Category: Sport

THE FIRST part of that question is easy to answer – Pairc Ui Chaoimh this Sunday for the Munster minor hurling final between Clare, the defending champions, and the up and coming Waterford. This is the second year in succession that we have both contested the Munster minor decider, another sure sign of an impending shift in the powerbase of Munster hurling. We have never defended our Munster minor crown, Sunday is a big day for Clare hurling.

After Sunday thoughts can turn to the Munster Intermediate Final which will be played in Cusack Park on Wednesday July 13th. We have some young hurlers betwixt and between the senior and U-21 panels and they should be to the fore in this Munster final.

Just one week later, back in Cusack Park we have our U-21s to look forward to. A home semi-final with Limerick, if won, will mean a final perhaps against the mighty Tipp back in the Park on August 3rd. So plenty of hurling to look forward to.

The dust has settled now on last Saturday night in Salthill. It was a desperately disappointing performance from literally the word go – but the panic button should not be hit. The bigger picture, as always, is the one that matters most.

Clare supporters only want to talk about whether ‘The Sparrow’ stays or goes this week. That’s not the conversation we should be having. That’s not the bigger picture. How many of the future stars of Clare hurling are now blooded? How many can we say with confidence, are senior intercounty hurlers, up to the task? That’s the conversation we need to hear more of.

My sixpence worth is that we are in a far better place than we think we are. We fell away against Galway and it was entirely predictable for a squad as light as this, for a squad as young as this. Tipperary was our game and we put everything into that – there was very little left for the likes of a fired up Galway, a stiff breeze and a sun at their backs in Pearse Stadium. It was never going to happen for us in 2011.

Facing into 2012 we can look to Conor McGrath, Cian Dillon, Conor Cooney, Nicky O’Connell, Patrick O’Connor, John Conlon and a rejuvenated Darach Honan to be nailed on starters, not rookies anymore, but fellas who know what it’s about. That’s half our team.

That’s the quality we have coming through and there’ll be more with that from Sunday in Pairc Ui Chaoimh and from our U-21s in Cusack Park, not to mention the odd intermediate or two.

Those instant gratification merchants that expect a Munster championship or All-Ireland every year need to cop on. That’s not how counties like Clare win things. We build, we do it right and we have patience. We have no choice. We’re not Cork, Tipp or Kilkenny and we don’t arrive overnight with a team. Bigger picture.

We’ve taken beatings before and we’ve come back stronger. Those with short memories can look to the Munster finals of 1993 and 1994. Those will longer will think of the National League Final replay of 1976, or the Munster final of 1974. No matter, the beatings hurt every time, but the spirit was never quenched. Dalo, Jamesie, Seanie, Sparrow, Lohan? Look what patience and focus on the bigger picture garnered for the county when those boys and their like were persevered with after ‘93 and ‘94. It will be the same with this bunch. So, a little perspective. It wasn’t the end of the world.

We’ll be up there again, like the class of ’95-’98. Within three years we will be contesting Munster SHC finals. A chunk of the team that played last Saturday night will be winning those coveted pieces of gold. The hurling fraternity knows Clare are coming. A little education along the way won’t hurt us.

CLARE TRAVELLED to Salthill expecting a Galway backlash but came away with severe whiplash after a 17 point beating. Little for Clare manager Ger O’Loughlin to do but swallow another frustratingly, disappointing defeat and ponder his own future as the Clare number one.

“We were totally exposed, the goals were killer punches and they took them very well. We were at sixes and sevens in the first twenty minutes playing into a strong breeze and again we were very naïve in a lot of the goals we are conceding but from our point of view, all we can do is try to go back, pick up the pieces and try to learn from it. The bottom line is we are actually scoring 20 or 21 points in most games but conceding three or four goals in every match and that’s something to try and see can we remedy somewhere along the way.

“It’s not easy and I think we are playing the best that’s available but we just need to get a bit more savvy about what we are doing at the back because we are just conceding goal after goal in every game and it’s costing us big time.

“In fairness to Galway, they were a class apart tonight and it probably shows the amount of work we have to do to get there. We were a lot better against Tipp but it was a different sort of game I suppose. Galway came at us from the start and we had done the same to Tipp. We were on the backfoot from the beginning and we never really recovered from it and that’s the bottom line really that we never really recovered from their early onslaught.”

And if the Clarecastle native felt that lady luck had deserted his side in the first half, Clare’s slim hopes of bridging the ten point half-time gap were soon dashed when they were reduced to 14 men after five minutes of the restart.

