Volleyball Association of Ireland

VAI Schools Senior Finals 2008/09

Results:

Schools Championship Finals Report (A, B and C Finals, December 10th, 2008):

Both of the 2008/09 Senior A titles crossed the Shannon and are now residing in Co. Mayo as the girls from Mount St. Michael Secondary School in Claremorris and the boys from St. Louis’ Community School in Kiltimagh won their respective Finals, and in hugely dramatic fashion.

The day’s events started with the Senior Girls C Final between Manor House School, Raheny, and first-time affiliates to the VAI, St. Patrick’s Community School from Naas. St. Patrick’s had the better start as they won the 1st set 25-21. The 2nd set of this match was to be the highlight of the Final as Raheny made a heroic comeback from a 5-point deficit earlier in the set to draw level at 21-21. At the end of the set, Naas had 2 successive Championship points but were unable to capitalise and it was instead the opposition who then took advantage with set points of their won, closing the set with their 2nd set point, 29-27. The 3rd and final set was again fought point for point, but Naas were narrow winners again as they were in the 1st set with a 4-point win in the end. There was good news still for Raheny as their captain, Emma Nolan, claimed the MVP award.

Shortly afterwards, the Senior Boys B Final took place, with Mary Immaculate Secondary School from Lisdoonvarna in the final once again to defend their title against the same team which they beat the year previous to claim the title, St. Clare’s Comprehensive Secondary School from Manorhamilton. Lisdoonvarna had a better start to the match, building up a 5-point lead throughout the opening set, but the Leitrim men stormed back and in a repeat of last year’s sequence of events, won the first set by 4-points. The 2nd set saw both sides battle once again evenly enough, with both sides showing much intent in their attack. Errors were strewn in this set however and despite Lisdoonvarna leading earlier in the set, Manorhamilton once again turned it around to win the 2nd and decisive set, 25-22 and snatch their first VAI Senior title. Best for the Manorhamilton men were Brian Feeney and Stephen Malony, both solid in defence, while Lisdoonvarna’s Aiden O’Sullivan was successful on several occasions with his attacking. It was his team mate and captain however that would scoop the MVP award – Michael Theasby.

In the Senior Girls B Final, it was a battle of Tipperary versus Waterford as the Patrician Presentation Secondary School in Fethard, and Blackwater Community School in Lismore contested the title which St. Mary’s College from Naas won last year. Both sides traded scores right throughout the opening set, with Fethard’s captain Sarah Hayes setting example with several scores from her attack. Lismore were strong in the centre through Jackie Forbes and Clodagh Walsh, but it was the Fethard girls who held of the opposition to win the 1st set 25-22. The 2nd set saw Lismore race into a 3-0 lead, hauled back to 5-7, and then tear away again back up to 12-7. Enter the fray Luiza Lima from Fethard; her powerful serve helped her team from 7 to 19 points without reply. In catapulting Fethard back into contention, the confidence was well and truly resorted with the South Tipperary side and propelled them to an 8-point win in the 2nd set and indeed the Senior Girls B title. Louisa was then the worthy recipient of the MVP award, with several of her attacks equally as important as her vicious serving in both sets.

To the centre piece Senior A Finals, the boys of St. Brigid’s Vocational School, Loughrea and St. Louis’ Community School, Kiltimagh took to the court. St. Brigid’s have had mixed fortunes over recent years in Senior A Boys, having played in 3 of the previous 4 A Finals and only winning the 06/07 showdown, their 1st ever. They made amends for their loss to Elphin in 07/08 by winning the Senior Cup Final in April ’08 and in doing so, successfully defended the same Cup title they won the previous year, ironically against Kiltimagh. More ironic is that the 05/06 Championship Final was the elusive Final to the Loughrea men, and the winners of that contest were St. Louis’ Kiltimagh, their 1st Senior A title also. So both sides entered the 08/09 Final gunning for their 2nd A title. Loughrea would start much the stronger however as they rallied to 19-9. But Kiltimagh’s Darragh Coleman and Vincent McKeon were beginning to find their groove in attack as they helped their side back to within 5-points of the Galway side and after a couple of net touches later by Loughrea, the sides were level at 24-24. Both sides traded points before Loughrea grabbed set point after a hugely dramatic rally, and then claimed the set after a Kiltimagh attack went beyond the baseline.

