St. Malachy’s Girls emulate boys as
football champions !
Eighteen primary school girls’ football
teams descended on Annsborough Playing Fields
on Thursday 15 May for the annual INTO Girls’
Football competition. The organiser, Mr Paddy
Hardy , had four pitches available for this
encounter with the teams being divided into
four sections , the top two teams in each
section qualifying for the quarter-finals.
In section one, the local team Aughlisnafin
got off to a super start by accounting for
St. Patrick’s Drumgrenagh but their
progress stalled in their second game against
the talented St. Dallan’s Warrenpoint
outfit and this game ended in a draw. Next
up for the Finn girls was the Drumaness team
who at this stage were on maximum points.
This was a magnificent game with Drumaness
the victors by a single point winning by 3-1
to 3-0. The fortunes of the Finn team now
rested on the outcome of the Drumaness &
Warrenpoint encounter with a defeat for either
team giving them another bite of the cherry.
This game ended in a draw and enabled both
Warrenpoint and Drumaness to proceed to the
quarter-final stage. Section two saw neighbours
Mayobridge and Hilltown compete alongside
Attical and Bunscoil Naomh Padraig. Mayobridge
showed all the skills in their opening game
against Bunscoil Naomh Padraig before coming
unstuck against Hilltown in their next game.
However they redeemed themselves in their
final game against Attical to join Hilltown
in the quarter-finals. Section 3 pitted last
years champions Carrick and Castlewellan along
with Holy Family Teconnaught and St. Bronagh’s
Rostrevor. Here, St. Malachy’s Castlewellan
won all their games while the champions of
last year had no victories to report. Rostrevor
came second in this group to join Castlewellan
in the quarter-finals.
Section Four contained previous winners Ballyholland
, Lower Mourne, Ballycruttle, Kilcoo and Rathfriland.
St. Malachy’s Kilcoo proved too strong
for all and ended with maximum points to be
joined in the knockout stages by Lower Mourne
who played some exciting football.
Quarter-final Draw:
Drumaness v Lower Mourne
Hilltown v Rostrevor
Castlewellan v Mayobridge
Kilcoo v Warrenpoint
The much fancied and physically bigger Drumaness
team were favourites to overcome the Lower
Mourne outfit but they were surprisingly beaten
by the talented Lower Mourne team. Hilltown
and Rostrevor both played attractive football
and indeed both had four scores, however Rostrevor
hit the back of the net twice while Hilltown
were content with points. In the Castlewellan
and Mayobridge game it was the case of one
team taking their scores while the other failed
to register any and so Castlewellan reached
the semi-final . Kilcoo showed their true
ability to overcome an unfortunate St. Dallan’s
Warrenpoint in the last quarter-final. In
the first semi-final, Kilcoo and Rostrevor
were paired and what a game this proved to
be. Both teams had plenty of skill but with
both defences on top, it was a low scoring
game. Rostrevor tried to increase their goal
tally but found Dearbhaile McClean in the
Kilcoo goals the measure of all they could
send her way. Kilcoo progressed to the final
by the narrowest of margins.
St. Malachy’s Kilcoo 1-0 St. Bronagh’s
Rostrevor 0-2
The second semi-final brought the surprise
team of the day, Lower Mourne against the
unbeaten St. Malachy’s Castlewellan
and indeed it was a harrowing experience for
the Lower Mourne team as a rampant Castlewellan
overran them by a huge margin.
St. Malachy’s Castlewellan 3-9 Lower
Mourne 0-2
So the stage was set for this year’s
INTO Girls’ Football Final between two
neighbouring schools Kilcoo and Castlewellan.
Right from the throw in, Castlewellan laid
siege to the Kilcoo goal and only the valiant
efforts of Dearbhaile McClean in goals and
her defenders, Hannah Morgan and Aine Devlin
kept them in the game. From Castlewellan we
were treated to precision play . Their goalie
Aisling Burns cleared a ball to captain Tierna
Corrigan whose through pass released Anna
Rogan. Anna, who had scored several goals
throughout the competition selflessly gave
a hand pass to Clare Owens who rattled the
back of the Kilcoo net. Nicole Johnston, the
Kilcoo captain, did much to rally her team
and her mazy solo runs were a delight to witness.
She readily passed the ball and made herself
available the returns but the solid Castlewellan
defence marshalled by captain Tierna Corrigan
and goalkeeper Aisling Burns were in no mood
to concede scores. Meanwhile, the Castlewellan
attackers were in sparkling form with Anna
Rogan helping herself to two goals and Clare
Owens and Aisling Connolly always threatening
the Kilcoo goals.
Half-time Score:
St. Malachy’s Castlewellan 4-0 St. Malachy’s
Kilcoo 0-1
The second half was a much more low key affair
with Nicole Johnston still attempting to revive
the fortunes of her team and Tara Morgan consolidating
the Kilcoo defence. However try as they might,
Kilcoo found the Castlewellan rearguard impossible
to penetrate and they failed to increase their
tally.
Final Score:
St. Malachy’s Castlewellan 4-1 St. Malachy’s
Kilcoo 0-1
After the final whistle, Mr. Paddy Hardy
presented the medals to both teams. He remarked
how the two unbeaten teams had contested the
final and had throughout the competition displayed
all the skills attributed to gaelic football.
He complimented all the schools who had participated
in the competition for the sporting manner
in which all had conducted themselves. He
remarked how the girls from St. Malachy’s
Castlewellan had emulated the boys from their
school in becoming INTO Football champions
of Down and now they will accompany the boys
while representing county Down in the regional
finals in Armagh on 23rd May.
Beaten Finalists