“We were chasing the game anyway once James [McInerney] was sent off but it was only eight or nine minutes into the second half and we were still hoping that we could perform a miracle but it was probably never going to happen. It just threw the game apart and we were completely gone then because they were just mopping up loose ball that came into their defence.

“I don’t have any qualms about tonight. We were outclassed on the night and it’s a learning process and another costly one for Clare but all we can do is be proud of the effort they put in for the year and hope that we will learn sooner rather than later. But it was a lovely evening for hurling so we can have no excuses.”

And yet perhaps the game could have hinged on the toss, such were the breezy conditions in Salthill that allowed Galway to build up confidence and a considerable early lead.

“The game could have been different. We were hoping we would win the toss but that didn’t even go for us tonight. They were always going to come at us early on and try to finish us off early and I suppose we had the rub of the green against Tipp when we won the toss and played with the breeze. It helped us settle and sometimes with young lads like we have on board, you need to settle for fifteen or twenty minutes to realise you can win a game.

“I think what happened tonight is that we were on the backfoot and they took their goals very well early on and we probably panicked a bit as well I think. A small bit of panic set in and we looked all over the place and it was very hard to actually fix the problems because there was so many problems.

“I have to admire the lads again because they tried awful hard and never gave up but we were just beaten and outclassed on the night with killer punches and as I say, we just have to learn from that in Clare because if we don’t, that’s going to be the case. But we are building slowly but surely.”

But would the Sparrow be willing to be the foreman for such a project going forward?

“I’ll tell you, it was the last thing in my head even, coming into the match tonight because I said to myself that it would be unfair to even think about that but I’ll have a very serious think about it because it’s like everything else, you give your heart and soul for the two years. When I went in, after a couple of weeks, I knew that we were starting off from a very low base with regard to experienced players and we have had to start from stratch but I think we have made progress even though the results are poor.

“ I think we actually have a nucleus built up to go forward but we need that injection again of five or six 18, 19 and 20 years olds over the next year or two. But Clare will win something I think in the next three years. It might take three years but I think they will win something.”

That silver lining seemed very far away on Saturday evening.

Galway 4-25 – Clare 0-20 at Pearse Stadium, Salthill

IT STARTED badly, tailed off a little in the middle and the less said about the end the better.

What can you say about Clare’s forgettable championship exit to neighbours Galway? Revisiting what was Clare’s biggest championship defeat in seven years is made all the more painful by the fact that without a competitive game for the next six months, this will be the lasting impression of 2011 for players, management and supporters alike.

With expectations raised from the encouraging display against Tipperary, the reality soon hit home as a determined Galway side, with a considerable point to prove themselves after their highly criticised performance against Dublin in the Leinster semi-final, tore Clare apart in the opening twenty minutes.

Again it was the concession of goals emanating from green defending that did the damage and that more than anything else is the main reason for Clare’s heavy final defeat. For the third successive competitive game, they conceded four goals, making it 18 in only eight games while only scoring six goals themselves in the same period. Cutting out that deficiency, backed by the fact that Clare reached the 20 score mark for backto-back championship games would have made this a much more even tie. However, in the wake of Galway’s devastating firepower, the fact that Clare didn’t possess any goal threat and never troubled goalkeeper James Skehill for even a routine catch left Clare in a no-win situation. In addition all but five points of Galway’s 425 came from play while almost half of Clare’s total was from frees.

Those are indeed damning stats that tell their own tale as all Galway had to do was look at the DVD of the Tipperary game and employ the same fluid tactics up front. In truth, Clare showed that they had learned very little defensively from the Tipperary game as they allowed Galway to drag defenders out of position, leaving acres of space inside to exploit. Clare would have been better served by remaining more as a back six and defend zonally.

And yet despite the comprehensive 17 point defeat, there still is a niggling feeling that things might have been different had Clare won the toss and chose to play with the conditions. Both sides were vunerable confidence-wise following their recent provincial defeats and with a young side, Clare might have relished the aid of the conditions and taken the game to Galway like they did against Tipperary last time out.

Instead, however it was Galway who struck early and decisively by finding the net twice by the 12th minute. Clare should have heeded the warning sign when Joe Canning crashed a shot off the crossbar after only 90 seconds and as Galway dragged the Clare full-back line out the field, they left Damien Hayes free inside.

A Hayes point in the fifth minute cancelled out Nicky O’Connell’s first minute free and the Portumna man exploited the space again only two minutes later when seizing on a David Burke ball over the top to find the net.