The 2nd set saw a revived performance from Kiltimagh as they built and maintained a steady narrow lead right throughout, with Francis Gallagher edging his side on to set point with a kill. Loughrea did reply with two points, including an ace from their captain Bernard Burke’s jump-serving, but Kiltimagh steadied themselves to side-out and get the all important point they needed to win the set 25-22 and level the match a 1-1. The 3rd set started as the previous finished with strong serving from Bernard Burke, but Kiltimagh answered back with kills from Coleman, Gallagher and captain McKeon. Loughrea’s Padraig Stapleton was returning his own with strong serving and attacking, and was also proving to difficult to get around with his presence in the block. The introduction of Joseph Cooney in the middle was also paying of for the Loughrea side as he bagged an important point to help his side to 22-19. A back-court hit from Artur Kozdroj caused panic in the Kiltimagh defence, helping Loughrea to set-point, and despite a thumping kill from St. Louis’ Darragh Coleman to pull one back, it was ironically his own attack in the net in the following rally that handed Loughrea the 3rd set and a 2-1 lead (25-23).

Loughrea continued to show their narrow advantage in terms of confidence in the 4th set after regaining the lead, and quickly built and maintained a 2-point lead up to 9-7. Kiltimagh then had Francis Gallagher to thank for a kill amongst a good run of rallies to reverse that deficit into a lead. Loughrea were soon level yet again on two occasions, with Bernard Burke once again proving his worth with intelligent attacking and serving. Kiltimagh’s Francis McKeon had a wonderful block, followed by a clever tip by Kieran Glynn to level with the opposition, and then the initiative swung their way with Darragh Coleman killing on at least two occasions, despite the best efforts of Loughrea’s Padraig Stapleton in defence, to win the 4th set 25-20 and force a tie-break.

In the early stages of the 5th and final set, both sides traded points up to 5-3. After a series of Kiltimagh points, McKeon then killed to help his team into an 8-3 lead courtesy of a kill. Later, that lead would become 5-points, but Loughrea replied with Padraig Stapleton killing three times and Artur Kozdroj scoring an ace to reduce that lead to an eventual 8-11. Later on, Kiltimagh’s Kevin Keenan grabbed a crucial score from a wing attack that helped his side to 13-8, followed shortly by an absolutely incredible piece of defence from Vincent McKeon (inset) in the bottom-right of his own court and on all fours facing away from the net, managed to swing a right forearm at a ball destined for the corner, which then sailed back over his shoulder, over the net and narrowly inside the antenna, and then forcing Loughrea into a panicked attacking error; championship point to Kiltimagh, 14-8. And the match was soon closed in fitting fashion with a fantastic kill from eventual MVP winner, Francis Gallagher. A dramatic end to an intense and mental game of volleyball in which both sides defended admirably.

With the Boys A title Mayo-bound, another Mayo side were hoping to bring one of their own in the same direction across the midlands in the Senior Girls A Final. Having lost the previous two Senior Girls A Finals, Mount St. Michael Secondary School from Claremorris were hoping for 3rd time lucky in the 08/09 Final. Their task was not to be easy by any means however as they would take on St. Mary’s College from Naas who won last year’s Senior B title, followed by the Senior Cup title in April. With players from both sides also members of the National Squads and some of which also play for National League sides, this was always going to be an intriguing contest. The opening two sets however proved to be one-sided affairs with Naas winning the 1st 25-11 and Claremorris winning the 2nd 25-13. In those sets, best for Naas were Ruth Healy, Orla Fitzpatrick and Jenny Corrigan as captain, with scores from each in their attacking and serving in the first set, while Claremorris dominated in the 2nd set with Edel Nolan and Aisling Bell beginning to thrive on the occasion with scores of their own.

