Senior Cup glory for Priorians

Priorians Firsts had their first ever Senior Cup glory over Armagh, at Stormont, on Saturday.

This is the third season for the Prior girls back in Senior One and their first ever top flight final.

Armagh were going into the game as favourites but Prior girls had worked hard under new coach Kathryn Rough on tactics and set plays and knew that anything is possible when they play well as a team.

The Prior defence soaked up a lot of pressure in the opening quarter but with goalkeeper Megan McClintock and Nicola Lowery continued their excellent form, they didn’t make it easy for the Armagh forwards.

It wasn’t until the 24th minute that the deadlock was broken when great linking play between Sara O’Neill and Jill Kennedy saw the latter send a defence splitting ball forward for Emma Allen to latch onto and she reversed swept the ball past the advancing Armagh keeper.

The second half saw some excellent midfield battles but nothing separated the two sides until seven minutes from the end when Allen struck again, driving in from the left and firing the ball low into the far corner.

Armagh threw everything at the Prior girls and came close on a couple of occasions but they worked hard to keep a clean sheet and be crowned winners of the Senior cup.

The Priorians players and coaches would like to thank all the supporters who travelled to Belfast and especially to all junior players who lead out the team at the beginning of the game.

"We are a large family club and this really showed on Saturday. We would also like to thanks Irish international Megan Frazer, who was there to provided support and guidance to our girls. We wish her all the best in her bid to make the squad for the Tokyo Olympics," stated coach Rough. "Finally thank you to Raphoe hockey girls who gave us a great warm up game, on Monday, before the final."

Priorians: Megan McClintock (GK) Rhonda Curry, Nicola Lowery, Gemma McCollum, Coral Lapsley, Katie Torrens, Sara O’Neill, Jill Kennedy, Rachael McSparron, Sarah Black, Emma Allen, Beth O'Neill, Alice O'Neill, Ellie Goodman, Susanna Pollock, Jamee McCauley, Alex Nolan, Meabh Phillips.