Portadown College and Royal School Armagh booked their spots in the Belfast Telegraph Senior School’s Cup Final yesterday afternoon.
The two sides advance having won their Semi-Finals against Ballyclare High School and Rainey Endowed at Playball, Belfast.
The fixture will see a repeat of The Wooden Floor Company Senior Superleague Final in December which saw RSA come out as 3-1 winners.
Portadown College took on Ballyclare High School in Semi-Final 1 with the game getting underway at 1pm.
Just four minutes in the eventual winners had the first chance of the game as they broke down the right wing before a strike from the top of the circle found the side board.
The deadlock was broken when Sophie McMahon was quickest to react to a loose ball in the D before placing her effort through the goalkeeper’s legs and putting her side 1-0 ahead.
Three minutes into the second quarter Portadown’s Emily Adamson doubled her team’s advantage when she fired in from close range.
Trailing by two, it was Ballyclare HS who won the first short corner of the game with 25 minutes on the clock, but they weren’t able to find a route back into the game as they instead forced the goalkeeper into a good save.
McMahon got her second goal of the game and seemingly put the game beyond doubt with 29 minutes played to make it 3-0.
However, in the final quarter, Ballyclare were given a route back into the game when Joanna Nesbitt converted from a penalty corner to make it 3-1.
Despite threatening for a second goal, her side were unable to reduce the deficit further and their impressive run in the competition came to an end.
The second Semi-Final saw Royal School Armagh beat Rainey Endowed 4-2 to book their spot in the Final.
A thrilling opening ten minutes to the game saw Rainey Endowed take an early with Evie Duncan scoring from a short corner after just two minutes played.
However, the game was turned on its head shortly after as Joni Cunnginham drew RSA level before Scarlett Taylor gave them the lead.
Just two minutes later Daisy Nicholson extended the lead to 3-1 and brought a dramatic opening quarter to a close.
With the second and third quarters being goalless, RSA were just one period away from securing their spot in next month’s Final.
However, just as the final quarter got underway Georgina McGuikin was found in the circle before her strike from the penalty spot was rifled past the goalkeeper to give her side a route back into the game.
Unfortunately for Rainey, RSA had the perfect response as Cunningham got her second goal of the fixture to restore the two-goal advantage and eventually seal the 4-2 victory.
The results set up a Portadown College vs Royal School Armagh final which is scheduled for Wednesday 6th March at Playball, Stormont.
PHOTO: FRONT ROW UNION
