HAT/TRICK OF SUCCESS FOR THREE MEATH SCHOOLS
At the North Leinster Finals of the FAI Schools 5-a-side, it was Meath schools who dominated at the MDL grounds in Navan on Wednesday last (28 April): The boys’ teams from Boyerstown NS, Cannistown & Dunboyne made it a hat/trick of success for the Royal County when overcoming their counterparts from Louth, Longford and Westmeath and thus advancing to the Leinster Finals on 19th May at the same venue: Meanwhile two Mullingar schools Loughegar and Gaelslcoil an Mhuilinn advanced in the two sections for girls:
SECTION B BOYS (MEDIUM SIZED SCHOOLS) Cannistown NS (Navan) advanced from Section B Boys after firstly overcoming the challenge of Dean Kelly NS (Athlone) by 4/2: Keeper Marcus Mc Donagh was in sparkling form and Liam Murphy excelled with a hat/trick in the hard/fought encounter: The second game saw midfielders Robbie Cunningham and Mike O’Reilly score the crucial goals in a decisive 2/0 victory over Melview (Longford):
CANNISTOWN: 1: Marcus McDonagh, 2: Robbie Cunningham, 3: Liam Murphy, 4: Ben McEnteggart, 5: Jack Connerty, 6: Kenneth Garbutt 7: Dermot McKenna, 8: Mike O’Reilly
SECTION A BOYS (SMALL SCHOOLS) The boys from Boyerstown were particularly impressive in their first two games when they ousted their counterparts from Longford and Westmeath: Darren Reilly and Christian Lawless were magnificent in defence for Cathal O’ Bric’s charges while keeper Conor Rattigan pulled off some crucial saves in the wins over Baylin (Athlone) by 7/4 and Abbeylara (Longford) by 5/0 in which Tadhg Ratty, Ronan Clynch & Ronan Casserly excelled: The deciding game against Bellurgan (Louth) proved to be one of the games of the day with the Royals pipping the Dundalk school by 4/3:Top scorers for Boyerstown with 7 goals each were Christian Byrne and Darren Kavanagh:
BOYERSTOWN: 1: Conor Rattigan, 2: Darren Reilly, 3: Christian Lawless, 4:Tadhg Ratty 5: Christian Byrne, 6: Darren Kavanagh, 7: Ronan Clynch, 8: Ronan Casserly
SECTION C BOYS (LARGE SCHOOLS): A skilfulDunboyne team advanced to the Provincial decider but only after a nail/biting last/minute win over a gallant St: Joseph’s CBS Drogheda: Dunboyne had started off with a convincing 3/0 win over Westmeath Champions St: Mary’s Mullingar: Eoghan Dunne and top scorer Conor Keeley scored some superb goals with the South Meath school cruising past Edgewordstown with a 6/0 win: Stand/in keeper Conor Hughes and Captain David McEntee were magnificent throughout: The final was a fitting finale to a hugely entertaining competition with Dunboyne racing into a 2/0 lead before Gerard Harding from Drogheda inspired a remarkable comeback with two superb goals: The Louth Champions would have advanced with a superior goal difference only for a deflected header from Conor Keeley to put Dunboyne through in the dying seconds of the game: Seán Bannon and Luke Cormican were others to the fore for the Louth School:
DUNBOYNE: 1: Conor Hughes 2: David McEntee 3: Eoghan Dunne 4: Conor Keeley 5: Jack Cox 6: Cian O’Dwyer 7: Cian Ryan 8: Scott Crawford:
St: Joseph's CBS Drogheda “A”: 1: Luke Cormican, 2: Gerard Harding, 3: Jamie Kelly, 4: Seán Bannon, 5: Jordan Tan, 6: Daryl McDonagh, 7: Ciaran Walsh, 8: Ross Finglas:
SECTION A GIRLS Loughegar managed by Patrick Reilly and with huge support on the day, won all 3 games beating Yellow Furze (Meath) by 2/1, Lordship (Louth) by 4/0 and Ardagh (Longford) by 3/0:
Loughegar NS: Jennifer Smyth, Katie Heffernan, Hannah McGrath, Chloe Skerry: Olivia Kelleghan, Rebecca Croash, Shuana McGrath, Stephaine Tansey
Teacher/Coach: Sarah Loughray/Paddy Reilly
SECTION B GIRLS Gaelscoil an Mhuillinn from Mullingar topped the Girls Section for Large Schools after defeating Dundalk school Réalt na Mara by 5/2 and pipping Newtownforbes by 2/1:Lucy Nic Artáin, Lauren Nic Cormaqic, Michaella Ní Dhuinn, Rebecca Nic Aogáin & Sabina Nic Lochlainn were outstanding throughout: However the same girls are prominent players on the school’s Gaelic Football team that play in the County Final on the same day as the Leinster Finals: As the school have opted to choose the Gaelic Football final it is Longford’s Newtownforbes NS managed by Louise Tully, that will represent the region in the Provincial decider:
Gaelscoil an Mhuillinn: Sabina Nic Lochlainn, Michaella Ni Dhuinn, Lucy Nic Artain, Rebecca Nic Aogain, Lauren Nic Cormaic, Rebecca Ni Lorua
Teacher/Coach: Dara Feiritear
NORTH LEINSTER FINALS RESULTS
