Sport

Loreto Mullingar charge to emphatic Leinster Girls Senior Cup win

Grainne Cleary hat-trick helps Mullingar to 45-0 win over The High School

Loreto Mullingar beat The High School at Energia Park on Thursday. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Loreto Mullingar beat The High School at Energia Park on Thursday. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Des Berry
Thu Mar 20 2025 - 17:40
Leinster Girls Schools Senior Cup final: Loreto Mullingar 45 The High School, Dublin 0

Brilliant Loreto Mullingar were relentless in their pursuit of the Leinster Girls Schools Senior Cup title at Energia Park on Thursday.

The opening minutes were full of commitment and invention as Mullingar’s Meabh O’Hara, Abigail Johnston and Eimear Doonan made metres.

The High School’s work at the ruck served as a temporary reprieve when their lineout was lost and Mullingar centres Orla Rijksen and Grainne Cleary created the go-forward to threaten a breakthrough.

But staunch defence was needed along the try line to keep the Rathgar school out after Zoe Sargent, Siobhan Layte and Chloe O’Neill combined for a solid counter attack.

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Just as High School found their rhythm, centre Cleary intercepted and stayed ahead of Airmid Devitt-O’Byrne for the first try of the game, converted by O’Hara in the 21st minute.

The Mullingar forwards made life difficult before the ball was moved right for centre Rijksen to cut back to the posts for their second try, again converted by O’Hara to make it 14-0 at the break.

Mullingar stayed on the frontfoot, creating nice link-up play but forfeited the resulting chances to poor final passes.

A cracking tackle by Layte on Catherine Gildea temporarily put a stop to Mullingar’s charge, only for flanker Orlagh O’Brien to crash over for their third try, converted by O’Hara in the 36th minute.

Trailing 21-0, High School did their best to pull themselves back into the game. Flanker Elisa MacGabhann made ground while Sargent scouted for weaknesses in the Mullingar defence only to find there were precious few.

A lapse in concentration was all O’Brien needed to rifle through the High School defence for her second try of the afternoon, O’Hara’s again on the money from the kicking tee to make it 28-0 nearing the 45-minute mark.

But not done yet, a pass from Rijksen allowed Cleary to show her power, breaking over for a fifth try.

O’Brien almost completed a hat-trick direct from the restart on a 60-metre break, but the ball was recycled to instead allow Cleary the feat, O’Hara adding the extras.

High School’s passing kept Mullingar on their toes but it wasn’t enough to pose any kind of late threat, and with the clock ticking towards the final whistle, Mullingar got in for one final try, this time from winger Chloe Mulcahy, to round out an impressive victory.

MULLINGAR: C Gildea; S Byrne, O Rijksen, G Cleary, C Mulcahy; M O’Hara, A Cosgrave; D Gibbons, A Forde, M Murtagh, A Reynolds, M Corrigan, O O’Brien, E Doonan, A Johnston.

HIGH SCHOOL: A Devitt-O’Byrne; A Cree, C O’Neill, E Fowler, N Navak; S Layte, Z Sargent; S Bainton, L Murdock, Z Deacon, S Hurley, R Small, G James, E MacGabhann, M Neely.

Replacements: A Deacon for Devitt-O’Byrne (22 mins); S Lees for MacGabhann (43); E Hughes for Hurley, M Courtney for Layte (both 54).

Referee: K Byrne (Leinster Branch).