With Clare slow to react, again it was Hayes who was the catalyst for the second goal in the 12th minute, collecting a defensive free before offloading for Iarla Tanninan to shoot against the post with Ger Farragher applying the finish.

Clare attempted to put out the fire but there were so many fires at that stage that the fire brigade should have been called but would have done well to get through the heavy traffic. Clare did manage to calm matters down however when employing Nicky O’Connell as a sweeper and while it took the visitors until the 19th minute to score from play through Fergal Lynch, the deficit was still only six points by the 20th minute following further points from the lively Conor McGrath and Caimin Morey.

That was until the mercurial talents of Joe Canning came to the fore with a full range of skills in an eight minute period. First he converted a straightforward free in the 21st minute, added an inch perfect lineball three minutes later from the 20 metre line but the highlight undoubtedly came in the 29th minute with Galway’s third goal. Picking up possession in the right corner, he shrugged aside the challenge of Nicky O’Connell, avoided the clutches of Cian Dillon by balancing the sliothar expertly on his stick before rifling a shot past Philip Brennan. The goalkeeper did ensure that there wouldn’t be further damage when somehow stopping a Joe Gantley point blank effort in first half injury-time but there was still a sizeable 10 point gap (3-13 to 0-12) for Clare to make up at the break.

With the breeze to come, Clare wounds were not life-threatening but within five minutes of the restart, they need a life-support machine after a high challenge by James McInerney on Joe Canning that saw the Newmarket man receive a straight red card.

With that, the result was merely an inevitability and the pace and intensity of the game dropped considerably. Clare never gave up and through the workrate of Cian Dillon and points from Conor McGrath, Caimin Morey and Nicky O’Connell’s unerring freetaking, they kept plugging away. However, they never looked like even getting a goal while Galway emptied the bench and grabbed a fourth goal at their ease in the 54th minute when Farragher supplied a teasing ball over the top for Alan Kerins to pull to the net.

The game had petered out long before the final whistle sounded as much like last year, Clare were left with a bitter aftertaste of a devastating defeat following encouraging displays in the Munster championship. It’s one step forward and three to the side it seems.

WITH THE ITRA Ennis Tag Summer League passing the half way mark, all matches were fought closer than ever before with the difference between the teams being marginal.

In Division 1, Deep Heat were out for revenge against Lucas’ Legends, who beat them in the last round. Despite Deep Heat being short on players, their female contingent took on the challenge with relish and came out victorious with a win of 18 points to 5, with each female try being worth 4 points.

Tag Her & Try Her were run ragged on the pitch by a speedy MurtysMen and despite MurtysMen leading for a large portion of the match, the experience of Tag Her & Try Her paid off with them taking the match 17 points to 13.

In the highly anticipated meeting of The Try Hards and Scrum N Coke, which saw twins Peter and Mark Johnston as respective captains, The Try Hards looked like they had the game but then in the last 4 minutes Scrum N Coke came back from 14 – 8 down to score two female tries which leveled the scoreline. The game finished with both teams tied on 14 points a-piece.

In Division 2 The Shades had their third straight win of the league defeating DBOCS 17 points to 10. The Shades showed, once again, the importance of getting female tries.

TTM Tryers had their first win of the season in a close encounter with Ennis Randomers, who were also gunning for their first win. TTM Tryers had the passion for the win and came out on top 14 points to 8.

Munstergroup defeated On Wing With Prayer by a very small margin of 21 points to 19 in a game that was fought to the very end. With this setback for On Wing With Prayer, the Division 2 league is now wide open for the taking.

Week 6 Results
Division 1 Deep Heat 18 – 5 Lucas’ Legends Tag Her &Try Her 17 – 13 MurtysMen TheTry Hards 14 – 14 ScrumNCoke

Division 2
The Shades 17 – 10 DBOCS Ennis Randomers 8 – 14 TTMTryers Munstergroup 21 – 19 OnWing With Prayer

A YOUNG Clarecastle fisherman is celebrating today after helping Ireland to the silver medal in the Home Nations Angling Competition in Derry over the weekend.

Joseph Birney did his county and the Lisdoonvarna/Fanore Sea Angling Club proud by helping the Irish team to a very credible finish – loosing out to the eventual winners Wales by the last few fish caught of the last day of the competition.

This was the first time that Joseph has represented his country after a very successful year which saw him represent his club and province with distinction in a number of competitions.

