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All change in boys Cadette A with totally new finalists Carrickmacross and Portlaoise

What a fortnight in boys’ volleyball. First Portlaoise broke through to their first ever A final by reaching the A Final in Junior. Then Sutton followed them. Then Patrician Carrickmacross sensationally won the senior cup. Now 8 schools headed into the unknown Cadette A finals after a 10-week COVID-caused postponement. First, an enhanced Portlaoise and Grange were allowed into A, and then, schools realised Patrician was in fact this new Carrickmacross school. Surely their cadettes wouldn’t be as good? Yes they were, as they started by beating perennial favourites St. Brigids Loughrea 25-10! Then they beat Sutton 25-12 and Elphin 25-5! Drumshanbo settled in the other group draw. After leading a close 5-4, they won 25-17 against Grange and 25-16 against Raphaels Loughrea but went behind against straight-off-a-punctured-bus(!) Portlaoise who won 25-18. Portlaoise proceeded to beat Grange 25-15 and Raphaels 25-20 to top group B. in group A Brigids recovered in a close win 25-21 against Elphin (who led 21-20) and 25-19 against Sutton. Sutton had started the day well 25-12 against Elphin.

Raphaels won a very tight 25-21 against Grange in group B but just lost a thriller to Brigids 24-26 in the quarters. Grange were pleased with their quarter fight, losing only 14-25 to Patrician while Portlaoise proved they were serious, winning 25-9 against Elphin. Sutton gave a fine performance against Drumshanbo losing only 25-22 after leading at 21.

               So the traditional faced first time semi-finals in the semis. A thrilling close start turned when Carrick powered their way by serve to win set 1 against Drumshanbo by 25-16. Blocking brilliantly in the 2nd, the Leitrim school raced 16-11 and 17-14 ahead in set 2 but very skilled placements rolled Carrick back on top to oust the holders 25-20. Portlaoise College continued to sail on with a 25-19 1st set against Brigids but Brigids showed all their old safety play to push the 2nd to a thrilling finish with the Galway side just losing 26-28.

This moment proved quite momentous for, for the first time since 1998, no Loughrea or Drumshanbo school would appear in either a cadette A or Junior A boys final. Portlaoise had a great start, leading 6-3 in the first, but the non stop hitting plus their quick reflexes pushed Carrick ahead 12-7  and they never looked back.   From 21-13 in the first, Patrician never dropped a point until after 10-0 in the 2nd! They duly won 25-11 to become the first Monaghan team to win a schools national championship ever! But also, as an observer of cadette boys volleyball since 1989, I don’t think there was ever a standard so high in the top 8 schools. With a record number of new boys’ schools joining, the future looks exciting.

MVP –  ROI VALDEZ

 

 

Write up – John King

 

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