U14XI Hockey Team win the Ulster Schools Junior Cup
When the girls of Rainey Endowed reached the final of the Ulster Junior Cup in 2008 it was the first time the school had been in the cup final since 1983 but the school had to wait till 2009 for the girls to again reach the final and at last lift the Cup as Ulster champions. 2010 saw the school jointly win the final and last year the U14 Team reached the final but lost out in a close match to the Royal School Armagh.
This is an extremely competitive competition with up to 44 schools from across the province taking part. The standard is always very high and the girls found this once again this year with some really tough matches. To reach the final in 2012 the girls defeated Friends School Lisburn 2-0, Rachel Burns, Kirsty McLarnon, Glenlola Collegiate 2-1 Rachel Burns, Rebecca Currie, Regent House 3-1 Rachel Burns, Lauren Mulholland, Sarah Caldwell, Belfast High School 3-1 Rachel Burns, Lauren McGookin, Kirsty McLarnon and the cup holders the Royal School Armagh in the semi final 2-1 Lauren McGookin, Edele Mallon.
So as the school travelled to the Antrim Forum to play in the Ulster Schools Junior Cup final for the fifth year in a row all the players had watched previous finals when they were in Form 1 or 2 or Primary school as younger sisters and knew what a great occasion it was!
The girls faced Methodist College Belfast and realized they would have to play their best against such strong opposition.
The match certainly did not disappoint starting at a very fast tempo with Rainey pushing forward straight away. With only 5 minutes gone first year pupil Lauren Mulholland broke for Rainey down the right, passed it back to Captain, Kirsty McLarnon, outside the circle, who first timed it to the left post, were it took a deflection from a Methody stick travelling high towards the back line for Lauren McGookin, from the left, to volley cleanly into the net. The Rainey supporters were delighted but the team knew they had a long way to go and needed to just put their heads down and concentrate.
The Rainey regained their composure and stuck to their game plan with some great mid field play from Rachel Burns, Kirsty McLarnon and Diane Forsythe ensuring attacks up the left as well as the right. With right back Sarah Millar playing the ball to Diane Forsythe and Lauren Mulholland the Rainey were able to attack down the right always looking for centre forward Rebecca Currie but left back Niamh Scullion also provided great feed to Rachel Burns and Lauren McGookin who both caused problems on the left for the Methody defence and were rewarded with a short corner. However, Methody were out really quickly and broke down the pitch with two of their fast forwards creating a two V one but Rainey right back Sarah Millar remained calm as she made a great tackle and moved across to take the ball. Rebecca Johnston in goals was always alert and made several good saves. So the girls were glad to reach half time 1-0 up.
The second half saw the Rainey win a lot of possession and with Rebecca Currie doing an excellent job of marking the Methody center mid very tightly the Rainey were able to dominate much of the play. The defence of Aimee Stockman, Sarah Millar, Edele Mallon and Niamh Scullion always looked in control and worked tirelessly at the back. As Kirsty McLarnon began to find more room in mid field she was able to pass left and right to create attacks. In the second half the girls won 3 short corners with Rachel Burns coming the closest to scoring but Methody continued to defend strongly and deny Rainey another score.
And so as the final whistle blew the girls were overjoyed to once again win the Ulster Schools Junior Cup.
The team would like to thank the umpires, the organizers, their supporters and of course the parents for their help and support all year long!
The Team was Kirsty McLarnon, Captain, Rebecca Johnston, Erin Mulholland, Aimee Stockman, Sarah Millar, Edele Mallon, Niamh Scullion, Diane Forsythe, Rachel Burns, Lauren Mulholland, Rebecca Johnston, Lauren McGookin, Tara Falkingham, Sarah Caldwell, Alice Hardy and Alex Burns.
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