After almost 18 months away from indoor water polo the Clonard girls have made a fantastic return to competitive sport.
Throughout lockdown the girls continued to train hard – taking part in regular weekly zoom circuits classes and then pounded out some land-based training at Shawsbridge.
This season saw the girls enter a senior water polo league for the first time, and this was always going to be a big step up for them in terms of quality and strength. However, they have shown, year on year, that any step up in difficulty of opposition doesn’t inhibit their enthusiasm.
The under 16 league so far has seen an initial draw against a strong St Vincent’s team and then an unfortunate defeat against local rivals Bangor.
This year it is in the younger age groups that they have been most competitive. In the under 14 league the girls have proven far too strong from most oppositions to date and currently sit at top the table with four wins from four. However, they are yet to play their great rivals Tribes and that game may well decide the league winners.
It was Tribes who unfortunately pipped the under 15 team to the post in a tightly fought Final at the recent 2021 Irish Cup, however hopefully the younger members of that team can extract revenge in both the under 14 league and the 2022 under 15 cup, when we return to Galway in May. Four of these girls (Cait Crosbie, Bella Ward, Luighseach Murnaghan & Niamh Crosbie) were selected as part of the Irish 2006 and under squad. Well done to them!
Not to be outdone the 2008 and under girls played out of their skins at the recent Ulster blitz at Lisnasharragh and with three new members to the squad (Molly, Grace and Sophie) they all performed fantastically.
With plenty of water polo between now and Christmas, it’s full steam ahead for the Clonard Girls team.
