Soccer

Soccer Review 2024

This year has been the busiest year for soccer in this school! The biggest development has been the arrival of girls' soccer after the success of last year's South Carlow Minor Girls Blitz. In total we entered 3 girls teams and 3 boys teams into 10 competitions.

The Minor teams were well coached by Mr Byrne and Ms Mulally. The girls team finished 2nd in their group and qualified for the Regional quarter final. They were unlucky with injuries along the way and didn't progress to the semi. Three girls from this team went on to represent the junior and senior teams, a huge achievement for these young players.

The minor boys topped their group and went on to win their whole division. This was te first ever minor soccer trophy to be won by Borris. They progressed onto Leinster but were unlucky to lose in the semi-final.The Junior boys' team, coached by Mr. Flynn and Mr. Byrne, were up against it from the moment the league draw was made. They were in Div. 1 against all the big local schools. They came out on the wrong side of all their matches but were competitive throughout.

The Junior girls' team, trained by Ms. Atkinson and Ms. Smithers, were fantastic this year. They won their Div. 1 group that contained all the traditional soccer schools - not bad going for their first year out! They qualified for the Div. 1 Leinster championship but were very unlucky with injuries and narrowly lost their semi-final.

The Senior girls' team were very successful. Coached by Ms. Doran, Ms. O'Shea and Mr. Tuite, they finished second in their group and won their regional final! This was the first ever girls soccer title to be won by Borris. History makers! They progressed onto the Leinster Championship, beating some big all girl's schools along the way, and reached the semi-final of the League. Unfortunately, with some key players injured, the girls lost 3-2 on penalties and didn't get a crack at a second title for the year.

The Senior boys' team, coached by Mr. Tuite and his assistants Mr. Mulready and Mr. Hayden, were our dream team this year. They steamrolled their way to a League title, our first for 7 years. They also battered their way to a Shield quarter final with tremendous attacking football. They lost that quarter 4-2 to the eventual champions. In the Leinster Champions League, they got all the way to the quarter finals but lost on penalties to the eventual champions. Heartbreaking for the boys but they still claimed one trophy.

From 6 Borris teams this year, 4 topped their groups, 3 won their leagues and 2 teams brought home trophies. With a little more luck on penalties, we could've had 2 more trophies as well. The only group that had played soccer for the school before this year was the boys senior team. They were so close to winning leagues and cups over the years, so it was great to see them getting their hands on a trophy with their last chance. It was also great to see the senior girls getting league winners medals at the first time of asking. The majority of that team are available next year and, with huge female talent coming into the school every year, the future for girls soccer is extremely bright.

We also got a new set of jerseys this year thanks to John Kavanagh Heating and Plumbing. He is a past pupil and his children have all represented the school over the years.

Our two major individual award winners this year were Luke Joyce for u19 boys and Alex Murphy for the u19 girls. Well done on a fantastic year for you both