Gaelic Football continues to be a central tenet of the sporting activities at Our Lady's Secondary School Castleblayney. The school has been working hard with different year groups in order to continue to develop Gaelic Games and have had a number of notable successes so far this year. Among these was the winning of the Ulster Sevens Gaelic Football competition organised by Queen's University Belfast. The winning of this competition was a great boost for members of the Senior Boy's football panel . The team displayed all the necessary traits of the seven a side game, including defending in numbers, keeping possession and strong support play. It was this greater tactical awareness and astute use of possession that was to see Our Lady's win this title at senior level as well as a host of admirers from across the province. Ulster Sevens Title Winners Our Lady's set the tone for the day in their opening game in the Ulster College's Sevens with a 6:8 to 0:3 victory over St. Columb's, Derry. In their second game Our Lady's faced Mc Rory Cup specialists Abbey College, Newry and came away with a hard fought 3:5 - 3:1 victory, courtesy of superb defending by Brian Mc Guigan and Brendan Og Magennis and clinical finishing by Peadar Mc Nally. The final group game against St. Malachy's, Belfast saw Our Lady's record another high scoring 3:10 to 3:1 victory. Our Lady's then went into the quarter finals where they met and comprehensively defeated St Malachy's Belfast on a scoreline of 6-8 to 1-13. In the semi finals they marched to a 5-12 to 3-2 victory over St. Mary's, Magharafelt to book a place in the final. After five straight victories it was St. Pat's Dungannon that stood between Our Lady's and an Ulster title. A slow start saw Our Lady's 1:3 to 0:0 behind after five minutes, but they recovered sufficiently to, level at 2:3 apiece at the interval. In the second period Our Lady's upped the tempo of the game considerably, winning possession around the middle and making the most of any scoring opportunities that came their way. With Pauric Kerr outstanding between the posts, Brendan Og, Magennis Brian McGuigan and Damien Mooney marshalling proceedings in defence, The midfield dominance of Aidan Flanagan, Gary and Sean Baylon, allowing Peadar McNally, Christopher McGinnity, and Paddy Duffy to hit the vital scores to record an outstanding and well deserved victory. Final score Our Lady's 4:7, St. Patrick's Dungannon 2:7 The team had extra cause for celebration when it was announced that Peadar Mc Nally was to receive Player of the Tournament. Panel: Peadar Mc Nally, Christopher Mc Ginnity, Paddy Duffy, Damien Mooney (all Drumhowan), Brian Mc Guigan, Gary Ward, Sean Baylon (all Castleblayney), Brendan Og Magennis (Clontibret), Aidan Flanagan ( Aughnamullen), Pauric Kerr (Cremartin). Impressive MacLarnon Cup Campaign Our Lady's Senior Boy's went on to get their 2002 Mac Larnon Cup campaign off to the perfect start with a commanding 4:22 to 0:02 victory over St. Joseph's Belfast. In the second match the team recorded another high scoring victory with an impressive and committed display against St. Malachy's, Belfast coming away with a 5:11 to 0:07. Aidan Flanagan at full-forward proved to be the focal point of the attack scoring 2:1 and helping to set up numerous scores. The third game against De La Salle was to provide the boy's with their toughest task to date. It was the introduction to the game of Aidan Ward that effectively sealed the victory for Our Lady's, coming off the bench to score 1:1 in five minute spell to secure quarter-final qualification for Our Lady's with a 3:08 to 1:12 victory But unfortunately they went down to De La Salle whom they had to meet again at the quarter-final stage losing 1:08 to 0:09. Throughout the campaign Our Lady's had notable performances from James Duffy, Brian Mc Guigan, Ciaran Daly, Gary Ward, Aidan Flanagan and Peadar Mc Nally. Herald Cup In spite of a tough and committed effort in the In the Herald Cup U/16 didn't manage to make it to the final shake, players like Ciaran Hughes, Gary Boyd, Ciaran Hanratty and Niall Duffy showed enough potential to suggest they will figure prominently on future Mac Larnon Cup panels. Under 14s Are Off To A Good Start There is also good news on the under 14 front with Our Lady's qualifying for the quarter finals of the Ennis Cup on the back of two very comprehensive victories against St Colm, Belfast and St Joseph's College, Belfast. All the players played well with particularly strong performances from team Captain Gerard Duffy, Patrick Tavey and mark Hanratty Dermot Mooney and Ryan Carragher. Our Lady's now face their third and final game of the group where they meet Rathmore Grammer School to determine who will head the group into the pay offs. While the U/13 Corn Colmchille team inspired by Gerard Duffy narrowly missed out on a quarter- final place losing by 1pt in the play-offs. Lady's Football Also Making An Impact Fresh from the Ulster Semi Final last May where Our Lady's carried the flag for Monaghan, the girl's under 16 side football side got off to a winning start to this year's campaign with strong victories over Ballybay and St Louis's Carickmacross. Our Lady's are now focused on taking the County title which is scheduled for St Patrick's day. This will be a double header with the Under 16 Final and the Under 19 Final taking place. Our Lady's have high hopes of competing in both final and progressing into the Ulster Competition to represent Monaghan. The Under 19 and under 14 competitions are due to start after Christmas. Tweet

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