Fr Davies Cup camogie final: St Patrick’s, Keady v St Killian’s, Garron Tower (Saturday, 11.30am, the Dub, Belfast)
NINE of the St Patrick’s, Keady lineout who will take on St Killian’s, Garron Tower in Saturday's Fr Davies Cup final ran St Mary’s, Magherafelt very close last year in a Grade A U16 decider.
They had St Mary’s on the wire for 40 minutes of that game, but lost their momentum during the last 20 minutes and came out on the wrong end of a 5-5 to 2-7 scoreline. Twelve months on, these nine are the driving force in a strong senior team in search of their third Fr Davies Cup title. Eleven of the starting 15 have experience of playing in county underage teams.
Emma Mone and Sinéad McCooey formed the spine of the defence in last year’s U16 team and they will be a big obstacle for St Killian’s, as will the midfield paring of Madden’s Eimear Smyth and Órla Young.
A major concern for St Killian's is the loss of top forward Mary Kane, who dislocated her shoulder four weeks ago and is out of this fixture. Siobhán McKillop, who has always played in the half-back line for club and county underage teams, is expected to step in as an emergency forward.
Midfielders Dervla Cosgrove, an Ulster Colleges’ Allstar last year, and Laoise McKenna are the driving force behind the team, over half of whom come from the Cushendall club, with two from Carnlough and five from Brídíní Óga, Glenravel.
TEAM NEWS
St Patrick’s: C Hawes, L McGoldrick, E Mone, G Fox, E Hughes, S McCooey, C Beagan, E Smyth (Madden), O Young, E Grimley, A Brennan, M Toner, RE Carville, H Hughes, O Vallely; Subs: C Hill, E Smyth (Ballymacnab), A Taylor, J Carr, L O’Neill, M Lappin, D Murphy, E McCarthy, R Doran, D Heavin, A Harvey.
St Killian's: A Duffin, S McNeill, E Hynds, C McManus, M McKillop, A Leech, C McCann, D Cosgrove, L McKenna, E Leech, S Convery, H McCann, A McDonnell, S McKillop, D Martin; Subs: C Hayden, O McAlister, G Black, L Kane, C Speers, S O’Boyle, N Conlon, A McQuillan, M Gillan, M Kane.
Senior Medallion Shield camogie final: St Louis', Kilkeel v St Patrick’s, Dungannon (Saturday, 1pm, the Dub, Belfast)
TWO unbeaten teams - St Louis', Kilkeel and St Patrick’s, Dungannon - will contest Saturday's Senior Medallion Shield final
The Academy won four of the first six finals contested in this competition, which was introduced in the 2000/1 season. Since the last of those in 2006, however, five of the nine titles have gone to Down schools, including Kilkeel’s only crown six years ago.
Three seasons ago, Kilkeel collected the Junior Medallion Shield and many of this year’s senior panel shared in that success, including captain Niamh McDowell, Áine Fearon, Meabh O'Hare and Ciara Keenan, girls who have been the driving force behind their run this term.
The Dungannon school’s team is very much a Tyrone-Armagh mixture, with girls from Edendork, Derrytresk, Eglish and Dungannon joined by others from Port Mór, Tullysaran and even St Brigid’s in Armagh city. Many of them have intercounty experience as well, in contrast to Kilkeel team, and it really will come down to how much influence these more experienced players can exercise on the game.
TEAM NEWS
St Patrick’s panel: R Mallon (capt), L Fitzgerald, C Mallon, R Ó Faoláin, S Hanna, N Byrne, E Mallon, R Morgan, M Maxwell, L Mason, N Forker, C Little, T Donaghy, N Murphy, M Ó Faoláin, G O’Connor, N McNulty, A McLaughlin, S Kelly, AJ Kernan, J Hamill, Á McNulty, S Fitzgerald, C McGeary.
St Louis': N Rooney, M O'Boyle, N McDowell capt., K Cunningham, A Murphy, E Cousins, Á Fearon, Clare Cunningham, Cailin Cunningham, C Keenan, N Quinn, S O'Rourke, S McCartan, C Cleland, M O'Hare; Subs: L Colgan, K Smyth, O Keenan, C Quinn, S McGivern, A Sloan, C Fearon.
