St.Mary’s girls hold nerve in shoot-out

The girls were aged from 11 years to 15 and were split into two categories – years 8/9 and years 10/11 – with teams coming from nine different schools.

Organised by Sport NI funded Active Communities Girl’s Soccer Coach – Aaron Nelson in partnership with the IFA, they also had a special guest on the day to inspire the young people – Danielle McDowell who plays for Northern Ireland and Crusaders Strikers.

The year 8/9 final was between Tandragee JHS and Lismore Comprehensive with Tandragee picking up the title following penalties.

The year 10/11 final was just as competitive between St. Mary’s High School and Lismore Comprehensive and again ended up in a penalty shoot out with St Mary’s scooping the top prize.

“This was a fantastic tournament and it was brilliant to see so many taking part and with such competitive spirit,” commented David Mayers, Community Sport Development Officer at Craigavon Borough Council.

“We were also delighted to have had Danielle with us to present the medals and to help encourage the young people to continue to stay active and enjoy everything that playing sport as a team can bring. This has been an extremely successful programme for Active Communities and one that we hope to repeat again in the future.”

The nine schools that took part were: Lurgan JHS, Drumcree College, Markethill HS, St. Patrick’s College, Keady, Newbridge Integrated College, City of Armagh HS, St. Mary’s HS, Tandragee JHS and Lismore Comprehensive.

The Active Communities programme, funded by Sport NI, is an investment programme which seeks to deliver activities in school, community and club settings, with a view of increasing participation in a range of sports and physical recreation.  The programme is especially concerned with increasing activity and participation among identified under represented groups, including females, older people and people with a disability. If you would like more information about Active Communities in general please contact Jacqueline McClory on 028 38 311690 or email [email protected].