Back to Homepage

Ferbane Boys and Girls complete a famous Leinster Féile Double in Portlaoise

Leave it to the U14 boys and girls in Ferbane to keep the party going in west Offaly. Following the sensational exploits of the Gallen Community School, winning both Leinster and All-Ireland senior vocational titles in April, Ferbane's next generation went to Portlaoise on Saturday last for the Leinster Féile competitions and came away with another brace of titles. The U14 Ferbane/DSB girls team won their division 1 group in style beating their arch-rivals Edenderry in a thrilling final whilst the boys emphatically dispatched Summerhill from Meath with a display of total dominance for the half hour in their Division 1A final in O'Moore park.

The Ferbane/Belmont U14 boys team were stationed in the Portlaoise GAA Club for their group games which commenced at noon. Division 1 had two Offaly teams competing namely Ferbane/Belmont and St. Vincents who are the current Offaly Féile champions and will travel to Cork at the end of this month for the national Féile na nÓg event. Ferbane/Belmont saw of Mountmellick/Ballyfin in their first game with an emphatic performance winning 4-11 to 0-1. St. Vincents were unlucky to draw a strong Summerhill side from Meath and went down by 4 points in their first round game. Tinryland (Carlow) were Ferbane/Belmont's next opponents and after 5 minutes the Laois lads went 1-1 to 0-0 up. But the Ferbane/Belmont rallied late in the half to go in 3-1 to 1-1 up at the break. With the aid of a stiffening breeze, Ferbane/Belmont piled on the pressure and the Tinryland defence were finding it difficult to keep the Offaly lads at bay. Ferbane/Belmont ran out 4-6 to 1-1 winners and qualified for a semi-final against the host club Portlaoise. St. Vincents on the other hand had to win their second match against St. Mary's from Ardee in Louth to remain in the competition. This they did with a confident performance winning 2-12 to 1-5 but had to depend on their goalkeeper on a number of occasions to keep their campaign alive. By virtue of this result, St. Vincents had to take on Summerhill once again in the semi-final.

Meanwhile, the U14 girls were in action a few miles away at Rathleague GAA and their first round game against Dunlavin (Wicklow) got going at noon. The Ferbane/DSB girls started their campaign with a 5-9 to 0-2 win. They qualified for the Division 1 semi-final and a meeting with another Wicklow team. This time they would have to overcome Baltinglass if they were going to progress. The Wicklow girls proved to be much stiffer opposition than their colleagues from Dunlavin and started with 2 points in quick succession. But Ferbane/DSB who are the Offaly Feile champions proved that they are a very good side and ran out comfortable 7-point winners with a scoreline of 2-11 to 1-3. On the other side of the group, the Edenderry girls had qualified for the group final also beating hosts Portlaoise in a much closer encounter winning by 4 points to 1.

The Ferbane/Belmont and the St. Vincents boys teams were back in action at 3pm for the Division 1 semi-finals at the Portlaoise GAA grounds. With the aid of a strengthening wind, the Portlaoise lads ran up a 2-3 to 0-3 scoreline at the break. But Ferbane/Belmont hit back early on the restart and scored 1-7 to no reply to reach the final. It was looking like it was going to be another all-Offaly affair here as well when St. Vincents were winning by a point in the closing stages of their semi-final. But disaster struck just before the full-time whistle when Summerhill scored what proved to be the winning goal and the Offaly lads were denied the opportunity of adding a Leinster Féile to their Offaly crown.

The Ferbane/DSB ladies were certainly well up for the group final and beat Edenderry convincingly with a 5-6 to 1-1 scoreline. They will now head for Cork at the end of the month for the national Féile competitions where they will be the guests of the Beara club in Castletownbere. Their final finished in time for them to make it over to O'Moore park to support the boys team as they took on the lads from Meath, Summerhill. In what proved to be a very on-sided affair, Ferbane/Belmont were dominant in every part of the field and Summerhill had no answer to the Offaly game. Ferbane/Belmont ran out very comfortable winners 3-10 to 0-0 completing a fantastic double on the day for the west Offaly clubs.

Ferbane/Belmont U14 Boys.

Barry Rohan, Oisin Daly, Ronan McGuire, Anthony Seery, Darragh Brophy, Liam Cooper, Emmet Molloy, Ronan Hynes, Colin Kenny(C), Kyle Higgins, Jack Darcy, Jack Clancy, Oisin Kelly, Brian McEvoy, Ryan Heavin, Cian Johnson, Ronan Devery, David Nally, Ronan Butler, Patrick Clancy, Killian Egan, Brendan Doyle, Michael O'Shea

Ferbane/DSB U14 Ladies

Ava Flynn, Avril Spain, Ciara Flynn, Gráinne Kenny, Tara Egan, Róisin Egan, Karen Pillion, Emer Nally(V/C), Amy Gavin-Mangan, Eimear Flynn, Ellee McEvoy, Rachael Seery, Kathlyn Rigney, Aoife Corbett(V/C), Georgina Buckley, Áine Guinan, Anna Grehan, Sinéad Egan, Amanda Keena, Ffion Boland, Rachel Doyle, Gráinne Murray.

Back to Homepage