Monaghan retain Dowd Cup

The last weekend of January saw the annual Dowd Cup & McNally Plate competitions come to a conclusion and in the end Monaghan and St Mary’s retained their respective titles. Sponsored by O’Neills and Queens GAA Academy this year’s competition saw some fantastic football and got the ball rolling on what is sure to be an interesting season ahead.

Throughout the month of January the group stages of the Dowd Cup took place involving 5 counties and 3 college teams, and with five rounds to be played it was a packed calender of games. In the colleges group UUJ and Queens proved too strong for St Mary’s and they progressed to the semi-finals with St Mary’s going on to take part in the McNally competition. Meanwhile in the counties group Monaghan and Tyrone eased past their opposition to find themselves in a repeat of last year’s semis. Both games produced fine football but as was predicted UUJ and Monaghan booked themselves a place in the final.
On finals day at a very wet and cold Dub, Monaghan retained the Dowd Cup title with just a single point to spare over UUJ 1-6 to 0-8. The main difference between the sides was the goal scored in the first half by Catriona Mc Connell. At half time the sides were level 1-3 to 0-6 however in the second half with defences on top scores were hard to come by. When Armagh referee Kieran Mc Keever blew the final whistle Monaghan were just ahead by a single point. UUJ’s Shannon Quinn was named player of the match.

In the Mc Nally plate competition St Mary’s and Coleraine made it through to the final and on the day it was success for St. Mary’s. Just five points separated the sides at the break with UU Coleraine missing a penalty. In the second half it was one way traffic and with Jolene Little and Rachael Walls having to retire injured Coleraine just couldn’t cope with a St. Mary’s side who ran at them at every oppurtunity. Mairead Conwell was named player of the match.

Following the games the Dowd Cup All Star team was named as follows:

1 – Linda Martin – Monaghan
2 – Christina Reilly – Monaghan
3 – Laura McGillion – UUJ
4 – Sinead McCoy – UUJ
5 – Aoife McAnespie – Monaghan
6 – Sharon Courtney – UUJ
7 – Nicola Fahy – Monaghan
8 – Shannon Quinn – UUJ
9 – Mairead Cooper – QUB
10 – Paula Donnelly – St Mary’s
11 – Caoimhe Mohan – Monaghan
12 – Cathy Carey – UUJ
13 – Sinead Fagan – UUJ
14 – Catriona McConnell – Monaghan
15 – Marisa McGourty – QUB

Speaking at the awards Sheena Kelly, organiser of the competition thanked all those who contributed to this year’s competition including the sponsors Queens GAA Academy & O’Neills as well as the referees, teams and management.