Banbridge Academy Girls hockey have had a season to remember with the 1^st XI getting into the Schools Cup Semi Final and other senior teams doing well i their own competitions. The Junior Hockey team were crowned Ulster Junior Schools Champions in March and it qualified them to play the the June Smith All Ireland Championships were they met the respective winners of each province to play for the All Ireland Champions title on Thursday 20^th April.

Preparation over Easter went well and the girls were prepared and determined to make their mark. Their first game was against Cresent College, Munster. The game was evenly matched however despite the local girls coming through stronger in the 2^nd half the game finished nil all. Next up was Kilkenny College, South East. Yet again the Banbridge girls showed a lot of strength and made sure they made the most of their opportunities in-front of goals and won the match 2 1  putting them at the top of the leaderboard with best goals for. Their third match was against Salerno, Connaught. While legs were starting to get tired, determination and enthusiasm was not. Despite having all the attacking ally and short corners, Salerno counterattacked and grabbed a goal against the run of play. Banbridge Academy throw all that they had to equalise but win no success. This loss meant that they oils have to depend on other results to go their way to be in the running for 1^st position. The last match was against Loreto Beaufort Leinster,, the hosts of the tournament. With the disappointment of match 3 behind them the girls found new strength and played some of their best hockey of the tournament and beat the Dublin side 1 nil. This result meant the the Banbridge side came away with the silver medals in the All ireland championship with Cresent College being crown All Ireland winners.  Despite showing of the best hockey that junior hockey had seen and being disappointed not to have came home with the all ireland title they were still happy to be ending and incredible season on a high.

Their journey was not possible without the support of our sponsors, The Half Way House, Purple Heather, Pepper Dromore Ltd, AJ construction and Select Insurance. Other thanks goes to Donaghies for their relentless help with kit and also to Centra for helping provide refreshments on the day.

With most of the team stepping up into senior hockey next year the future looks bright for Banbridge Academy Girls’ Hockey.