On Wednesday 29th January, St Joseph's Grammar School Donaghmore competed in the school's first ladies Ulster final since 2011. The girls hadn't won an Ulster title since 2006 and were keen to rewrite history and ensure they brought silverwear back to the school.
Strong winds dominated play in the first half with Donaghmore struggling to get the ball out of defence, however two goals from St Joseph's late in the first half kept the game to a point at half time.
Half time score St Joseph's Donaghmore 2-3 to 1-07 St Patrick's HS Keady.
The second half saw the weather calm down allowing both teams to put their game plans into action leaving it an exciting and open game for the large crowd who were in attendance.
A penalty for Keady saw them extend their lead half way through the second half with the Tyrone side now trailing by 5, however some excellent goalkeeping from Year 10 student Niamh Mccormick stopped the Armagh side from taking a bigger lead. This was followed by a strong performance in midfield from Briana Quinn and some accurate shooting from Niamh Rafferty in half forward which took the game to within a point again as it entered the final minutes of play.
The addition of Aoibheann Toye in the second half seemed to be the game changer for Donaghmore as she found the back of the net putting Donaghmore ahead for the first time since the opening stages of the game.
The wind picked up again as the game went into injury time leaving it difficult for Keady to get the ball out of defense. Leah McVeigh was instrumental in winning each of Keady’s kick outs and strong runs from Katie Cumiskey in defence allowed Donaghmore to extend their lead in the dying seconds of the game.
The game was a much tighter affair than the final score suggests, a thrilling and exciting game which neither team deserved to lose.
Full time score St Joseph’s Donaghmore 4-11 to 2-10 St Patrick's Keady
St Joseph’s Panel N McCormick, AJ O’Neill, N Hughes, M McElhone, K Comiskey (0-01), M Slane, E Duffy, B Quinn (1-03), M Mihadjuka, N Raffery (0-03), A McKenna (0-01), L McVeigh, A Devlin (1-00), C Kelly (1-00), C McCrystal (0-01), N Brannigan, N Donnelly, L McCaffrey (captain), A Toye (1-02) (used), B Deery (used), L Conlon, EJ Quinn, C McNally, O O’Hagan, N McGlinchey