Drumshanbo VS girls make more Schools Volleyball finals history

After 30 years of competition, Drumshanbo Vocational School girls have again made another breakthrough in national volleyball competition in the one season. Following their first ever National Senior final in December, they have qualified for their first ever National Junior final.

Drumshanbo VS beat Cross & Passion Kilcullen 25-12 25-16

Kilcullen arrived in Stepaside Dublin with a brilliant run of victories. They had knocked out Wicklow (where the Irish senior coach trains), Coachford from Cork, Portlaoise B (who’s As last year won the Junior A girls) and then they shocked the home side Stepaside already that morning, as Drumshanbo were arriving.

But Drumshanbo settled unbelievably well and with good passing and teamwork they cruised through the first set. Amy Gilchrist, as she did throughout the 5 sets, served very deep putting the Kildare side on the back foot from the start. Hits from Poppy Doherty stopped hope of a comeback

Kilcullen recovered well to lead 6-1 in set 2. B But, from then on, the Drumshanbo girls held their heads, and exchanged points with a solid return from Ciara Farrell. Hannah Flynn came on and her teamwork helped break down Kilcullen’s stubborn defence.

Drumshanbo VS beat Stepaside ET 23-25 25-19 15-13

Stepaside, at home, were top seeds in the group. The had come through the C pools, beating schools from Dundalk, Kells and Glasnevin Dublin recently. 100 girls had taken part in their trials. They had a fabulous server Julia Zurek originally from Turkey who put them in a big lead straight away. 

With good serving and teamwork from Jessica Lavin, Drumshanbo crawled back to 17-17 but Zurek finished it off with more super serving.

Drumshanbo started the set better in set 2. There were great rallies in this set and, with Ava Reagen providing great cover, they won most of them. They started tapping down the ball lightly instead of hard hits and with Leah Casey coming on and setting up well the Dubliners were taken by surprise.

In the final set Drumshanbo got off to a good start, leading 7-5 thanks to Inha Stoianova’s serving and her digging (which had been great throughout the day). But then Zurek aced Stepaside 11-7 ahead. 

Then the Leitrim school girls held their heads. Rachel Guckian, who had been setting well throughout the games, set even better, which allowed Doherty to tap down more winners. 

From 8-13 a run of six serves from Lauren Noone finished a great comeback for Drumshanbo and ushered them into their historic final.

DRUMSHANBO FIRST YEAR JUST MISS OUT ON ALL IRELAND FINAL

It was high drama last Monday in Stepaside Dublin when the Drumshanbo VS’s Junior Cs, all first years, just failed to join their girls in the national finals in Limerick next Monday.

Drumshanbo VS C beat Grange CC Donaghmede A 14-25 25-12 15-9

When Drumshanbo arrived in Dublin it looked like they were out of their depth when they watched great overhand serving, spiking and court control in a marathon opening match between Stepaside and Grange. And so, it seemed in the opening set, as Grange raced 6-0 and 10-1 ahead. 

After two time-outs and a substitution, it was time for Drumshanbo manager Gavin McWeeney to take one more piece of action as Drumshabo trailed 8-20. He brought on Noah Barker. Noah served three and, in the second & third sets, was to wear down Grange with his quick reactions, serves and net dominance.

Drumshanbo were now settled and Zach McCabe, by far the best Drumshanbo server with 100% record, opened up a 4-0 lead in the second set. Donnchadh Rynn was his nimble self, guiding down at the net and getting control of very powerful serves from over the net. Cillian Nolan was Drumshanbo’s best player at the net and, at 18-9, blocked spectacularly on Grange’s spectacular spiker and soon the game was levelled at 1 set all. 

With their young panel, Drumshanbo expected it to be very difficult and to win a set against Grange who had twice beaten Drumshanbo cadette As 2-0 in cadette A this year was a high of the day!.

But more was to follow as Drumshanbo raced 11-4 ahead in the deciding set. Here Eoin Phillips starred, with steady serving, spike winners and cover agility around the court.

Douglas CS Cork A beat Drumshanbo C 25-19 25-23

Drumshanbo fielded 18 volleyball teams this season. Douglas fielded 2. The first won the senior A boys last December and they have all the time since, to prepare this team which was the biggest team on view. They raced 8-3 and 16-8 ahead. Carter Hogan continued his great defensive play and more Drumshanbo panel members came on to make Douglas having to fight hard at the end of the first set.

McCabe served Drumshanbo  9-4 ahead in set 2. Back came Douglas to 9-10 but suddenly they found Rian McNiff’s very deep serves too hard to handle, and Drumshanbo led 13-9. Douglas fought to 15-15. 

Another sub Aaron O’Loughlin now livened up the team and after flicking a winner at the net he served 4, including an ace, to put Drumshanbo back in front. Dylan Early also steadied the ship and Drumshanbo went 23-22 ahead. But the strong Douglas did not falter and, after winning, went on to win their final match and qualify for the final.

Drumshanbo C beat Stepaside ET A 25-23

This was the battle for second and it was so close. Despite an early ace from Aaron Fitzpatrick, Drumshanbo trailed 5-10. And they trailed all the way until Conor Geelan Cuffe levelled with serves at 17-17.  Iarlaith Mulvey Gildae served 4 to bring Drumshanbo ahead for the first time. Stepaside fought back to 24-24 but Noah Keville had the last word when he aced the final hit of the day. A great end!

Serves: O’Loughlin 7, McCabe 20, Nolan 7, Barker 12, McNiff 4, Cuffe 3, Fitzpatrick 4, Earley 6, Phillips 9, Keville 3, Hogan 6, Mulvey 5, Rynn 5

Schools Volleyball Junior D girls quarter final and semifinal

DRUMSHANBO D REACH NATIONAL SEMIFINAL

For a time last week, it looked like Drumshanbo’s D would join their Bs in the national final after they reached the national D semi-final.

Quarter-final: Drumshanbo VS D beat St. Patrick's Cathedral Liberties A 27-25 28-26

Except when Ella Gilmartin’s serve gave them a 6-3 lead early on, Patricks, the oldest school in Ireland! led all the way from 7 to 17. Then a run of 4 from Áine Gallagher put Drumshanbo 22-20 ahead. Still, they had to save a set point before squeezing out the win.

In set 2 Drumshanbo again trailed for the first half and by 3 at 11-14. Stephanie Reynolds, always fighting hard, served 3 to put them 21-17 ahead. Patricks immediately levelled but after saving a set point at 26, Emily McNamara served them to the win.

Presentation Kilkenny B beat the Liberties, Dublin 25-15 23-25 15-11

Semi-final: Presentation Kilkenny B beat Drumshanbo VS D 25-11 25-16

With Kilkenny dropping a set against the Liberties, the future looked promising, but Kilkenny rushed into a huge lead of 12-3 and never looked back in set 1. Drumshanbo broke Patrick's serve 14 times in a longer set 2, but only Pixie Christie managed to score on her serve. Kilkenny’s As are in the A final and there is a very strong club in the city. It showed in the end.

Serves: Katie McNamara 1, Emma Cooke 2, Gallagher 11, Reynolds 13, E. McNamara 4, Yaroslava Kutehub 9, Gilmartin 18, Christie13, Maja Mulvey 1, Guckian 10