Saints are winners at upcoming night with the stars
Mount St Michael of Claremorris last year became the first school to ever win the All-Ireland PPS senior 'B' ladies football championship for a second time.
It takes an exceptional group to win an All-Ireland championship and this generational panel of girls from Mount Saint Michael Secondary School in Claremorris that won the 2025 All-Ireland ‘B’ Championship are exactly that – exceptional.
A look at their squad speaks volumes. Of the starting 15, six of the Mount St Michael’s team – Isobel Phillips, Ashling Cummins, Amy Cummins, Síomha McNulty, Bree Hession and Ashleagh Salmon – all played for Claremorris in the 2023 All-Ireland Club junior football final.
Bree Hession and Síomha McNulty also made their debuts for the Mayo senior team last year in the National League while Isobel Phillips, Ashleagh Sammon, their Claremorris clubmate Emma Higgins, Davitts’ Anna Roache and Hollymount’s Lily Hession were selected for the Mayo minor squad.
In addition, eight of the panel are involved in their schools rugby team, capturing a Connacht senior league title last year.
After a crushing win over Dunmore Community School secured Mount St Michael the Connacht title, they overcame St Joseph’s Spanish Point in the All-Ireland semi-final. They led 3-9 to 1-2 at half-time and looked home and dry. St Joseph’s struck back with a late rally, but the Claremorris girls held firm to reach the decider.
Then came their day of destiny – an All-Ireland final against Eureka SS of Kells, and a chance to exorcise the demons of a defeat in the 2022 final which saw seven starters of that final still involved for this one. One of them, Bree Hession, would strike seven crucial points while Caoilinn Walsh’s first-half goal gave the Mayo and Connacht champions some of the breathing space to hold on and help the school win the competition for a second time, becoming the first school in the history of the competition to ever do so.
The year got even better for some of the players when they helped Claremorris win the Mayo LGFA intermediate championship and earn promotion to senior level for the first time in the club’s history.
