Loreto St. Michael's Storm to TESCO Homegrown All Ireland Title

 

 

St. Joseph’s Foxford 1-11 Loreto St. Michael’s, Navan 10-14

This weekend will see the destination of the three Senior TESCO Homegrown Post Primary School Titles but the first was decided today in spectacular fashion with Loreto St. Michael’s from Navan storming to victory over St. Joseph’s from Foxford.

Loreto St. Michael’s suffered heart ache in last year’s final and they were clearly determined to make up for that disappointment as they attacked straight from the first whistle of the match going into an early 2 point lead thanks to points from Kelsey Nesbitt and Kelly Harris and from that point on they never looked back. When Naoise De Graff added the Navan school’s second goal of the game midway through the first half it already looked like the writing was on the wall for the Mayo school but they responded well with their own goal through Mary McHale but they immediately suffered another blow as their corner back, Stephanie Clarke was given a yellow card.

Foxford came out in the second half determined to make inroads on the Navan lead but they suffered an immediate setback when Kelly Harris cracked home a goal straight from the throw in to make the score 5-13 to 1-07 and effectively end the match as a contest. Goals proved easy to come by for the Navan side who scored 7 goals in the second half alone. Harris added a second goal later in the half, which added to 3 more for De Graff and one each for Stacey Grimes and Shauna Fizgerald.

Much credit must be given to the Foxford players who never gave up trying but they had a mountain to climb against a superior side. Fiona Doherty never gave up trying, especially as she moved out the field to win primary possession and Rebecca Langan was a real threat to the Loreto rearguard. Loreto St. Michael’s had stars all over the field but in Emma Casey and Regina Hand they had the defence to deal with everything that Foxford could throw at them. Aisling Cassidy was immense in the middle of the field whilst Kelly Harris, Kelsey Nesbitt, Stacey Grimes and Player of the Match Naoise De Graff were all deadly in front of goal whenever opportunities presented themselves.

St. Joseph’s Foxford; Nicole Moran, Amanda Clarke, Sarah Gilmartin, Stephanie Clarke, Aoife Gilmartin, Stephanie Clarke, Aoife Gilmartin, Lydia Rainey (capt), Catherine McTigue, Claire Ormsby, Aoife Mulroy, Lisa Reid, Shauna Howley, Rebecca Langan, Amy O’Connor, Fiona Doherty, Mary McHale.

Loreto St. Michael’s Navan; Nicole Byrne, Ruth Commons, Emma Cassidy, Aisling Cassidy, Hannah Heskin, Regina Hand, Niamh Cassidy, Aisling Cassidy, Catriona Keoghan, Kelly Harris, Stacey Grimes, Shauna Fitzgerald, Kelsey Nesbitt, Naoise De Graff, Eleanor Lane.

 

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