ALLIANZ CUMANN Na mBUNSCOL
GIRLS’ INDOOR FOOTBALL HEAT 5: Cookstown
Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Thír Eoghain held the fifth of 9 scheduled heats of the annual 5-a-side Girls’ Indoor Gaelic Football for primary schools today in Cookstown. A total of 7 local schools competed for the honour of winning this heat and, with it, a coveted place in the Tyrone County Final. The format of the day’s play saw the teams being drawn into two sections – of 4 and 3, respectively.
Section ‘A’ featured schools from St. Joseph's Galbally; Holy Trinity Cookstown; St. Mary’s Dunamore, agus na paistí o Gaelscoil Eoghain. After a number of titanic struggles and some very close encounters, Holy Trinity topped the group unbeaten with 2 wins and a draw, whilst the girls from Dunamore claimed runners-up by a single point. Hard luck, but well done, to the Gaelscoil Eoghain and Galbally girls.
Section ‘B’ contained teams from St. Patrick's Mullinahoe, Ardboe; St. Peter's Moortown, and St. Patrick's Donaghmore. Fair play to these girls as they really gave their all in a bid to qualify. After a close series of games Ardboe emerged undefeated with a win and a draw followed by local derby rivals Moortown as runners-up. The derby tussle ended 1-1. Well played Donaghmore but they just missed out on a semi-final berth.
The two semi-finals manifested the best attributes of our great national games as Holy Trinity qualified for the final by seeing-off a brave Moortown effort. Meanwhile, our section ‘B’ winners, Ardboe, fell to a reverse at the hands of a determined Dunamore.
This resulted in another local derby and a 5-goal thriller Heat final. Great credit to Mrs. Jane-Marie Mallon’s Dunamore team and Master Ryan Pickering’s Cookstown team for treating us to such a spectacular final. Ultimately, a 3-2 scoreline went the way of Holy Trinity P.S. Cookstown. Dunamore can be delighted with the way they performed all day, but it is the Cookstown girls who make the Co. Final on 12 March in MUSA.
Our thanks to referee Marty Devlin for his expert officiating, and to Allianz Cumann na mBunscol officer Damian Kelly for coordinating the day’s matches. Attention now turns to Omagh next week. Bring it on!
