St Ciaran’s 1-16
Our Lady’s Castleblaney 2-5
Chloe McCaffrey scored 1-6 and Maria Canavan hit 0-8 as St Ciaran’s collected a third Ulster Schools Under 20 A title at Emyvale with a solid, quality team performance that proved too much for Our Lady’s Castleblaney.
McCaffrey’s goal came late in the contest as Our Lady’s managed to narrow the gap through Erin Hamill to leave six points between the teams. However St Ciaran’s weathered the temporary storm to maintain their overall dominance before pulling away to win with eight points to spare at the end.
While the plaudits must go to the forwards this was very much a win forged at the back where Meabh Corrigan, Grainne Mc Kenna and player of the match Shannon Stevenson turned in first rate displays throughout what was a very competitive and entertaining contest.
St Ciaran’s were slow to get started though and trailed 0-2 to no score inside the opening five minutes as Jane Drury and Sorcha McCague found their range early. Eventually the Tyrone side found their rhythm and Canavan, Shauna Stevenson and McCaffrey landed points to put their side five points clear.
Hamill led the fight back with a Monaghan goal and by half time the gap was down to a single point. St Ciaran’s took control in the third quarter and the outcome of the game was decided during that period. Even though they had a player sin binned the Ballygawley defence remained assured and Canavan and McCaffrey tagged on scores.
As the legs tired and the space opened there were goal chances at both ends. McCaffrey took Moore’s pass well and was unlucky not to find the net while Darcy Byrne made a fine stop to deny Hamill. Bronagh McAleer added a Tyrone point before McCaffrey and Grainne McKenna combined for McCaffrey to slot home the St Ciaran’s goal. Our Lady’s responded with a late goal themselves but with a nine point gap St Ciaran’s strode to the title and a place in the all Ireland series with a confident performance.
Chloe McCaffrey 1-6, Maria Canavan 0-8, Shauna Stevenson and Bronagh McAleer 0-1 apiece.