Ursuline Thurles are in their first ever Junior A All-Ireland football final

The Ursuline Junior A Munster Winners battled again Leinster Champions, Moate Community School on Thursday, 20 March in the School’s first ever A grade All Ireland Football Final.

The U16 footballers staged a magnificent display and second half come to go from an 13 point deficit at half time, to within a hair’s breath of the title or in the very least forcing a draw.

The team battled hard in the first half against the wind and facing an exceptional Moate side. However, these girls are made of stern stuff and never dropped their heads, even though on the scoreboard it seemed like they had too wide a gap to bridge.

When UCT took to the field, after the break, they began to clock up score after score, clawing their way back into the game. By the 46th minute there was just 4 points between the teams.

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Massive credit to all the Ursuline supporters who were pivotal in encouraging the young players on during this time.

However, Moate then struck with a goal to open their lead up again to 7 points.

Yet again the Thurles side reduced the margin to 4 until Moate again added on another goal from the minimal chances they were afforded by the Ursuline defence in the second half.

The UCT girls responded almost immediately by raising a green, followed by a white flag, to put a goal between the sides. Then the Munster champions went in chase of that equalising score within the last minute of the game but unfortunately could not find it.

In the dying minutes the Ursuline Juniors absolutely emptied the tank and died on their shields.

Although it’s the end of the road for this year, it’s been an unbelievable journey for this squad of 46 players They were unbeaten in Munster Championship and were crowned Munster A winners in Fethard.

They beat the Connacht champions, High Cross College, in the All Ireland Semi-Final in Banagher. Lastly, they gave one hell of a performance on the biggest stage of all, in the All Ireland A Final in Glenisk O’Connor Park, Tullamore.

Thanks to football coaches Mr McLoughlin and Ms McGrath for all their hard work this season with all the teams and the parents, teachers and School Managers for their unwavering support.

Finally many thanks to the Breedon Group for their kind sponsorship of training tops for the Junior A Gaelic Football squad in advance of the All-Ireland Football Final.

The players were delighted with their new gear ahead of a very historic occasion for both themselves and the Ursuline.