West’s awake as Jes go golden

Coláiste Iognáid continued to provide the drama and the romance as they collected their maiden Kate Russell All-Ireland Schoolgirls Championship title at Grange Road yesterday. Having seen off St Andrew’s on penalty strokes to progress to the decider, the Galway girls claimed a 3-2 win over Foyle and Londonderry thanks to Isobelle Mortimer’s golden goal. The title therefore returns to Connacht for the first time since Taylor’s Hill won it in 1988, and having brought the biggest crowd and plenty of colour to the tournament, Jes returned home last night to a hero’s welcome – apparently with the aid of a garda escort!. Player of the tournament Megan Frazer had given Foyle a half-time lead from an unusual but effective improvised short corner, before Katie Codyre – another regular goalscorer over the two days – banged home the equaliser when she connected with a long corner.

Fourteen-year-old Elaine Carey latched on to a stray ball to give Jes the lead with five minutes to go, but Frazer – set to head stateside next year on a sports scholarship – went straight up the other end and won a corner for her side. Olivia Jones’ subsequent shot took a wicked deflection off a Jes stick into the top corner to force extra-time. However, Mortimer was the most incisive during a goalmouth melée four minutes into extra-time, and she pounced for the golden goal to send Jes and their supporters wild. Loreto Wexford took a surprise lead through Katrina Parrock in their bronze medal game with St Andrew’s, but goals from Niamh Atcheler, Jenny Doran and Chloe Watkins ensured the Booterstown school finished their campaign unbeaten in normal time. Bandon Grammar restored some pride as a mammoth defensive effort spearheaded by Kate Murphy helped them to avoid the wooden spoon by defeating Ballymena Academy 1-0. Murphy grabbed the only goal of the game two minutes in, netting a corner rebound after Jessica Kingston’s initial shot was pushed away by Ashley McIlroy. Ballymena dominated thereafter, but Emma White put in another brilliant performance between the sticks for the Grammar, rebuffing 10 first-half corners. Bandon came back into it in the second half, producing the game’s best chance in the last minute, when skipper Olivia Roycroft set up Gemma Kingston who fired just wide. Elsewhere,  Cookstown High denied St Andrew’s an All-Ireland double in the boys’ final, with first-half goals from Stuart Smyth and Stephen Sloan helping them to a 2-0 win over last October’s Irish Schools winners. Sloan forced home a scrappy improvised corner before Smyth scored a beauty that was mostly his own doing, with the aid of some lovely elimination work by Mark Crooks, who centres for Smyth to sweep home first-time.

Bandon Grammar defeated Ashton 2-1 in the 5th/6th playoff to give themselves a psychological fillip ahead of the sides’ Munster cup final clash in a couple of weeks. BGS enjoyed the lion’s share nof possession, with Karl Lynch and Stephen Swanton exchanging goals before Cathal Duggan got the winner in the second half. Having hammered Ashton yesterday, Wesley further took out their frustration at missing out on a final spot by destroying Banbridge 4-1 to claim the bronze medal. A superb team move, starting at right-back Rob Anderson went the full length of the pitch for Carl Eggert to get the first of his hat-trick. Kyle Good made it 2-0, taking over penalty-stroke duties from Eggert but the latter doubled up from close range in the second half for an imposing 3-0 advantage. Scott Forbes netted a corner to pull one back before Eggert completed his triple. Thanks once again to Stephen Findlater for details. You can check out his pictures from the tournament here, and a full set of results and goalscorers is available here.