Stabannon honour Nicola in fine style
THE sun shone and the rain stayed away as the Stabannon Ladies welcomed 11 teams to the club to take part in the second Nicola Barry Memorial Tournament on Saturday.
Nicola, who played with the mid-Louth club since 2006 and was instrumental in landing their first senior title in 2009, sadly lost her battle with a brain tumour on 1st August 2014 at the age of 26.
Saturday’s tournament saw an early start for the organising committee who welcomed the following teams to Pairc an Tigh: St Killian’s, Cavan, Naul, Dublin, Donaghmoyne, Monaghan, St. Brides, Louth, Dee Rangers, Meath, St. Kevins, Louth , St. Fechins, Louth Naomh Fionnbarra, Louth, Magheracloone, Monaghan, Newtown Blues, Louth and of course the home side, Stabannon Ladies.
At 11am on the group games got underway with two groups of six teams competing for places in semi finals and then ultimately the final. Each team had five games in their group and it wasn’t until round three that winners group started to emerge.
In group one, which had five teams, St. Fechins and Newtown Blues got the tournament underway and the Fechins emerged clear winners from the first game and set down a marker for the remainder of their group games.
Clann Mhuire got the better of last years champions, Donaghmoyne in the second game by seven points. As Group 1 games progressed, St. Fechins went on to beat Donaghmoyne but were then beaten by St. Brides and Clann Mhuire.
Clann Mhuire won three of their games and were beaten only by St. Brides. Donaghmoyne, who were last years champions had a very young team competing this year and failed to win any of their group games.
The Brides were very strong in this group and won all four of their games with Newtown Blues winning only one of their group games. At the end of the group stage, St. Brides were clear winners with Clann Mhuire coming a close second with both teams progressing to the semi finals.
In group two Naomh Fionnbarra and the home side Stabannon got the group games under way and Stabannon emerged clear winners from the first group game. Dee Rangers got the better of Magheracloone while St. Killians beat St. Kevins in the first round of group 2 games. There was little separating some of the teams in group two as Stabannon, Magheracloone and Dee Rangers were emerging as contenders at an early stage. In this group, St. Kevins(a combined team) failed to win any of their games, with St. Killians winning two games and Noamh Fionnbarra winning one game in their group. It was all to play for between Stabannon, Dee Rangers and Magheracloone in this group as round 4 got underway. Stabannon emerged winners against Magheracloone and at this put Stabannon in second place on the tables as the group games came to a close.
The semi finals got underway with Stabannon and the Brides meeting in one match and Dee Ranges and Clann Mhuire meeting in the other semi final. There was very little to separate all four teams at the semi final stage. Dee Rangers emerged winners from the first semi-final as they beat Clann Mhuire by only 2 points. On the other pitch there was little to separate Stabannon and St. Brides but in the end it was the home side Stabannon who emerged winners by just two points also.
The final got underway at 4pm and with a large crowd watching the final got underway with Dee Rangers and Stabannon. The man in charge of the match was Stabannon club man, Aidan Shevlin. Dee Rangers and Stabannon Ladies are both very familiar with each other as they have played several challenge matches over the years. The home side seemed to find their stride easier in the final than Dee Rangers with Rachel McNally and Grace Rogers helping their team to have a score of 2-1 to 0-1 at half time. However, Dee Rangers came out strong in the second half and scored a goal and a point before Stabannon got scores on the board in the second half. Towards the end, Stabannon found an extra gear and played with determination and a will to win. As a result, they scored an extra goal and a point to leave the final score at Stabannon 3-3 to Dee Rangers 1-2, a seven point victory for the home side.
It was a fitting end to a fantastic day as the home team were presented with the Nicola Barry Memorial Tournament cup. Extra special was the fact that Lisa Barry, Nicola’s sister, captained the team on the day. John Barry, Nicola’s dad, presented the cup to Lisa admist wide applause from the crowd. The team were presented with specially commissioned t-Shirts for the tournament.
Player of the tournament was picked by referees during the course of the games and the player of the tournament was selected based on number of nominations a player received. As the event concluded, the player of the tournament was announced and it was presented to Bronagh McArdle from St. Brides by Laura Barry.