Drumshanbo beat Galway and Mayo schools to reach last five

Drumshanbo Vocational School cadette girls sailed through to the last five in Drumshanbo last Wednesday despite an early injury.

Drumshanbo beat Sacred Heart Convent Westport Mayo 25-15 25-12

Near the very start of the day, with the teams level at 4-4, the very steady Meadh McNamara went down on her ankle, quite a blow for Drumshanbo. But immediately they responded with 4 serves from Lucia Martin Escanciano Arias, to go 8-4 ahead, and held on through the set. Westport improved but found Carlota Jimenez did great chasing down of the ball winning long rallies.

Katie Browne opened with a 3-0 lead in set 2. The highlight of the set was a great winning spike from Abi McGourty followed by an ace as she went to serve at 20-9. Drumshanbo then emptied their bench.

Drumshanbo beat Merlin Park Galway 25-13 25-10

Ellen McGowan made sure that Merlin Park got no time to settle when she served Drumshanbo 7-0 ahead at the start and Ríona McKiarnan finished off the set as a contest with 3 serves to open up a 15-5 gap.

Manager Breda Travers changed 5 of the 6 players for set 2 but, for the 3rd time in the day, Sophie Daly went on a long run of serves to open a lead of 5-1 and start Drumshanbo on another big win.

That ends a very happy pre Christmas run. In January they face St. Louis Dundalk and a Dublin or Waterford school for a place in the final. Also in January, the cadette B boys face Athenry Galway and Dungarvan Waterford for a place in their final. Can the unbeaten run of both teams keep going?