“It has been a great year for me. To get on the Irish team you first have to be named as a master angler for your club, then you have to take on other anglers to get onto the Munster team and once you are there you have to fish off against 20 of Ireland best young angler, five from each provence, to make the national team,” he said.

“This competition only happens once a year and I was very happy to finish second and bring back the silver medal in my first time fishing for Ireland. It’s a great great feeling to be fishing for your county.

“I had a great time anglish this year and I will definitely be back trying to get onto the Munster and Ireland team again next year.”

Meanwhile, Lahinch angler john Keane was the top angler at this weekends Jim Blackwell memorial Competition in Blackhead. John took the overall competition with 132 points and also netted the biggest fish by catching a 11.2 kg conger eel.

Second place in the competition went to Seamus Hayes from Clarecastle with 82 points while Willie Hartley from Galway came third. The best juvenile award was won by Stephen Birney from Clarecastle.

THE great work being done at grassroots level in Clare will be highlighted when former Irish internationals and senior Football Association of Ireland (FAI) officials visit the county next week.

20 clubs from across Clare are on the itinerary for the visit which will see the spotlight fixed on the huge popularity of schoolboy/girls soccer in the banner. Football fun days will take place in Kilrush (July 12, 2pm to 5pm), Scariff (July 13, 2pm to 5pm), Lahinch (July 14, 2pm to 5pm) while summer schools will take place at Lees Road Ennis (July 11, 10am to 3pm), Newmarket (July 11, 10am to 3pm) and Shannon Hibs (July 11, 10am-3pm). Also on July 11, Corofin Harps will host a soccer blitz while Moher Celtic will host a 5-a-side competition in Liscannor. The official opening of community facilities at Lisdoonvarna will also take place next Monday (4.30pm) while Sporting Ennistymon will host a football blitz at 7pm.

On Tuesday, July 12, Lees road will be the venue for a Special Olympics football blitz organised by the FAI in conjunction with the Clare Sports Partnership.

Tuesday will also be a landmark day for Lifford AFC with the celebration of the club’s 50th anniversary. The occasion will be marked by a 5-aside football tournament (11.30am) and the planting of a commemorative tree at Lifford’s home ground, Cassidy Park.

Later that day, the FAI festival of soccer comes to east Clare. Sixmile- bridge will be the venue for an under age blitz and skills competition (5.45pm) while the official opening of Tulla United’s astro turf pitch at the Cragg will take place 7.15pm.

FAI summer soccer schools continued throughout the county on Wednesday with aspiring coaches urged to take part in the kick start one coaching education course at Lees Road, starting at 10am.

There will be events at Bunratty’s Woulfe Park (11.50am) and Kilmaley Fern Celtic’s home ground in Tiermaclane at 12.45pm.

The emergence and success of clubs in west Clare will be recognised later that evening with visits to Gallery Park, Kilrush (4pm), West Clare United and Kildysart Celtic at Kilkee astro turf (4.45pm) and St Pats in Kilmihil at 6.20pm.

Clare’s biggest club, Avenue United, will host an underage blitz at Lees Road on Thursday (11am). All kids, coaches and committee members affiliated to Ennis Town are asked to be at Ennis Rugby Club by 1pm for the club’s soccer camp

Shannon Olympic will host a soccer sisters event from 2pm to 5pm. FAI dignatories expected to attend include FAI CEO John Delaney, former players Ray and John Aldridge and FAI President John McCaul.

Connolly Celtic Soccer Club will be the first club in Clare to receive an official visit from the FAI guests, with Chief Executive Officer John Delaney, FAI officials, development officers and coaching staff, as well as football personalities Ray Houghton and John Aldridge amongst the dignitaries on board the FAI tour bus. Connolly Celtic’s FAI club visit is scheduled for Monday, July 11, 10am to 11am at Kilmaley Sports & Leisure Complex.

On that Monday morning, over 130 members of the clubs schoolgirl and schoolboy club, aged 6 to 16, will be participating in a mini soccer blitz event, from 9am to 12pm.

All the clubs trainers, coaches, junior players and parents are invited to attend and assist with providing supervision, coaching, refreshments and support. Lots of fun and excitement is anticipated with photo and autograph opportunities for all.

During the visit, a commemorative plaque will be unveiled by CEO John Delaney to celebrate the FAI visit. A member of the FAI delegation will also draw prize-winners from tickets sold by club members in the weeks preceding the FAI AGM.

TWO legends of Irish soccer will lead the FAI invasion of Clare next week.