The 3rd set started well for Claremorris with two kills from Caileen Meehan and an ace from Edel Nolan helping them to a 5-1 lead. Two aces in return from Naas’ Ruth Healy brought them back to 4-5 however. From there, both sides were level throughout with Niamh O’Sullivan from Naas performing solidly in defence as well as serving strongly, to keep her side in touch with Claremorris, who were shining equally through Edel Nolan’s cross court attacks. It was April Higgins of Claremorris that did the damage in this set however as she served three aces in a row to bridge a 4-point gap between the sides, followed by two kills from Nolan again and yet another from Meehan to increase that to 7 points. Naas did recover somewhat at 12-20 down with a determined Niamh O’Sullivan getting a kill to snatch a point back, and Jenny Corrigan blocking a Claremorris attack to get within 6 of the Mayo side. Both sides traded points, including two kills from Corrigan again, until Claremorris made it to set point at 24-18. Naas then heroically fought back even more so and claimed 3 points without reply, thanks to attacks from Orla Fitzpatrick and Maris Poutch, but a service error from Corrigan, ironically after an ace of her own, saw out the set 25-21 in favour of Claremorris.

With confidence now at an all-time high for the Mayo side, 3rd time lucky was an inevitable thought, yet Naas’ shear grit and determination was to shine once again and equal what Claremorris were throwing at them, as 3 aces between setter Chloe Campbell and Niamh O’Sullivan, and a kill from Ruth Healy, courtesy of the O’Sullivan-Campbell solid right-side combination, kept them narrowly ahead at 7-6. Claremorris jumped up a gear again though as tips from Ashling Croghan, April Higgins and Edel Nolan were now exposing Naas’ short cover to lead 13-8. That run was broken however with a fantastic middle block by Naas’ Maria Poutch. This still didn’t deter the Mayo side from hitting hard however and Edel Nolan and Aisling Crogan showed shear aggression with 3 successful wing attacks between the pair to help their side to 18-10. Naas then master classed a tactical switch in introducing Ruth Stafford from the bench, and immediately made an impact from her service with 4-points without response, including 2 aces from the substitute. This was however disrupted by Ashling Croghan’s kill from the opposition.

A string of errors between the sides left the score line later at 22-18 in favour of St. Michael’s, but Naas were to defend valiantly and keep the match alive, with Niamh O’Sullivan in particular playing her part with some fantastic passing and defence, helping her side then to level incredibly at 22-22, to the thrill of the large Naas following and increasing amount of on-looking neutrals. With the approximate 400 in attendance on the edge of their seats at this stage, if not on their feet, there was extreme tension between the sides, and this was being reflected by the narrow lead swaying back and forth between the sides at this stage; Claremorris eventually had 2 respective Championship points but Naas’ determination saw them overturned and get their own set point, making full use of it at the first time of asking; 27-25 to Naas in what was the most breath-taking set of the match so far. Who would have thought how important the introduction of Stafford in this set was, particularly going straight into serve. Once again, the tie break would decide another 08/09 Senior A Final.

In the deciding set, both sides traded points from the start, with Naas looking the stronger up to 6-6 after kills by Maria Poutch, Ruth Healy, and Jenny Corrigan (2). But worryingly for the Naas side, their own errors were handing scores to the opposition up until that same score line. Corrigan then picked up another kill, followed by an ace by Niamh O’Sullivan to lead the Naas side 8-6 ahead at the side-swap. From there, the Claremorris girls were called in for a time-out and a new leash of life was to be provoked in them. They went from 6-8 down to 13-8 ahead, thanks to a hat-trick of aces from Ashling Croghan and a brace of kills from Edel Nolan. Naas did revive after this bad spell and at 13-9, they picked up 3 consecutive scores from Orla Fitzpatrick (2 aces) and a kill from Ruth Healy on the wing. Edel Nolan would soon blitz Naas’ hopes however as she killed to get to Championship point, and a short time later an ace by Aisling Bell wrapped up an exhilerating title win for the Claremorris girls on their third time of asking, in what may go down as one of the best Senior A Finals played in recent memory. The MVP award was given to Ashling Croghan for her fantastic display at the baseline and in attack.

Report by David Herlihy (VAI Office), photos by Lindie Naughton, Evening Herald

Senior Cup Finals - Sat April 25th, UCD

Report Coming Soon