BY MICHAEL O’LEARY
Presentation Kilkenny have been enjoying a whirlwind ride both sides of Christmas with All-Ireland glory in both Volleyball and Basketball.
Just before Christmas, the Pres girls won The All-Ireland Senior “C” School Volleyball Final when they defeated Mountrath Community School, while last week they won the Senior Basketball competition with victory in The All-Ireland Final against Our Ladys Castleblayney.
Also, Kilkenny City Vocational School Girls enjoyed All-Ireland glory when winning The All-Ireland Senior “B” School Volleyball Final against Coláiste an Eachréidh Athenry, and they were adding to both The Senior “C” and Senior Boys All-Irelands they won last year.
The Volleyball All-Ireland Finals were played in Mid-December at the National Indoor Arena, Dublin, and Presentation Kilkenny won by two sets to nil against The Laois School.
The first set they won 25-17, before a 25-19 win the second set confirmed them as All-Ireland Champions.
Presentation Kilkenny Squad: Aoibhe Ryan, Laura Challoner, Aisling Dwan (Captain), Rachel Power, Pearl Jensen, Kyla Byrne, Lily O’Brien, Kayla Ston, Chloe Lynch, Ashley Noukeu, Viktoria Dukic, Ena Hickey,
Coaches: Lisa Carey, Kate McDonald
Further Kilkenny glory arrived in The All-Ireland Senior “B” School Volleyball Final, when Kilkenny City Vocational School Girls won also by two sets to nil against Coláiste an Eachréidh Athenry as they produced strong finishes in both sets to emerge victorious.
The first set was won 25-20, before winning The second set 15-19 as they added to their All-Ireland Senior “C” title the previous year.
Kilkenny City Vocational School Squad: Martina Malossini (Captain), Maria Rios, Carla Soler Mira, Carmen Solar De Casbro, Gala Pelizzoli, Cecilia Dei Rossi, Viola Sarna, Elena Bruno,
Coach: Debbie O Connor
More celebrations came The Presentation’s way last week as they won The All-Ireland U19A Girls Schools Cup for the very first time at The National Stadium in Tallaght, having withstood a strong fightback from Our Lady’s Secondary School Castleblaney (Monaghan) to win 49-46.
The Pres girls led 7-2 at the end of the opening quarter, before a strong 2nd quarter put them 21-8 up at half-time.
They extended their advantage throughout the third quarter to lead 41-25, and they appeared to be well on their way to victory.
However, Our Lady’s fought back and Presentation Kilkenny had to endure a nervous final few minutes.
The Pres girls managed to see the job through during those final moments as the celebrations began in earnest.
Presentation Captain Gemma Lawlor collected the Cup on behalf of her successful teammates, and she was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) after scoring 21 points of her teams total.
Afterwards, The girls returned to a rapturous reception as they were treated to a guard of honour by the entire school.
The victory capped off a superb month of All-Ireland glory for the school, and they have a chance to complete a Cup/League double with a League Semi-Final to look forward to.
Presentation Kilkenny Squad: Lucy Coomey, Aoibhin Dunphy, Gemma Lawlor (Captain), Clodagh O’Neill, Valerija Dovbijenko, Roisin Leahy, Aoibh Lawlor, Ruby Egan, Tara Kovarova, Kaitlyn Summers, Aoibheann Walsh.
Coaches: Sally Teehan, Puff Summers