Ray Houghton and John Aldridge will be among the guests of honour for the FAI Festival of Football and Agm, which kicks off in Clare on July 11. FAI Chief Executive Officer, John Delaney, who has strong Clare connections, FAI President Paddy McCaul, Ireland Under 21 manager Noel King and Ireland women’s senior manager, Sue Ronan will also be touring the banner county as part of the week long celebration of the beautiful game.

Ireland manager Giovanni Trappattoni and his assistant Marco Tardelli are expected to visit the Cliffs of Moher during the festival, while coaching clinics and tournaments will take place across the county while € 100,000 in grants will be available to clubs in Clare.

Clare FAI Delegate and former league chairman, Jim Madden has described the occasion as “the biggest sports event to take place in the county this year.”

Events including soccer schools, coaching clinics and football fun days will take place at over 20 venues throughout the county.

The event runs from July 11-16 with 300 delegates expected to attend the FAI Agm at the West County Hotel beginning on Friday July 15. The festival culminates on Thursday July 14 with a Civic Reception hosted by Ennis Town Council at Glór.

FAI boss Delaney has said that the aim of the event is to ensure a closer connection between the FAI and grass roots football. Speaking at the festival’s launch in May, Michael Guilfoyle of the Clare Schoolboys Soccer League (CSSL), paid tribute to the work of former Munster Council and Clare League Chairman, Michael Leahy, whom he said had done a lot of the “ground work” for the Clare bid.

The festival will round off in Tulla on Saturday, July 16, with an FAI workshop on player development (10am). Later that day the association’s acclaimed emerging talent programme will be in Tulla (3pm).

Cratloe 0-8 – Clondegad 1-3 at Gurteen

CRATLOE MADE heavy work of seeing off a stubborn Clondegad side but yet in what was a truly bizarre game, the south east Clare side might have been out of sight by the final whistle. Such was the reality of this unique quarter-final tie that saw Cratloe produced 31 scoring chances, including six clear goal opportunities, strike the woodwork seven times and only score eight points. Still Clondegad will legitimately feel that they could have snatched victory, led by County Under 21 captain Podge McMahon who almost snatched a dramatic late goal that would have earned at least a draw.

Clondegad will also point to the fact that they were without the services of county minor hurlers Tony Kelly and Gearoid O’Connell for this knock-out tie, as outside of Eoghan Donnellan, McMahon had to take on the majority of the attacking repsonsibilities himself.

Cratloe, on the other hand, were boosted by the addition of their county senior hurlers, Conor McGrath, Cathal McInerney and Liam Markham, and unquestionably Cratloe were the team on the ascendency for the majority of this tie, without ever making the game safe for themselves.

It took 11 minutes for the game’s opening score through Dean Deloughery and it should have opened the door for a flurry of scores. However, Joseph O’Connor hit the crossbar with a close range effort, Cathal McInerney kicked five wides including another goal chance before Conor McGrath scored only their second point in the 23rd minute to cancel out Podge McMahon’s superb equaliser.

By now, Cratloe were playing a two man full-forward line of McGrath and McInerney but through some stern defending, Clondegad only conceded two points for the remainder of the half, both from the foot of McInerney to hold a 0-4 to 0-1 interval lead.

The second half saw the introduction of Pa Sheehan for Cratloe but his luck in front of the posts fared no better as twice his goalbound shots were denied by goalkeeper Declan O’Loughlin. In fact, while Cratloe kicked four wides and another six efforts into the arms of O’Loughlin, Clondegad realised that the game was there for the taking if they could get their act together up front.

So when Podge McMahon kicked a 50 metre point in the 38th minute and followed up Cathal McInerney’s reply with a 43rd minute goal after a flowing move involving Eoghan Donnellan and Liam Meaney, suddenly the sides were level.

Cratloe needed leadership and they got it through Padraic Collins who took Liam Markham’s crossfield pass and bobbed and weaved himself into a scoring position. He followed up by starting the move for Joseph O’Connor’s 48th minute point while seven minutes later Cathal McInerney restored their three point advantage.

There was still a doubt about the result up until the final whistle as Podge McMahon created a great scoring chance but blasted his shot just over the crossbar and Cratloe breathed a huge sigh of relief as they stumbled into a semi-final meeting with last year’s finalists Lissycasey.

