Club Notes 12 August 2018

LGF Div.4 League Final: Mullingar Shamrocks 1-15 Athlone 3-6

A venue was eventually located and Mullingar Shamrocks and Athlone journeyed to Rosemount on Sunday evening for the LGF Div. 4 league final and produced a superb match that displayed all that is good in the sport of Ladies Gaelic Football.

Mullingar Shamrocks have a reputation as slow starters and provided more evidence of this characteristic in the early stages on Sunday.  Athlone began brilliantly and in the first minute Brianna Geoghegan skinned the Shamrocks defence and slammed a brilliant shot past Isobella Clinton. Grace Halligan pointed and then Aofie Gill flicked a second goal to establish a seven point lead for Athlone. However, inspirational play by Emma Morris helped to steady the Shamrocks ship. Emma pointed a free and then goaled after a great combined move made possible by the superb ball-winning ability of Liveta Lazauskaite. Sarah Geoghegan and Emma Morris combined to create a scoring chance for Zara Gilligan who pointed (2-2 to 1-2). Grace Halligan and Brianna Geoghegan exchanged points with Zara Gilligan and Niamh Kennedy and while this was happening a superb Liveta punched pass created a goal scoring opportunity for Emma Morris who was unfortunate to see her shot strike the upright. Athlone too hit the crossbar at this stage. Another passage of combined play (and there were many on the night) ended with a second Niamh Kennedy point ... the last before the interval to reduce the deficit to two points (2-4 to 1-5).

Early in the second half Isobelle Clinton saved well before Susanna Buckley pointed and this began a long period of Shamrocks control. Emma Morris pointed two frees to establish a Shamrocks lead for the first time (2-4 to 1-8). A great long-distance solo run from Susanna Buckley ended with a great point from the young player; Sarah Geoghegan also pointed to send Shamrocks into a three point lead. Athlone responded in style and Grace Halligan raced through the Shamrocks defence and scored a brilliant goal. The sides were level again but Shamrocks quickly regained the initiative. Some astute substitutions also proved effective at this stage and the Spellman sisters were seen to good effect in the final stages. Emma Morris (0-2), Gemma Kerrgian (0-2) and Susanna Buckley completed the Shamrocks total before the Athlone full-back pointed for the last score of the evening (1-15 to 3-6). There was a premature final whistle but no one panicked and the game restarted with Liveta firing in a shot that was well saved by the Athlone goalkeeper and then Kylie Kelly ripped through the Athlone defence but her rocket shot was also saved in what was one of the final acts of the evening.  

Shamrocks were fully deserving of their 0-3 winning margin in what was a superb team victory with the foundation laid by great defensive work by all six defenders and goalkeeper Isobelle Clinton (her long kicking was a decided assett). Midfielder and captain  Niamh Kennedy worked herself to near-exhaustion and her partner Susanna Buckley was equally impressive. The young player displayed some superb skill and was always composed and creative. Full-forward Liveta Lazauskaite was unbeatable and must have established some type of record for the number of posessions secured and balls passed to better placed colleagues. A great save by the Athlone goalkeeper at the end denied Liveta the goal her performance deserved.

And then there was Emma Morris. The long-serving Mullingar Shamrocks player can seldom have played a better game for the club she has served so well. In the early stages when the game seemed to be going away from Shamrocks, Emma was inspirational. She controlled the match and delivered a superb exhibition of football skills and also found time to score 1-5 from play and placed balls. 

The foundation of this  victory were set last January when the players began their training programme with team manager Ciarán McKenna and his assistant the great 'Spike' Fagan. We can be sure of one thing - without this regime Mullingar Shamrocks would not have been victorious in Rosemount. We salute Ciarán and Spike as well as Aidan Daly and Geraldine Buckley for their efforts on behalf of the team.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Isobelle Clinton; Michelle Morris, Chloe Swarbrigg (Niamh Spellman), Lorna Morris; Carla Gibney, Shauna McNicholas, Sophie Hegarty (Cliona Spellman); Niamh Kennedy [0-2] (Captain) and Susanna Buckley (0-3); Laura Whitelaw (Gemma Kerrigan (0-2), Emma Morris (1-5), Sarah Geoghegan (0-1); Zara Gilligan [0-2] (Katie Kelly), Liveta Lazauskaite, Teresa Connell.

  LGF Div.1 League Final: Milltown 4-17 Mullingar Shamrocks 0-4

Our senior LGF team's superb run in qualifying for the Division 1 League final ended in disappointment in Shandonagh on Thursday evening when the team was well beaten by a Milltown team that delivered a superb exhibition of Ladies Gaelic Football. The former All-Ireland champions returned to the kind of form that saw them capture the national title a few years ago and their skill levels, their physicality, decision making, combination play, score-making and taking and their relentless approach even when the game was over as a contest could only be admired.

With their county players in flying form and showing no aftershocks from the rout in Limerick, Milltown led by 2-8 to 0-2 at the interval. Sarah (0-7 on the night) and Clodagh Dillon, Katie Somers and Leanne Slevin were in fine scoring form; a brilliant double save by Lauren McCormack from Sarah Dillon was one of the first-half highlights. Lauren had a nunber of other fine saves on the night and her handling and kicking was excellent. At the other end, Shamrocks were unfortunate when a great defence splitting move ended with a Karen Hegarty shot smashing off the crossbar and rebounding to safety. Emma Morris and Gemma Kerrigan had Shamrocks scores.

