Drumshanbo rise yet again in Schools Volleyball Junior A knockout stages

It’s been a rough year and a quarter for Drumshanbo Vocational School. They only won one A grade match in 15 months. But last week, they rose again. Just two months after they achieved promotion into Cadette A, they won consecutive Junior A matches and have jumped from the top 15 junior As into the top 6.

At the same venue, away in Loughrea, their Junior Bs after a dreadful start, just got better and better and eventually beat the pre group favourites Athenry, to finish their day.

JUNIOR A

Drumshanbo VS beat St Louis Kiltimagh 25-19 25-12

There was no sign at the start of this that any surprise was coming as Drumshanbo. Trailing 3-7, 6-9 . They led 12-9 but Kiltimagh came back to lead 17-15. Drumshanbo were not setting up and manager Emmet Forde hit the problem decisively when he put on Traolach McGovern. This concentrated the rest and they won by 6.

Drumshanbo led from the start of set two. Jared McMahon started new and, as the set went on Oscar Liddy, Ruairí Mulvey and Owen Moffatt joined him with all getting points on their serve. The careless errors of the first set disappeared.

Drumshanbo VS beat St Brigid's Loughrea 25-23 23-25 15-10

This was a whizzer of a game. Brigids had annihilated Kiltimagh and hadn’t lost to Drumshanbo at this level for six years. They led 4-1 but Drumshanbo were putting up an extraordinary defence and caught them to go ahead at 8-5. Star of the first set was Patrick Kane, who often had to nearly bend over backwards to redirect a ball heading to the net on Drumshanbo’s side. 

Brigids hit much harder but Drumshanbo hardly erred and only missed two serves out of 25. The home side rallied and looked like they would catch Drumshanbo, coming from 15-21 to lead 23-22. But Drumshanbo held on.

Drumshanbo started the second set in fine form with Liam Harte going on a big run of serves as he had in the first set against Kiltimagh. Anton Bierova lorded at centre back, controlling the first ball over the net and Diarmuid Prior had tip, spike and block winners. But, suddenly, while leading 18-15, the Drumshanbo perfection stopped. Volley and dig errors were joined by four servers in a row missing their serves. Eventually Brigid's smelt a change and caught Drumshanbo at 21-21 and the Galway boys powered to level the game.

All level, the first score in set three took 22 touches to finish. Brigid's won it and went 2-0 ahead. Traolach McGovern came on to help break the panicky selfish play. This seemed to inspire Senan Lee, who started a huge number of three-touch passing with Prior and then, all calmed down.

It was now Loughrea’s turn to panic as Bierova was covering all central defence. Darragh Nolan, as always, was chasing every ball and opened up a gap with his serve to give Drumshanbo a 12-6 lead. Brigids battered back but Drumshanbo held out and their resilience rewarded them.

Serves: Kane 11, Harte 31, Bierova 6 Prior 15 McGovern 4, Lee 11, Nolan 14, McMahon 1, Liddy 1, Mulvey 1, Moffatt 3

JUNIOR B

Kiltimagh B beat Drumshanbo B 25-12 25-21

Drumshanbo came hoping for a good performance against what they expect to be the weakest team. Ross McShera, who was to volley many balls straight back all day, made it look possible when he served five in a row but the Drumshanbo bus hadn’t long completed their long journey and soon they found themselves 9-19 down and in a first set nightmare.

A good rousing from the sideline supporters got them going in set two. Killian Conlon served three to reduce the early deficit from 3-7 to one point. And Milo Gray did the same from 8-12 down. Indeed, the errors disappeared and only one serve was missed in the whole set. They were level at 17 and only one behind at 21-22. It was a great performance against the Mayo school who beat all teams and qualified out of the group.

St Brigid's Loughrea B beat Drumshanbo B 25-23 25-14

Drumshanbo now faced the home school that has won this title as much as the next three schools combined. But Drumshanbo heads were up now and Seán McGuinness served four in a row to put them 7-4 ahead early on. All players were playing well. Ronan McGreevy put down a great winner at 10-10 and Glenn McKeague, who missed no serve all day, saved a certain winner.

Again they only missed 2 serves out of 23. But Brigids aced their way to recovery from 15-18 to 19-20. Drumshanbo still led at 22 after a McGreevy ace but Brigid sneaked out. The heads seemed to drop in set two with errors returning. Kaya Tas came on at 7-12 and with a deft touch, got a winner. They were still holding at 10- 15 but all but Tas of the last 5 servers missed.

Drumshanbo beat Coláiste an Eachréidh, Athenry 25-20 25-21

Earlier Athenry had  beat Loughrea but surprisingly Drumshanbo raced away 7-3 and 9-4 after a Szymon Cabaj winner. Athenry steadied and led 17-15 and 20-19. Then McGuinness, who chased down balls all day to keep them in play, hit five in row to win Drumshanbo’s first set of the day. Drumshanbo never looked back in set two. Adam Cull, who showed great ball control all day, had a great finish. He hit three aces to make it 16-11 and as Athenry crept close at 24-21 he tipped down a great winner.

Serves: McGreevy 6, Conlon 17, Cull 10, Gray 10, Ameer Hussain, McGuinness 25, Tas 1, McShera 12, McKeague 19, Cabaj 6