All-Ireland Schools’ Senior A semi-finals: Saturday Feb 9 at 1pm in Kilnadeema
St Brigid's, Loughrea v Cross and Passion, Ballycastle
WHEN you get to All-Ireland level there are few easy matches and, while Cross and Passion, Ballycastle retain around half of the team that came so close to a national title last year in Louth, they have to face a major player in St Brigid's, Loughrea who won the title outright three years ago, taking out St Patrick’s Maghera in a semi-final in south Derry.
For a long time St Brigid's lived in the shadow of the other school in the town, St Raphael’s who won eight successive senior All-Irelands from 1985-1992 under the stewardship of Cyril Farrell who was also Head Teacher for a number of those years.
St Brigid's have established their own tradition in recent times and taken a number of Connacht titles in both senior and junior.
They were taken to a replay this year by Gort Community School; the pair finished on 1-10 each 24 hours before Cross and Passion emerged with a 3-8 to 0-3 win in the Ulster decider against neighbours St Louis, Ballymena.
The Connacht replay was held last Saturday and St Brigid's had a comfortable enough 4-9 to 2-3 victory in Ballinderreen, although Gort gave away too many frees, particularly during the first half, and Galway minor goalie Sarah Healy punished them with some impressive free-taking.
There were also a couple of handy goals from turnover balls – and Loughrea looked pretty sharp in turning those into scores.
Ballycastle’s key players in this age-group have already appeared in the Ulster and All-Ireland championships for Antrim seniors. Roisin McCormick and Maeve Kelly have also guided the Saffrons to the last two minor A titles and will be key players in their first tilt in over two decades at a Minor A title this spring.
Yet their contribution was overshadowed in the Corn Uan Uladh decider by the excellence of Katie Laverty dropping into half back and forwards Riana McBride and Ciara Laverty.
Laverty was a huge presence throughout and Ballymena rarely broke through the CPC half-backs over the hour. The other two were in and out of the play, but delivered when they got their chances.
St Louis contained Ballycastle for 26 minutes of the opening half and the score stood at 0-2 each. Over the final four minutes of play, McBride hit four points from play, one of which was brilliantly turned over for a point by Aine Graham in goals.
At the start of the second half, Laverty ghosted into the spaces and created 3-1, scoring one of the goals herself.
Last year’s All-Ireland final appearance and a Junior All-Ireland final appearance two years ago will have given this CPC squad a lot of experience. Loreto Kilkenny won both those finals and the fact that they have been beaten in the recent Leinster final will convince the Ulster champions that there is a huge opportunity this year.
This game will be tough. It may come down to fine margins. But if CPC can draw on their experience, they can come through.
All-Ireland Schools’ Senior B semi-final: Saturday Feb 9 at 1pm in Duggan Park Ballinasloe
St Raphael's, Loughrea v St Pius X, Magherafelt
DESPITE going into the Fr Davies’ Shield final before Christmas with an unbeaten record through the group stages and the semi-final, St Pius X were not being fancied for the title.
Part of the reason was that opponents Our Lady’s and St Patrick’s, Knock were also unbeaten and had won the Junior equivalent last year with a swash-buckling performance that also pro-pelled the school to a first Junior A final appearance in January.
However the main question hanging over the team was not of their own making; the school had lost four of the last seven finals at this level. It seemed like a competition they simply couldn’t win.
This team however answered all questions asked of them and they saved their best performance for that December evening in Jordanstown when they put Knock on the back foot early in the game and kept them firmly in check for the rest of the game with a little blip immediately after the break.
Full-back Claire McCartney led the line with power and the rest of the defence rallied behind their captain.
Indeed the work-rate of every single player was impressive and the reason why five of the six starting forwards made the score-sheet along with midfielder and free-taker Anna Cassidy.
Anna’s father, former All-Ireland winning footballer Damian, is involved with Geraldine O’Neill in coaching the team and they have steadily improved through the competition.
However that final took place before Christmas, fully two months ago, and the big question facing the Magherafelt girls is whether or not they can rediscover that momentum and bring it to bear on a Loughrea school attempting to find its feet once more in camogie after many years out of the picture.
From 1985 to 1992 St Raphael’s won eight successive All-Ireland senior A titles – but declined sharply after that. In the lower grade this season however they have been winning their games quite easily, including the final which they won by a margin of 18 points.
St Pius X are really heading into unknown territory in many ways – a first All-Ireland senior semi-final, a first competitive game in over two months, an away game in Connacht against a team they have not seen nor found match reports for.
But they have shown resilience and improvement in each of their pre-Christmas knockout games. If their performance today continues to reflect that upward trend, the result will look after itself.
All-Ireland Schools’ Senior D semi-final: Saturday Feb 9 at 11am in Oranmore
Calasanctus College, Oranmore v St Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon
OPPORTUNITY beckons for St Patrick’s Academy today if they can reproduce the battling spirit that saw them edge home in Newry a month ago in the Senior Medal-lion Shield final against the local Sacred Heart team.
The Academy had gone into the final unbeaten and that included a narrow group win over Sacred Heart. But the Newry side had been without last year’s All-star Clara Cowan for the group game and she was expected to make the difference.
Instead however the Clonduff midfielder was confined to the midfield area, her forward runs constantly checked.
The Academy midfielder Reagan Fay made the bigger impression with a brilliant solo goal early in the game and her work-rate was a key element of the 4-5 to 2-6 win.
Others to make a mark were goalie Emma Donnelly, centre-half back Áine McNulty and centre-forward Sian Fitzgerald with young substitute Lára Devlin coming on and shooting 2-1 in the second half.
Calasanctus also got off to a good start in their provincial final against Ardscoil Mhuire Balli-nasloe played ten days ago; captain Amy Connolly netted inside 10 seconds.
That score gave them the platform to build a 2-12 to 1-4 win and they looked dangerous enough for a team at this level.
Just five years ago they lost both the Senior and Junior All-Ireland finals at B level when former Galway hurling great Tony Keady, a caretaker in the school, was their coach.
They went into the Connacht A competition the following year, but have been on free-fall until this year’s turnaround.
On home ground and with something of a tradition behind them, Calasanctus College will be strong favourites to reach another national final.
The Academy travelled to Newry a month ago and dictated the play by taking charge early on.
That will probably need to be the formula they use this time if they hope to upset the odds.
