St Brigid’s College Loughrea win historic All Ireland Volleyball treble
Winning three Cadet Volleyball All Ireland finals in UCD in late January was a historic day for St Brigid’s College, the first school to ever win 3 different titles in the one day, Cadet A boys, Cadet B boys and Cadet B girls. This brought St Brigid’s College, A titles to 69, the first one was in 1995/1996 with a Senior girls C title beating St Leo’s Carlow. St Brigid’s College have also 4 All Ireland Spikeball competitions that are run for 1st and 2nd year students.
In the Cadet B boys match Stephen Murphy was awarded MVP for his tremendous work around the court, especially in defence. In this game of volleyball St Brigid’s College controlled the ball taking their time in setting up the attack using three touches. Darragh Quinn and Felipe Viera also had good games placing balls and winning points with very good smashes. Yasiru Kiriweldeniyage had a great game in defence, stopping certain winners hit the ground from a very strong Portlaoise team. Michael Joyce had a good service game and he set up Conor Leahy to attack their defence. St Brigid’s College beat Portlaoise College 2-0 25-11 25-17
In the second match on court St Brigid’s College took on old rivals Drumshambo VS in the Cadet A boys final. The game started very nervously with serving errors on both sides. Conor McGrath and Anthony Burns the two setters then Damien McGlynn and Dylan Shaughnessy hit some winners finding gaps on the other side of the net. Eoin Conaghan did some good blocking and tipping at the net. Damien McGlynn worked hard in defence picking up a lot of difficult balls allowing the Loughrea team to set up attacking play. Brian Treacy hit some good smashes from the wing. Dylan Shaughnessy was awarded MVP for his very balanced game, good serving and good work at the net. The second set was very close and Dylan held his nerve on some crucial points. St Brigid’s College beat Drumshambo VS 2-0 25-17 26-24
The last game of the day could have been hard for the girls waiting to play after the two boys finals but they tackled the job in hand. Stephanie Broderick started the 1st set with some great serving putting Presentation Secondary School Kilkenny under pressure with long balls, she also worked hard defending and put in some great smashes. Katie Sheehan and Lonneka Drennan-Walls had some great smashes attacking the Kilkenny defence, they also worked hard at the net blocking and tipping the ball. Katie Manning had a good passing game sending the ball into the setter every time. Player of the match was Benita Fahey who had an outstanding game. Benita controlled the game particularly when she was serving, she placed the ball and very few services were returned by the Kilkenny team. This was a hard match with a lot of long rallies but Brigid’s College dug in and beat Presentation Secondary School Kilkenny 2-0 25-19 25-19
The day before in UCD the All Ireland Spikeball finals were held. St Brigid’s College 1st year mixed team beat Colaiste Ide, Tallaght and Portmarnock College before beating CCN Dungarvan 2-0, 21-14 and 21-12. Ailbhe Corcoran led the team with good passing and serving. Adina Fahey used her very powerful serve and scored a lot of points for the team. Caoimhe Starr, Niks, Artur and Daniel played a clever game putting the ball into spaces on the Dungarvan side to win the points.
The 2nd year mixed Spikeball team beat Sutton Park 2-0 and Colaiste Ide Tallaght 2-0 to reach the final against Portlasoise College. St Brigid’s College lost to Portlaosie College 1-2 13-21 21-19 15-17. In the final set it was very close, all the team of Lonneka, Shruti, Anna, Daniel, Tomas and Sam played really well in defence, hitting good smashes and very good serving but they came up against a much bigger Portlaoise team who narrowly got there in the end.
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St Brigid’s College Loughrea Cadet A Volleyball All Ireland Champions 2017
All Ireland Volleyball Cadet cup winners who beat Craigavon Senior School, Co Armagh in the All Ireland finals on a score line of 2:0. Final was played in Lisnakee, Co Fermanagh.
Back row : L to R: Dylan Shaughnessy, Brian Treacy, Anthony Burns, Sean Brien,Conor McGrath.
Front row: L to R: Eoin Conaghan, Damien McGlynn, (Captain), Ronan Mitchell and Jack Power
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St Brigid’s College Loughrea All Ireland Cadet B Champions 2017
Back row: L to R : Michael Joyce, Felipe Viera, Conor Leahy (Captain), Darragh Quinn, Albert Madume and Samuel Ukaga.
Front row: L to R: Kieran Bane, Stephen Murphy, John Headd, Yasiru Kiriweideniyage.
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St Brigid’s College Loughrea All Ireland Cadet B Volleyball Champions 2017
Back row: L to R: Selina Murphy, Katie Manning, Annie Nevin, Avril Donoghue, Danielle Fahy, Katie Sheehan, Shruti Pol.
Front row: L to R: Stephanie Broderick, Ruth Conway, Benita Fahey (Captain), Eva Kelly and Lonneka Drennan-Walls.
Benita Fahey won MVP
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First Year Mixed All Ireland Spikeball Champions 2017
Back row: L to R: James Bane, Daniel Ukaga, Nikks Apse, Artur Hawrylo, Aaron Ward
Front row:L to R: Tara McDonagh, Ailbhe Corcoran (Captain), Caoimhe Starr, Adina Fahey and Alyssa Lowry
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Second Year Spikeball All Ireland Finalist 2017
Back row: L to R: Jake Devine, Daniel O'Malley, Tomas Barlow, Sam Callanan.
Front row: L to R: Anna Lukosevicius Novaes, Saoirse Drenna Walls, Shruti Pol and Sarah Devine