BELFAST’S St Dominic’s Grammar School for Girls is perhaps better known for its outstanding academic success.
Over the past few years, it has also become one of the top performing schools in the sporting arena. The rise of multiple sports has led to incredible success for the girls and the school.
Back in 2017, the PE staff made the decision to strip back the number of sports on offer and decided to focus on Gaelic football, Netball and Basketball. This was not to the exclusion of other sports – however, the key focus was to increase standards in these areas.
“This was perhaps the best decision we have made in terms of explaining our exceptional success in these sports in recent years,” believes department head Deirdre Cassidy, who adds: “Since then, we have also had significant development in camogie, handball and in our cross-country teams.”
One of the most significant developments has taken place in the netball club at the school. Over the past few years, they have experienced league and cup successes and, this term alone, 2024-25, they have won the Division 1 Northern Ireland League across every age group.
This includes Minor B (Yr8/9), Junior A (Yr10), Inter B (Yr11), Inter A (Yr12), and Senior A (Yr13 and 14).
The school are currently still involved in the NI Cup competition for junior and intermediate teams, aiming to further confirm their status as one of the top netball schools in the country.
All Ireland camogie champions 2025
Deirdre continues: “In addition to this, we are extremely proud of two of our Yr12 pupils who have been selected on the NI U21 Open Squad and also who have been assigned as the Captain and Vice-Captain of the NI U17 Team.
“Aoibheann Donnelly (Captain) and Anna Rice (Vice-Captain), will take to the court this week in the U17 European Championships in the Antrim Forum.
“Their selection as members of the leadership team has come as no surprise to us, here in St Dominic’s.
“They epitomise all that is good about a St Dominic’s girl. They are diligent with their training, they are focused in their efforts and they are also ready and able to take the lead on and off the court.
“Their modest yet capable approaches make them perfect to take on these roles. The younger pupils at the school and their peers view Aoibheann and Anna as role models.
“They watch them train hard, they are constantly raising the standards and they also are always more than willing to offer support and encouragement to the other players. Netball NI are very lucky to have such amazing ambassadors coming through the ranks and this bodes well for the future.
“Emma Rice and Eva McKeown (Yr10) have also begun their NI journey this year as they have been selected on to the Belfast Region Netball Squad, we hope to see these girls fulfil their potential as NI warriors in the years to come.”
Inter B League netball champions
The outstanding success this term has not only occurred in netball.
The school U16 camogie team has just become the All-Ireland Colleges Corn Una champions.
St Dominic’s are the first Belfast school to reach the Allianz Ireland All Ireland finals series and the first Ulster school to go on to win the title.
This is a remarkable achievement for the school considering the camogie club has only really taken off over the past five years.
The year 9 squad are also showing a lot of promise, having won the Y8 Celine McAteer Shield last summer, and this group seek to further establish the school as one of the best.
On March 12, they will be taking on St Louis, Ballymena in the Yr 9 Gaelfast Antrim Cup while Yr 13 student Maeve Devlin was named as a QUB ‘Future Star’.
Deirdre affirmed: “This was a very well-deserved award for a student who works incredibly hard and is a real leader within school camogie. Maeve was one of only three players recognised across the province as dual Camogie and LGFA Future Stars.”
The school has representation at county level with both Antrim and Down. Maeve Devlin, Aoife Fitzsimons and Amelie Annett are members of the county minor team. Amy Gault, Keela McAllister and Aoibhinn McDonnell represent Antrim at U16, while Eliza McMullan represents Down at this grade.
Meanwhile Niamh Keenan, Isla Smyth, Caragh Flynn and Chloe Irvine are beginning their Antrim journey with the U14 squad.
Junior A League netball champions
The U19 Gaelic football team had plenty to celebrate this year, having reached the Ulster Final.
Unfortunately, they fell just short against St. Paul’s, Bessbrook. However, their performance highlighted just how close the school are to achieving success at this level.
St. Dominic’s Year 9 team made their mark once again, securing a dominant victory over St. Killian’s in the Gaelfast Antrim Cup final.
Their commanding performance showcased the talent and potential within this group and the hope is that a number of this team will be recognised with Gaelfast All Star awards in April.
With the U14 competition about to begin, the school look forward to seeing even more success from their younger players.
This year, two players, Aoife Fitzsimmons and Anna Rice, were recognised for their outstanding skills and attributes, earning QUB ‘Future Stars’ awards for Gaelic football – a fantastic achievement that reflects their hard work and dedication.
The school currently have 20 players representing Antrim from U14 through to Minor level. Anna Rice has been named as the Vice- Captain of the Minor team, once again reflecting the true leadership qualities of St. Dominic’s girls.
Minor B League netball champions
A focus area for the PE department this year was to build the cross country/athletics clubs. With a dedicated club every week, they were able to enter a Mini (Yr8) and Minor (Yr9) team into the District B Cross Country Championships.
The mini team claimed the silver medal at this event, the first for the school in many years. To cap off this success, Katie Cassidy in Yr8, won the overall mini-girls race.
Katie is the first St Dominic’s pupil in many years to achieve this level of success in cross country running. As a result of this success, the team and Katie qualified for the Ulster Schools’ Cross Country Championships.
With participants from all over Ulster in attendance this was a much higher level of competition and Katie finished in an incredible fifth place.
“We hope that this is the beginning of our cross-country development and our first new steps into the schools’ cross-country environment,” Deirdre said.
The Yr9 School Basketball team have also tasted success this year by recently winning the North Region Basketball league and now look forward to the All-Ireland series.
The Yr10 team are also hoping to complete the same and make it to the All-Ireland stages of their competition.
Aoibheann Donnelly has not only excelled on the netball court but has also successfully made it to the Ireland U18 Basketball team.
A number of our younger pupils have also been selected on to the NI U15 Panel. Caitlyn Barr, Sadhbh Drain, Eva McKeown and Katie Cassidy have all been training as part of the squad and a final team will be selected to play against Wales this summer. To have several girls being selected on to international panels again, demonstrates the future potential of the school basketball squads.
Year 9 basketball team
Handball is a relatively new sport for the school and it is thriving, especially with the new addition of two new one-wall courts.
The school’s recent success, particularly with the U13.5 and U15.5 teams, shows that the sport is gaining momentum.
Winning the Provincial title is a significant achievement for the U13.5 team, and it is a great source of pride for such a newly formed club. Nina Mc Bride (Yr9) was recently crowned World Champion – a fantastic achievement for Nina at such a young age and no doubt this is the first of many successes for Nina and the other talented athletes at St Dominic’s.
Success breeds success and this is certainly true for St Dominic’s.
Deirdre concluded: “The environment created within the PE department and the support shown by other members of staff and the school management allow us to continue to afford our pupils the best education and experiences to go with that.
“Overall, 2024-25 has been incredible for sport in St Dominic’s. We hope that this is only the beginning of the school becoming one of the best in sport.”
Ulster Final gaelic football team
Year 9 Antrim Camogie Cup finalists
