This article is from page 38 of the 2009-10-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 38 JPG
THE students of Scoil Mhuire in Ennistymon donned the saffron and blue last week as they welcomed back a number of past pupils along with a very special guest – the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup.
Newly crowned All-Ireland Inter- mediate Ladies Football champions, Liscannor sisters Carmel and Marie Considine, were joined at the school by Clare manager Deirdre Murphy. The trio were led into the school by first-year student Eva O’Dea, who played in the under-12 competition on All-Ireland day in Croke Park.
The group were welcomed to the school by school principal Seo- saimhin Ui Dhomhnallain who con- eratulated them on their wonderful achievement before presenting them with commemorative awards from the school.
She also paid tribute to Suzanne Murphy, another past pupil, who was on the panel along with Sinead Eus- tace – sister of Scoil Mhuire’s hugely successful coach Carmel Eustace.
Addressing the students, Clare man- ager Deirdre Murphy explained how the heartbreak of two semi-finals and last year’s All-Ireland defeat acted as a motivational mechanism to achieve eventual success.
The team started training last No- vember in the gym and then on the pitch from January, two nights a week. Social life went out the win- dow and the team showed great dedi- cation to bounce back from last year’s All-Ireland defeat to Tipperary.
Speaking about last year’s disap-
pointment, Marie Considine said that the team went about their business in a quiet fashion this year but with steely determination to claim glory.
Vice captain Carmel Considine praised Scoil Mhuire for inspiring young footballers to succeed and re- membered her own school days when she started playing for the county while still in fifth year at Scoil Mhu- ire.
She also pointed out that the school has made great strides in ladies foot- ball in a short time and praised its very high standards.
Scoil Mhuire holds a Munster title in football and many students pres- ently play under-14 and under-16 at a county level.
With such talent and dedicated coaching by Carmel Eustace, she concluded that the school will no
doubt yield further silverware in the years to come.
Students posed for photographs with the cup while many expressed their dreams of one day emulating their heroines in footballing success.