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Primary Schools Rounders Finals 2006

Ireland's longest running Rounders Competitions, the Ulster Primary/National Schools Rounders Competitions for boys (Arthur Devlin Cup) and Girls (Rev. Fr. Dan Magennis Cup) were concluded for 2006 on Thursday last at Holy Trinity College, Cookstown (Co. Tyrone), as was the Championship for Mixed teams.
After  two exciting semi finals in the Mixed Competition St. Mary's Dunnamore (Kildress) and Crievagh (Lissan) played one of the most exciting Mixed finals in many years, with the two teacher Crievagh school reclaiming the cup.
 In the final of the Boys Championship Lissan Primary School almost, should have, won against St. Mary's Dunnamore, in an exhibition of hard hitting and excellent fielding by both sides.   In an unique result St. Mary's came being eleven runs down to pip the Derry school with five points to spare.
 The  girls from St. Mary's, Stewartstown, had a very good first innings especially at fielding, but Lissan Primary scored nine before the final innings and were only two down on their final 'at-bat'.   The 'town team had a run of excellent fielding performances and Lissan couldn't get enough runners on base to change the scoreline.  St. Mary's in their first ever season in the Magennis Cup were the winners.

Match Reports:
Mixed semifinals:
St. Mary's Dunnamore 'B' 15
Crievagh 17

  St. Mary's won the toss and fielded, conceding eight runs before the first out, an isolation of Laura Monaghan between third base and home. Three hitters later Patrick Mc Elroy was unlucky to be called out for missing a base.  Another seven batters were called, but Caolan OHagan was taken out and St. Mary's came in to bat, seventeen runs down.
  The Crievagh defence was almost perfect, three of the first four batters failing to make any impression and only one run scored by Cathy Connolly.
 Dunnamore decided to bat on and had much better luck in the second innings scoring four runs, after suffering two "outs'.   Darren Loughran brought in a fifth runner but was taken out to end the innings.
The final innings was a complete change of fortune for the Tyrone school, but only after a disastrous two outs against the first two batters, when Crievagh's Patrick Mc Elroy caught out Peter Martin Mc Kenna and doubled the ball to second base to deny Caolan Doyle a safe occupation.
At this point the St. Mary's hitters found a few free spaces outfield and proceeded to load the bases and bring home successive runners. Ruairi Quinn got good a two base hit, and his side was went through the batting order for Ruairi to clear the bases in a wonderful well deserved 'Home Run'.  After getting a 'Walk-on' Edel McNally was forced to leave first base, and found the twenty metres to number two just two steps too long and the match was over, Dunnamore one run in arrears.
Names and Scores (Runs Batted In): St. Mary's, Dunnamore: Danielle Jackson 2 (2), Cathy Connolly (3), Darren Loughran (1), Ruairi Quinn 2 (7), Caolan Doyle 0 (0), Peter Martin Mc Kenna 0 (0), Peter Daly 3 (0), Rachel Mc Kenna 3 (2) and Edel Mc Nally 1 (0).
Crievagh: John Mallon 3 (1), Laura Monaghan 1 (2), Caolan OHagan 2 (3), Amy Mc Kee 2 (3), Peter Mc Elroy 2 (0), Michele Mc Nally 2 (1), Patrick Mc Elroy 1 (0), Caoimhe Devlin 2 (3), Mark Rooney 2 (2).
  Best player in this match was St. Mary's Ruairi Quinn scoring seven runners on three hits, and average of 2.333 points per hit, a superb statistic by any standards.  All of the Crievagh players performed very well in all skills and strategies of the game.
 

St. Mary's, Dunnamore A  15
Lissan 13

  Dunnamore batted first winning 12 runs before the Lissan fielders fine tuned their fielding efforts.  In reply only four runs were recorded, but the Derry pupils fielded bravely again, this time conceding only three runs.
Dunnamore struggled a little with improved hitting from Lissan, but they were able to hold their opponents to four runs, again.  Lissan 'batted on' and  looked like they could cause an upset to the Tyrone schools plans, but at five runs Ryan Owens of Lissan became the third out and St. Mary's had claim a place in the final.
Gavin Muldoon and Michael Quinn showed excellent execution of skills in the third and second innings respectively, while Dunnamore's Daniel P Quinn made a special effort for his team.
Teams and Scores: Lissan: Roisin Mc Glone 3, Claire Mc Donald 3, Ryan Owens 1, Claire Monaghan 2, Lauren Mc Glone 0, Gavin Muldoon 1, Emma Mc Kernan 1, Aaron Mc Williams 1 and Michael Quinn 1.
St. Mary's, Dunnamore: Dannielle Lynch 3, Aedoin Mc Allen 3, Aaron Brennan
1, Anthony Donnelly 1, Alice Mc Nally 2, Stephen Mc Gurk 1, Sean Mc Gurk 1,
Eoghain Loughran 1 an Daniel P Quinn 2.
 

