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North East and South East net victory in Youth Games
A new winner for the ninth Sport Northern Ireland Netball Youth Games emerged at Lisburn Racquet’s club with the tournament extremely close between the five Regional Development squads. Moving down a year in the age groups from Under 15 to Under 14 the matches were keenly contested and lost none of their excitement on the day with the younger players competing.
The North East team was coached to victory by June McKeown and her daughter Sports Studies student Ashley. Captained by Rebecca Lenaghan North East eventually nudged ahead by one point and narrowly squeezed out Belfast to take the A section title with thirteen points. Belfast coached by Helen McLaughlin and Naomi Warner had the title in their sights but a drawn match earlier in the section lost them the title by one vital point.
South East finished third only two points behind silver position Belfast and shared the bronze with the Western squad on ten points, with the Southern squad finishing with six points.
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| Southeastern A |
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| Southeastern B |
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| Southern A and B |
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| Western A and B |
In the B section, the South East squad who were coached by Laura Montgomery assisted by Stella Drayne and captained by Olivia Lucas, were clear winners with sixteen points. The Southern squad who were coached by Lindsay Neill of Newtownbreda High school and assisted by Joy Moorehead, came second with thirteen points. There was a three way tie with Western, Belfast and North East all finishing with 7 points each.
Western had a squad from Londonderry and were coached by Theresa Gillespie from Oakgrove Integrated School and assisted by Isoble McNulty, with Theresa's daughter Jenny making her Sport Northern Ireland Netball Youth Games debut.
Omagh and Enniskillen schools teamed up to train for the games with Nicola Barbour as coach from Loreto Convent and Siobhan Mullan assisting her in the second Western team.
Speaking after the event Eamonn McCartan, Chief Executive of Sport Northern Ireland added: “We are delighted to be able to support the Youth Games once again. I would like to congratulate the North East and South East squad on their great results. I would also like to congratulate all those who took part in the Netball Youth Game and wish them continued success.”
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