2nd Seven's Title for St Malachy's PS

What a year for St Malachy’s P.S.!! Both INTO football sevens titles have now been captured by the school. On Thursday 15th May the girls emulated the boys by winning the sevens for the very first time.

The competition attracted 19 teams to Annsborough for what promised to be a festival of excellent football. St Malachy’s easily accounted for Holy Family in their first tie and followed that up by defeating last year’s winners Carrick in the second match. The final group game proved to be the toughest test of the day with the girls having to work hard to defeat St Mary’s Rostrevor on a score line of 2-3 to 1-2.

Having qualified as winners from their section the girls were then paired with St Patrick’s Mayobridge in the quarter finals. Excellent work from Tierna Corrigan and Aisling Connolly in mid-field led to great scores from the two forward dynamos Clare Owens and Anna Rogan and the girls ran out winners on a score line of 2-2 to 0-0.

The semi final paired St Malachy’s with Lower Mourne, an amalgamation of three schools but the great tackling of Christine Owens and Catriona Caldwell in defence and super score taking of Owens and Rogan ensured the girls were never under threat. Outstanding goal keeping by Aisling Burns in goals restricted Lower Mourne to just a solitary point. Sinead Sweeney, Hayley Wynn and Clare Cleland all contributed to a final score of St Malachy’s 3-9 Lower Mourne 0-1.

In the final the girls were up against old rivals Kilcoo. Having lost one final already this year the girls were determined not to let another title slip. An early Anna Rogan strike settled any nerves and with Catriona Caldwell tackling like her life depended on it and Tierna Corrigan fielding some great balls the girls pushed forward at every opportunity. A second goal from Clare Owens gave breathing space and with Aisling Burns so commanding in goals there was no way Kilcoo were going to get back into the game. With Christine Owens and Aisling Connolly dominating midfield it was only a matter of time before further scores came. In the second half the ‘terrible twins’ up front Rogan and Owens added further scores and Sinead Sweeney, Hayley Wynn and Clare Cleland all defended tigerishly to ensure the winners trophy was heading to Castlewellan.