Junior girls (U16s) win Connacht Schools Junior Cup for third time in 45 years.
Huge congratulations to our U16 girls who won the Connacht Junior Cup on Thursday last, 4th December at UoG sports grounds in Galway. The team captained by Myrtle Bamber and ably assisted by Emily Dunne produced two excellent performances in back to back matches, winning both the semi-final and final on penalty shuttles.
Goalkeeper, Aoibheann Jenkins, was the hero of the day saving 8 out of the 9 penalty shuttles she faced!
SGS dominated possession for large parts of the game in their semi-final against Seamount College Kinvara but could not convert the chances they created, coming up against a well marshalled defence. The game ended 0-0 and went straight to shuttles, where Eva Beirne scored for SGS and Aoibheann Jenkins saved all 5 of Seamount’s attempts.
After a half hour break, the final against Salerno Secondary School, Galway commenced. A very fair and even end to end battle played out with both teams creating numerous penalty corner opportunities and goal scoring chances but both defences held strong. Praise must go to the SGS defence of Sadhbh Grennan, Nixie Quinn, Eva Beirne, Eva Sheridan and 1st year, Annalise Higgins who were outstanding in both matches. The final ended 0-0 and both teams were faced with the nerve-wracking penalty shuttles again.
This time Emily Dunne, Myrtle Bamber and Molly Cullingworth converted SGSs first 3 shuttles and the aforementioned Aoibheann Jenkins saved 2 out of 3 of Salerno’s first 3 shuttles. She then stepped back between the posts knowing a save would make her the hero of the day and duly produced! Cue wild celebrations from the squad and travelling supporters!!
Huge congratulations to the squad, Graham and Seby on bringing the cup back to SGS and creating a little bit of SGS history!
Squad:
Aoibheann Jenkins
Eva Beirne
Sadhbh Grennan
Eva Sheridan
Nixie Quinn
Myrtle Bamber (Captain)
Emily O’Connor
Emily Dunne (Vice Captain)
Annalise Higgins
Trixie Neary
Molly Cullingworth
Poppy McKenna
Lauren Foley
Zoë Norris
Aisling Choo
Clodagh Corcoran
Shi Xian Lin
Unavailable:
Olivia Stafford Johnson
Anabelle Finn
