Sarah Tierney is team captain
Preview
Mike Finnerty
IN recent years the girls of Mount St Michael, Claremorris have carved out a formidable reputation as an institution of colleges volleyball and have got the All-Ireland titles to prove it.
Next Saturday the school’s ladies footballers will get an opportunity to fence off their own piece of history when they take on St Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon in the All-Ireland Senior ‘B’ championship final. Victory would mean a first All-Ireland football title for Mount St Michael and complete a memorable double for Rebecca Kearns, Stephanie Delaney and Edel Nolan who have already tasted national glory on the volleyball court this year.
Under the astute guidance of Fr Michael Murphy (an All-Ireland winner with St Joseph’s, Castlebar two years ago) and Ger Slattery, the Claremorris girls have made steady progress this season.
In the provincial championship they chalked up wins in the group stages over St Mary’s, Ballina, Headford, Swinford and Glenamaddy. They also beat the Galway school in the Connacht final (after a replay) before putting Moate away in the All-Ireland semi-final.
Now they are just an hour away from finishing the job.
“Our first game against Ballina was also the first day we had Fr Michael with us,” Mount St Michael captain Sarah Tierney told The Mayo News last week. “We weren’t really used to playing together and so we ended up just scraping by. But we’ve made progress in every single game since then. There’s been a huge difference.
“We didn’t play well at all against Mountbellew but we got a draw and that gave us great confidence,” she added. “Playing Swinford away, we went out all guns blazing, built up a lead, and stayed in front. We have a great rivalry with them so that win was a massive result, psychologically.
“We didn’t play well in the Connacht final either against Glenamaddy and we got a shock, to be honest,” continued the Hollymount footballer. “We were a lot more fired up for the replay.”
Claremorris have also tweaked their tactics a little as the season has progressed and Amy Bell from Carramore is a major component of the new game-plan. She is also one of the team leaders and has high hopes for next weekend.
“We’re well able to improve, we’ve been doing it in training, and I think we can,” she said. “It’s just a matter of sticking to the game-plan and staying focussed.”
The Mount St Michael dressing-room is likely to be a smorgasbord of emotions next Saturday as the team prepare to go into battle against the Ulster champions. And the final words will come from Sarah Tierney who has spoken from the heart to her team-mates already this season.
“Before the Connacht final replay I made a speech,” she admitted last week. “It was about the fact that this could be our last game together and that we were on a journey.”
With a little luck, Mount St Michael just might reach their destination next weekend.
Fixture
All-Ireland Senior B Final
Mount St Michael, Claremorris v St Pat’s Academy, Dungannon
Saturday, April 17 at 1.45pm, Pearse Park, Longford