Milltown maintained their dominance in the second half and doubled their first-half tally; Anna Jones and Gemma Kerrigan added two points to the Shamrocks total.

The achievement of our girls in qualifying for the club's first senior final should not in any way be diminished by this defeat; the team tried to the bitter end and showed some flashes of the form that secured the final place (that was three months ago when the last league matches were played). On the night Milltown were unbeatable. There will be other days and the championship opener against The Downs is just around the corner. 

Mullingar Shamrocks: Lauren McCormack; Melek Fagan (Shauna McNicholas), Niamh Spellman, Lorna Morris (Claire Fagan); Cliodhna Spellman (Sophie Hegarty), Áine Melody, Niamh Kennedy (Cloe Swarbrigg); Michelle Buckley and Anna Jones (0-1); Casey McDermott (Susanna Buckley), Emma Morris (0-1) (Liveta Lazauskaite), Gemma Kerrigan (0-2); Carole Finch (Sarah Geoghegan), Karen Hegarty, Clara Thornton.

Notice: The youngest spectator present in Shandonagh was 3-week-old Billy Corroon. We congratulate Steven and Aoibhínn Corroon on the latest addition to the family.

  

 

Under-10 Blitz

Great football on show  in Springfield on Tuesday evening in the Under-10 Blitz with Mullingar Shamrocks, St. Joseph's and St. Mary's doing justice to the work of their coaches and mentors.

All clubs supplied two teams and got two games each.

Entertainment galore and plenty of competitive action was the order of the day. Some wonderful fielding and a serious amount of block downs on display. Well done to all involved. Many thanks to St. Joseph's and St. Mary's for coming in numbers, especially during the holiday season when it can be hard to get the numbers.

Under-14 LGF Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 3-5 Delvin-St Paul's 1-6

On Tuesday evening, Mullingar Shamrocks Under-14 girls LGF team travelled to Clonmellon to play their second championship match against Delvin-St Paul's. A number of girls are away on holidays but a with a good squad of players we had more than enough players to travel and fulfil the fixture. Unfortunately, the home team were not as flush with player's resulting in the game being reduced to a 12-a-side game.

Despite the line out changes, the first half was played at a good tempo with both teams having plenty of chances. The score of the half was a well taken goal by Mia Gilligan resulting in a half-time score of 1-2 to 0-2 in favour of the Shamrocks girls.

The second-half started with the home team pushing hard but the defence stood strong and  in particular Robin Wrafter, Katie Starr and Abby Smith, were to the fore in breaking down a lot of attacks! The Shamrocks girls never gave up and after several attacks by our forwards and midfields collapsing or ending with wides, their efforts finally paid off and some great finishing from Mia Gilligan, Jasmine Haugh, Ciara Moore and Katie Starr,  Shamrocks recorded their second win in the  Championship with a 3-5 to 1-6 victory.

Subs deployed were Phoebe O'Halloran, Sinead Sweeney and Emily Clarke and all made difference when they entered the game.

The Subway Sandwich Bar Player of the Match meal voucher was awarded to Robin Wrafter.

Mullingar Shamrocks:Silver, Sinead Battle, Robin Wrafter, Emily Moore, Abby Smith, Katie Starr (0-1), Niamh Raeside, Jasmine Haugh (1-1), Emily Flynn, Ciara Moore (1-0), Molly Byrne, Mia Gilligan (1-3), Phoebe O' Halloran, Sinead Sweeney and Emily Clarke.

SeamrÓigí ...

It was a wonderful morning of fun and games in Springfield on Saturday as our youngest footballers, the SeamrÓigí, croweded into the AstoTurf as the wonderful collection of training equipment sponsored by Specsavers Mullingar was unveiled for the first time.

The pitch was filled with young people jumping and skipping and crawling through tunnels and engaging in a variety of healthy exercises as they interacted with their old friends and made new friends. Plenty of coaches were on hand to guide the young people through the healthy exercises as parents and grandparents looked on in admiration. The Mullingar Shamrocks reputation as 'The Family Friendly Club' is well deserved .

Mullingar Shamrocks greatly appreciates the valuable sponsorship by Specsavers of the training equipment that made it possible to add an extra dimension to the fun and games that are such a regular feature of our Saturday morning sessions. A special thanks to the Mullingar Specsavers Store Director, Elaine McGovern who was present on Saturday morning to make the presentation ably assisted by Ciara Morris as well as  Tom and Ella Freyne. Specsavers are wonderfully supportive of Mullingar Shamrocks and are also  the sponsors of our senior LGF team.   Thanks also to Róisín Masterson who sourced ed the sponsorship.

Fixtures:

Under-12 League: Mullingar Shamrocks Greens v Garrycastle, Wednesday, 15 August in Springfield at 7.30pm

Under-12 League: Mullingar Shamrocks Whites v Milltownpass, Wednesday, 15 August in Springfield at 7.15 pm

Under-14 League: Mullingar Shamrocks  v St Mary's, Rochfortbridg, Thursday, 16 August in Springfield at 7.30pm

Under-12 LGF Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks  v Caulry, Thursday, 16 August in Caulry at 7.00pm

Junior Football Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks v The Downs, Thursday 16 August in Springfield at 7.30pm

Senior Football Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks v Maryland, Sunday, 19 August in Cusack Park at 7.30pm.

 

 

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