The girls approached this competition with only one thing on their minds – bringing home the trophy! After their heart-breaking defeat in the Carlow decider back in November, which you can read about here, this blitz in Ballinakill presented another opportunity for this talented bunch to bring home silverware.

We found ourselves in a group with Avoca NS, Laragh NS and Gaelscoil an Inbhir Mhóir. First up was Avoca NS. The girls really hit the ground running, making light work of the shellshocked Avoca girls, winning on a scoreline of 7-3 to 2-4. Allie Lacey and Ella O’Neill helped themselves to hat-tricks, with Mille O’Neill and Creah Doyle also on the scoresheet. Game 2 against Laragh NS saw Saoirse Cahill come in as cúl báire with Mollie Bolger taking her place in the forward line. Kate Rooney came on in defence for Saoirse. After the goal-fest in the first game, this was a low-scoring affair. Once again though, Ballyconnell were comfortable, taking the two points on a final score of 0-5 to 0-0. They say it’s a good sign when a team doesn’t rely on any one player for their scores. If that is true, then this game reflected well on Ballyconnell as the scores in this game came from Mollie Bolger (0-2) and Megan Mernagh (0-3), neither of whom had scored in the first game. Our last group game was against Gaelscoil an Inbhir Mhóir. Isabella Holligan was drafted into the goal as Saoirse reverted to corner-back while Mollie maintained her position in the full-forward line. After being kept goalless in babhta a 2, Ballyconnell once again went goal-crazy in babhta a 3, hitting five goals during the game as well as three points to win comfortably. They had Sibéal Ní hAileagáin partly to thank for that as she made a great save to keep Ballyconnell ahead at a crucial time. Amazingly, we had five different goalscorers in this game – Áile Ní Lása, Millie Ní Néill, Ella Ní Néill, Meadhbh Nic an Bhaird and Mollie Ní Bhulguir all raising green flags for the team wearing dearg agus dubh. Points from Creah Ní Dhúill, Megan Ní Mheirtneach and Ella Ní Néill ensured that Ballyconnell ended the group as winners with three wins from three.

The semi-final pitted us against Aughrim NS. Mollie returned as cúl báire for this one with Isabella joining Saoirse and Meadhbh in the backs. Ella and Croí started midfield while Megan, Creah and Millie were the forwards. The first half was a tightly contested affair with Megan Mernagh settling Ballyconnell nerves with a goal and a point. Millie added another point before Aughrim found the back of the net to haul themselves right back into contention. Mollie then made a great save to preserve our lead before Creah Doyle, that point-scorer supreme added a third to give us a 3-point lead at the interval. If it had rained goals for the Ballyconnell girls in the group stage, they now showed that they could kick points too! They hit six in the second half, three of them coming from Creah with Isabella, Meadhbh and Ella sharing three more. All of that was enough to ensure that Ballyconnell NS were ahead at the final whistle and advanced to the final.

The final pitted us against Scoil Aodáin Naofa, Carnew. Interestingly, this final would pit Ms Dagg, bainisteoir Bhaile Uí Chonaill against the primary school she attended! In what was the tightest game of the tournament – Ballyconnell defended with great determination, Croí, Meadhbh and Isabella defending with great skill. Two first-half goals from the tireless Millie O’Neill and a wonderful left-footed point by Ella O’Neill meant that Ballyconnell went in 2-2 to 1-0 up at half-time. In the 2^nd half, it was the cúilíní which kept the Carnew cailíní at arm’s length with Megan Mernagh (0-3), Allie and Millie keeping the ref busy writing down the scores. When the final whistle was blown, it was the Ballyconnell girls who were celebrating after coming through a tense affair on a scoreline of 2-6 to 2-1. Captaen na foirne, Croí-Lily Ní Dhuíginn gleefully accepted the trophy from organiser Pádraig Murphy and made a great speech thanking the referees, Ms Dagg and the girls for their commitment throughout the year.

The girls were overjoyed with their victory and proudly brought the South Wicklow Cumann na mBunscol trophy back to Ballyconnell. It’s fair to say that teachers and parents were equally proud!

The panel on the day was: 1. Mollie Bolger, 2. Croí-Lily Deegan, 3. Meadhbh Nic an Bhaird, 4. Saoirse Cahill, 5. Creah Ní Dhúill, 6. Megan Mernagh, 7. Ella O’Neill, 8. Millie O’Neill, 9. Allie Lacey, 10. Isabella Holligan, 11. Kate Rooney, 12. Jane Hickey.