MFC U20A FINAL

Loreto, Cavan 5-8 St. Mary’s, Magherafelt 1-6

A dominant display, which included five goals helped Loreto, Cavan to the MFC Ulster U20A Schools title at the expense of St. Mary’s Magherafelt in Brewster Park on Tuesday evening.

The Breffni side had a dream start, being awarded a penalty with just 1 minute 6 seconds on the clock. Player of the match Sarah Clarke dispatched the resulting penalty to set her side on their way. Further Loreto points followed from Ailbhe Kennedy and Ellie Brady before Jemma Shivers opened St. Mary’s account in the 11^th minute.

Entering the second quarter, Kate Fegan pointed for Loreto before Aoife Doherty fired over a brace of points for the Derry side. Between Doherty’s points there was a let off for Loreto as Shivers 17^th minute shot flashed across the goalmouth and narrowly wide. Loreto finished the half strong. Katie Mc Gahern and Kate Fegan both goaled while the last score of the half was a point from the excellent Katie O’Mara. While leading at the break 3-4 to 0-3 Loreto were dealt a blow with Kennedy being sin binned.

Mary’s opened the second half scoring, with a Leah Stewart point but then disaster struck. Aoife Doherty’s high ball into the square somehow stayed out of the goal, Loreto gained possession and, in a flash, went the length of the field were corner forward Kate Fegan finished to the net. This was the start of a Loreto purple patch which seen full forward O’Meara hit 1-3 without reply.

To St. Mary’s credit they never gave up and were rewarded with a goal of their own when Doherty’s rocket of a shot rattled the net in the 19^th minute. Doherty then brought her tally to 1-3 with a nice point. With ten minutes remaining both teams emptied their bench. Sarah Clarke and Brooke Taylor then exchanged points before referee David Hurson brought matters to an end.

In her acceptance speech Loreto Captain Ellie Brady said she was delighted to win the title in her final year at the school. Sarah Clarke was named MFC player of the match. Next up for Loreto is a mid-March, All-Ireland semi-final.

Loreto Cavan

A.McDermot, K.Cahill, D.McGovern, N.Smith, A.Kennedy (0-1), C.Crowe, K.McSeain, E.Brady (0-1), R.Gilmartin, L.Miney, S.Clarke (1-1), K.Bartley, K.McGahern (1-0), K.O’Meara (1-4) and K.Fegan (2-1)

Subs Used

C.O’Reilly, M.Donohue, A.Galligan, A.Smith and R.Boyle Drought

St. Mary’s Magherafelt

R.McGurk, A.Rocks, S.Scullion, A.Gilligan, M.McLarnon,L.Scullion, C.McKeefry, A.Henry, E.Convery, A.O’Neill, J.Shivers (0-1), L.Loughran, L.Stewart (0-1), A.Doherty (1-3) and A.Shivers

Subs Used

E.Forbers, B.Taylor (0-1), E.Rafferty and A.McCann

Referee

D.Hurson (Monaghan)

Our Annual Convention was held today in Canavan’s. After Gerry Doherty welcomed everyone, detailed reports were delivered by Colm Murray (Secretary Report), Paul Swift (PRO Report), Caroline Brady (Cultural and Language Report), Ciaran Murtagh (Development Report), Paul Kelly (Finance Report), Ronan McCarthy (CODA Report), Karen Mc Goldrick (Fixtures Report) and Antionette McCusker (Registrar).

All reports were positive about the state of the game in Ulster. Our membership has grown to over 43,000, we have 5 full time employees and over 300 clubs. There was one change in Executive personnel. Maria Hinds is the new Registrar. National subcommittee representatives were selected and bye laws approved.

Gerry Doherty in his President’s address paid tribute to all the 12 All-Ireland winning teams, Antionette Mc Cusker who stood down as Ulster Registrar, all our sponsors, his fellow executive members and everyone who assisted throughout the year.

Dungannon native Eileen Jones – Hardy is the new President elect and will take up her post in January 2026. One of Eileen’s main jobs will be to oversee the new Strategic Plan which was also launched on Sunday.

The draws were made for all Ulster competitions. In the senior final Armagh will play Donegal on Sunday 18th May. Fermanagh will meet Tyrone in the preliminary round of the Intermediate championship on 27th April with the winners playing Down a week later in the first semi-final. Monaghan and Cavan will meet in the other decider. The junior Championship will see Antrim, Derry and London play in a round robin competition with the final fixed for the weekend of 17th/18th May.