St.Tiernan's College

Remarkable Regional Triumph for Tiernan’s Girls

St. Tiernan’s College Under 19 girls basketball team were recently crowned regional champions and now go on to represent the region in the All-Ireland series. It was definitely a case of third time lucky for this particular panel of girls who have been beaten twice in Regional Finals at Under -16 level were determined to emerge victorious on this occasion.

Despite having entered the competition with possibly the smallest panel to choose from of any of the competing schools and featuring one of the youngest panels the teams determination was clear to see from the outset as the team beat Davitt College Vocational School in Castlebar and followed this up with a victory over St. Brendan’s College Belmullet.

The toughest challenge of the campaign came when the team travelled to play St. Patrick’s College, Lacken Cross in their new sports hall. Having got off to a poor start the St. Tiernan’s girls launched themselves into a memorable second half comeback which was stalled by an unfortunate injury to Michelle Moyles, Eventually, the match ended with St. Patrick’s College winning by 42 points to 41 points, and saw the St. Patrick’s girls remain defeated in the competition all the way through the final.

St. Tiernan’s were now left with a toughter route to the final but reain undaunted in facing Ballinrobe Community College. Here, a stellat performance from Nicole Cadden in offence and Aoife Munnelly in defence saw St.Tiernan’s emerge victorious with 38 points to 19 points scoreline. For the semi-finals the team travelled to Claregalway to play Scoil Chuimsitheach Ciaráin from Carraroe and were comfortable winners with a 42 points to 28 points scoreline.

Owing to the fact that the competition was running behind schedule the St. Tiernan’s team was unable to travel for the final due to a clash with timetabled school exams, Hence the team were happy to be accommodated by the other finalists the undefeated St. Patrick’s College team. The St. Tiernan’s team travelled to Lacken Cross for an evening final to play against the only team to have defeated them in the competition. However, St. Tiernan’s approached this game with a new game plan and the defensive plays organised by Aoife Munnelly, Aisling and Michelle Moyles and Grace Courtney kept the St. Patrick’s offence in check while offensively team captain Grainne Donnelly was proving most effective under the boards on her way to amassing an 18 points game total, while Nicole Cadden was most cool from the free throw line as St, Tiernan’s won by 32 points to 13 points to become regional champions.