Mixed Final
Crievagh 16 Runs
St. Mary's A, Dunnamore 8 Runs

  Very quick reaction by Anthony Donnelly in the second innings earned the St. Mary's short stop the only 'star' play record of the match.  A rocket of a hit by Amy Mc Kee, through a low fast trajectory would have surprised the best of older players but Anthony with all the coolness in the world simply snapped the sliotar as it flew towards his right ear and the entire crowd on the sideline applauded and shout encouragement to Anthony and the Dunnamore nine.
  Crievagh scored eight runs in the first innings and stopped the Dunnamore team at four runs.
In the second innings Crievagh repeated their eight run onslaught with well placed hits and some very hard hitting, especially by Caolan OHagan, Michele Mc Nally and Patrick Mc Elroy, who between them were responsible for ten runners finishing the eighty metre course.  Number seven Amy Mc Kee was called with two out.  On her third strike she connected really well with the ball and sent it in the direction of left field, but that's where Anthony Donnelly made the play of day with his excellent reading of the ball and a fine catch.  All of Crievagh's outs were catches the first two by Alice Mc Nally near second base by catcher Daniel Peter Quinn.
In the final innings St. Mary's lost their first batter then put two on base and Danielle Lynch was taken out before any scores materialised.  Aodeen Mc Aleer miss hit her third strike but the ball went sky wards to left field only to be held by a Crievagh player.  That was the third out and with only two runs available the match was over at sixteen runs for the Derry school and eight runs for St. Mary's.
Runs and Scores (RBI): St. Mary's: Gemma Toner 1 (0) Michelle Mullin 0 (0), Aaron Brennan 2 (1), Anthony Donnelly 1 (2), Alice Mc Nally 1 (0), Stephen Mc Gurk 0(1), Sean Mc Gurk 0 (1), Eoghan Loughran 1 (0), Daniel Peter Quinn 1 (0), Danielle Lynch (for Gemma Toner) 1(0) and Aedoin Mc Aleer (for Michelle Mullin) 0 (2).
Crievagh: Caoimhe Devlin 2 (1), Peter Mc Elroy 2 (1), Laura Monaghan 1 (0), Caolan OHagan 3 (4), Michele Mc Nally 2 (3), John Mallon 0 (0), Amy Mc Kee 2 (2), Patrick Mc Elroy 2 (3) and Mark Rooney 2 (1).
 

Devlin Cup FInal
Lissan 20
St. Mary's, Dunnamore 25

   Excellent hitting and some superb fielding were the hallmark of this final, St. Mary's being very lucky to run in nine scores before the third out.  Lissan replied with some of the best hits of the season and when the third out was recorded they had scored fifteen runs.
St. Mary's steadied up for the rest of the game and scored ten runs before the first out, and three more before the second out.   Lissan fielding was very good throughout but too defensive, with several throws to home base instead of to more appropriate bases, to cut off a the eager runners.  When the sides made the final swap from batting to fielding Dunnamore were on twentyfive runs to Lissan's fifteen.
  Lissan scored one lost one , scored another one and then lost a second out.  With excitement mounting in the Tyrone camp Lissan took a couple of chances too few and paid the penalty, with only five runs more at the final out: Lissan 20  Dunnamore 25.
Lissan's pitcher Ryan owens had a good day doing the most difficult job the game with confidence.   His opposite number was just as good, and maybe a little faster with his pitch, and not always to his advantage.   Third base minder for Lissan, Oisin Donaghy, shone late in the match with some fine receipts, but late passes though the most accurate of the day left his
efforts too frequently fruitless.  Kevin Mc Cracken showed great skill in his batting as the game progressed.  All of the Lissan side hit extremely well, and Michael Quinn's superb catch in the final innings attracted a very appreciative response from all who spectated.  This was one of the best ever performances by a Lissan School team in recent years.
   Dunnamore had the older players available, and while they had not got a lot of practise in the game they certainly proved aggressive in their hitting and especially their running.  They were lucky in getting the few extra scores from taking chances running the extra bases, but their improvement as the match progressed proved that they well deserved their victory.
Teams  and scores: Lissan: Aaron Mc Williams 4, Ciaran Conway 0, Michael Quinn 2, Ryan Owens 3, Oisin Donaghy 1, Michael Grant 3, Edwin Espie 2, Kevin Mc Cracken 3, Gary Monaghan 2.

St. Mary's: John Small 3, Daniel Peter Quinn 5, Eoghan Loughran 3, Anthony Donnelly 3, Ruairi Quinn 2, Peter Martin Mc Kenna 2, Stephen Mc Gurk 3, Daniel Connolly 2, Chris Daly 1, Aaron Brennan (sub) 1.
 

Magennis Cup Final
St. Mary's, Stewartstown 11
Lissan 09

  The 2006 Magennis Cup final, for primary schools girls teams, was an unexpected pairing, between Lissan, (Derry) and St. mary's, Stewartstown (Tyrone).
  An excellent first innings for the St. Mary's nine earned them eight runs, before Lissan were returned to the bench (to bat).   Numerous non threatening hits by the Tyrone girls gave the Lissan players, especially short stop Tanya Kelly, golden opportunities to take out several runners, but the ball was too frequently misdirected, and the  runners took every advantage presented. In reply Lissan with two out and bases loaded could only groan when Shanyn Duffy misplaced her hit and Roisin Mc Glone was left too little time to finish her trip from third to home base.

The second innings found the Lissan defence working harder and with more style, typical of their performances to date, but they still conceded three runs.  In reply they hit form and sent the ball well outfield on several excellent hits, in particular by Roisin Mc Glone and Claire Monaghan.  
With nine scored, two out and the bases loaded, Kellie ONeill went to her fifth pitch; two good - two bad;  she mishit, the ball went foul and a golden opportunity to bring in scores was lost. Lissan batted on and when Claire Monaghan popped the ball back for a nice catch by Stewartstown catcher, Donna Lewis, all hope was lost and the Tyrone School had won the
Magennis Cup.
Best performances were from Lissan's Claire Monaghan and Roisin McGlone, for hitting and runs batted in, and Stewartstown's Donna Lewis, for very good fielding.
  Teams an Scores (RBI): Lissan: Tanya Kelly 1 (1), Roisin Mc Glone 1 (3), Megan Donaghy 1 (1), Holly Monaghan 1 (0), Claire Monaghan 1 (3), Shannyn Duffy 1 (0), Emma Mc Kernan 2 (0), Lauren Mc Glone 0(0) and Kellie ONeill 1 (1).

(ULSTER ROUNDERS COUNCIL)