College's Leinster triumph
Wednesday February 17 2010
GORMANSTON College made a bit of badminton history recently when their Under-16s became their first girls team to claim a provincial title.
Shauna Carabini, Aisling Moore, Katie Roche and Kerry Louise Farrell qualified for the Leinster competition after defeating St Joseph's Kildare in the Dublin final. And they proved far too great for all their opponents in the Leinsters, defeating Mercy Convent Kilbeggan 6-0, Kilkenny College 5-1 and then St Vincent's Dundalk 6-0 in the final itself.
The girls' delighted coach Paddy Bird said: 'We've had college teams for 13 years and won an All-Ireland, but never made a breakthrough in the girls events.
'But now they've done it and it's a great achievement. Last year these girls were beaten by Kilkenny and St Vincent's, and they said they were going to win it the next time. They practised every day and worked very, very hard, and the moral of the story is that if you keep trying and you want it hard enough, you will get there.'
