they are similar to ourselves. They have got off to good starts and have then defended those leads. That is very close to the way we have been. All we can be certain off is the fact that they have won B and C all Ireland titles over the past two years so they will be very experienced and very difficult to beat. Theywill want the full set of medals.”
The final has a 1pm throw in at Mullingar.
Similar Stories
