Christ King Girls’ Secondary School, Cork 4/1 St: Joseph’s College, Summerhill, Athlone
Megan Connolly (16, 42) Catriona Mackey (51, 80) Gillian Egan (12)
THREE cracking second/half goals eased Cork outfit Christ King Girls’ Secondary School into the UMBRO FAI Schools Senior Girls' decider at Buckley Park, Kilkenny on Friday evening last (5 March):
St: Joseph’s Manager Michael Gallagher was well aware of the threat posed by the Cork outfit: Gallagher is current U15 girls International Schools Manager and he watched the lively Megan Connolly compete in the Interprovincial series last November: Yvonne Cahill was also a Schools International in 2007 who has progressed through the International ranks at underage level:
St: Joseph’s may have been confident going into the decider having defeated Belmullet CS 5/0 in their Connacht Final while Christ King Girls got a lucky bye into their All Ireland Semi Final series courtesy of Waterford side St: Angela Ursuline Convent:
St: Joseph’s have a good reputation when it comes to schools soccer having won All Ireland glory three times: The latest victory at Senior level came during the 2006/07 season while the School captured the Junior title twice in 2004/05 and 1998/99:
St Joseph's, from Summerhill in Athlone, took the lead after 12 minutes when Gillian Egan slotted home, but just four minutes later the teams were level when Megan Connolly scored from close range:
After the break the talented duo of Catriona Mackey and Megan Connolly took over and Joseph's simply had no answer:
Yvonne Cahill's pass to Megan Connolly was finished brilliantly by the striker to give the Cork side the lead after 42 minutes:
And it was all over after 51 minutes when Mackey swiveled beautifully and rifled to the roof of the net to give the goalkeeper no chance:
To cap a fine performance, Connolly set up Mackey, who stroked home the fourth goal in the dying seconds:
Christ King Girls’ will now face Alexandra College, Dublin in the UMBRO FAI Schools Senior Girls National Final which will take place this Wednesday, 10 March in the Regional Sports Centre, Waterford (KO 1pm)
Christ King Girls’ Secondary School, Cork: J Kavanagh, L Cooney, S Millane, P Mackey, R Casey, Y Cahill, J White, C Cooney, C Sexton, M Connolly, C Mackey:
Subs used: C Murphy, S Duggan, A Moore:
Teacher: Fergal O’Leary
St Joseph's College, Summerhill, Athlone: E Freebourne, C Dunning, K Finlass, M Nolan, R Shine, M O'Brien, B Gately, J Keogh, R Naughton, N O'Brien, G Egan:
Subs used: K Dunning, E Igoe, A Lennon:
Teacher: Michael Gallagher
Referee: Pat Shortall