Cratloe
Jamie Joyce, Gerry Cooney, Sean Hynan, Wesley Deloughery, Patrick Carey, LiamMarkham, Enda Boyce, Conor Ryan, Shane Golden, Kane O’Shea, Padraic Collins (0-1), Dean Deloughery (0-1), Cathal McInerney (0-4 2f), Joseph O’Connor (0-1), Conor McGrath (0-1)

Subs
Pa Sheehan for DDeloughery (HT), Dean Deloughery for O’Shea (51 mins)

Clondegad
Declan O’Loughlin, Conor Gavin, Brian Murphy, Cormac Ryan, Joe Neylon, Declan Keane, Paul Flanagan, James Murphy, David Sheehan, Stephen Enright, Padraig McMahon (1-3), Shane Harkin, Padraig Glynn, Eoghan Donnellan, LiamMeaney

Subs
Eoin Glynn for P Glynn (16 mins), Kieran McCarthy for Sheehan (33 mins, inj)

Man of the Match
Padraic Collins (Cratloe) Referee Michael Rock (Ennistymon)

Ennis NS 2-4 – Barefield NS 1-4 at Cusack Park, Ennis

THIS local derby final was decided in the Townies’ favour when Ciara Casey grabbed Ennis NS’s all-important second goal to edge her side home to a first Division 1 in four years.

It was a close final all the way through. Barefield NS had the wind that was blowing towards the scoreboard end in the first half and by the interval had built up a 1-2 to 0-1 lead.

However, it was Ennis NS’s ability to get goals in the second half that secured them the title.

Nina Jabkonska grabbed the first, while points from Chloe Eustace, Loran O’Mahoney and Orla Waters had the sides level entering the final stages before Casey struck for the match-winning goal to ensure that the Division 1 title came to Ennis in 2011.

Ennis NS
Natalia Fankuewska, Kayleighanne Haugh, Bebhinn Sullivan, Maeve McInerney, Fiona Naylon (Capt), Vanessa Meaney, Chloe Eustace, Loren O’Mahoney, Ciara Casey, Orla Waters, Chris Kearney. Marese Hayes, Nina Jabkonska, Subs Doireann Casey, Deirble Murphy, Grainne Sheehan, Hannah Minogue, Grace Minogue, Niamh O’Shea, Rhona Heaney, Karen McNamara, Siofra McInerney, Jara Hajkova.

Barefield NS
Ciara Sexton, Muireann McAuliffe, Kate Dillon, Niamh O’Keeffe, Emer Hanrahan, Mia Hanrahan, Aislinn Meaney,Amanda Mulcaire, Sally Molloy, Niamh McDonagh, Niamh O’Halloran, Ciara Guilfoyle, SadhbhWoods. Subs Kaye Fennimen, Claire Hanrahan, Rebeccas Walshe,Ava Glynn, Ciara McGrath, Shona Power, Hannah Meaney.

Carrigaholt Schools Team 6-8 – Ballynacally/Lissycasey 1-1 at Cusack Park, Ennis

THE rise of Carrigaholt schools through the ranks of the game continued in Cusack Park on Thursday last when they scored an impressive final victory over the Ballynacally/ Lissycasey amalgamation.

The west Clare amalgamation are made up of Carrigaholt, Moveen, Querrin and Doonaha schools and their 24-point win completed a hattrick of county schools titles in successive years.

In 2009 they won the Division 4 title, last year Division 3 honours came their way, while they made it three-in-a-row with this comprehen- sive win. They led by 2-6 to 1-0 at half-time, with player of the match Fidelma Marrinan showing the way all through.

They bagged an impressive 3-5 over the hour, while Shauna Melican and Caoimhe Harvey also chipped in with scores.

The victory made up for the disappointment of the narrow one-point defeat they suffered at the hands of Cross/Kilbaha in the mixed schools final in Kilmihil.

Carrigaholt Schools
Michelle Marrinan, Patricia Foran, Chloe Elderfield, Róisín Brew, Áine Murphy, Sarah Marrinan, Shauna Melican (2-0), Caoimhe Harvey (1-3), Siobhán Brew, Áine Moloney (Capt), Ciara McInerney, Fidelma Marrinan (3-5),Treasa Moloney. Subs Alannah Murphy, Síobhán Keane, Ciara Donnelly.

Ballynacally/ Lissycasey
Katie Fizgerald, Lauren Hill,Ava O’Malley, Sahron Cummins, Emma Moriarty, Lorraine Kelly, Áine McSweeney, Gillian Griffin, Rebecca Cahill, Sarah Mullins, Danielle McCarthy, Bernadette Kelly, Bríd Garry. Subs Celine Brassil, Áine Kelly, Clodah Doohan, Caireann Brigdale, Ciara Sheehan,Alana Hanrahan, Áine Slattery,Tara O’Malley.