Ursuline retain Munster Senior A Camogie Title
Ursuline Thurles retained their Munster Senior A Camogie title after defeating their nearest neighbours, Presentation Thurles on Saturday, 13 January. Moycarkey Borris was the venue for this local derby with UCT opening the day’s scoring with a free pointed by corner-forward Caoimhe Stakelum. Sarah Corcoran and Lucy Purcell got their names on the tally sheet to put the Ursuline three points in the lead after seven minutes. The girls in blue took command of the scoreboard early but it was still anybody’s game. Sure enough Presentation showed their mettle in the seventh minute when a Sophie Maher free in led to a point from play. The score was now UCT 0-3 Pres 0-1. Captain Kate Ralph added to this opener for the Pres finding the uprights almost immediately after her teammate. Neither side was willing to concede ground despite Ursuline half-forwards Lucy Purcell, Kate Ferncombe and Robbyn Fitzgerald digging deep while being ably supported up front by Maria Ralph, Ava Bevans and Caoimhe Stakelum. Sarah Corcoran and Danielle Ryan kept a vital supply of sliothar up the Presentation goal end. All this Trojan work finally bore fruit when Lucy Purcell scored on the run in the seventeenth minute to make it a two-point surplus for UCT. But as ever the Pres were only a step behind and Lucy O’Brien made it three for the ladies in maroon. Ursuline’s Lucy Purcell again tallied the next two in the intervening nine minutes followed by Ava Bevans getting the last UCT point before the break. Presentation pointed twice more in that time to make the half-time scoresheet Ursuline Thurles 0-7 Pres Thurles 0-5. Only a hair’s breadth between them both.
It was Pres who came out of the traps first in the second half to close the gap to one point, Ursuline 0-7 Pres 0-6. Then four minutes in Caoimhe Stakelum got her second score of the day to inch the Ursuline ahead by two. Pres came back at them again in the ninth minute and UCT responded with another point to keep their two-point dominance. Presentation determination to overtake their opponents kept them rallying with yet another point to shorten Ursuline’s advantage to just one. The scoreboard read UCT 0-9 Pres 0-8. Then in the sixteenth minute the Pres pointed from a free to draw the game thanks to the accuracy of Kate Ralph. There was a feeling now that whoever could notch up a goal could turn the play in their favour and Caoimhe Stakelum stepped up to the mark. Her cracker in the back of the net in the seventeenth minute gave Ursuline the edge in a game that was neck and neck. UCT 1-9 Pres 0-9. Danielle Ryan pushed her team’s lead to four points when she raised the white flag. Pres continued with courage and conviction with their own point a minute later. The very last Ursuline score was thanks to a Sarah Corcoran free in the twenty-sixth minute and with four points ahead going into the closing minutes the reigning champions had their fingers crossed that they had done enough to secure a win. Presentation took the final point of the day in the thirtieth minute to leave the final score Ursuline Thurles 1-11 Pres Thurles 0-11. It was a great display of colleges camogie from two Tipperary stalwarts of the schools game. Ursuline now advance to the All-Ireland Semi Final representing the county and the province.
Transition Year
The TYs began the year with a Golf workshop given by Sam and Justin from Golf Ireland. In an hour long session, they learned the fundamentals of the game such as chipping, putting and practicing a full swing. This last exercise was done safely with students swinging their shots into a large inflatable obviously not having the advantage of a long fairway. The students enjoyed this workshop immensely and maybe some of them might decide to take up golf in the future.
Study Skills Seminar for Third Years
Third Years had a study skills seminar last week facilitated by Ms Frend and Ms Golden. They discussed the importance of setting out a study plan for the mocks and also to set time aside to enjoy hobbies and sports which will help to relieve the stress of studying. The students got plenty of handy tips which they will hopefully put into action to help them work smarter as they face into their first state exam.