Westmeath LGF Minor 'B' Final: Caulry 5-10 Mullingar Shamrocks 4-6

A great championship run by our Minor LGF  team came to an end in Lakepoint Park on Sunday with another  good display against a very fine Caulry team, who were deserving winners on the day.

They early exchanges ended scoreless and several minutes had passed before a great passing move involving Alison Bane and Sarah Geoghegan created a chance for Katie Kelly who slotted home Shamrocks opening goal. Chloe Smullen followed this with a point after a superb piece of fielding from an Anna Jones free. G. Quigley saved well from Anna Jones to prevent a second Shamrocks goal before M. Connaughton pointed for Caulry; Áine Gaynor added another point from a free. Carla Gibney kicked a great long-range left-footed point to complete a move began with a great  Máiread Newman interception.

Áine Gaynor again pointed, a score that was matched by a  Susanna Buckley score for Shamrocks. This was Shamrocks best stage of the match and with Sadhbh O'Brien playing as a sweeper they dominated the play but this was not reflected on the scoreboard. Caulry's Jasmine Maloney had moved to mid-field at this stage and this switch began to pay dividends. A sweeping Caulry attack ended with another point from Áine Gaynor (1-3 to 0-4). Another great Alison Bane solo run ended with a point by Chloe Smullen.

The final minutes of the half proved to be crucial as  Aine Gaynor and R. Martin struck goals for Caulry and Gaynor also added a point from a free to send Caulry into a four point lead (2-5 to 1-4). Shamrocks responded and good combination play between Alison and Anna was finished by Chloe Smullen for another point. Chloe then goaled to level matters when she was put clear by a wonderful Katie Kelly pass. The left-footed bullet gave the Caulry goalkeeper no chance but unfortunately just before the interval a yellow card sidelined Chloe for ten minutes.

Shamrocks received a great boost on the restart as Anna Jones won possession from the throw-in and passed to Laura Culkin who shot to the net to give Shamrocks the lead once again (3-5 to 2-5). A great Isabelle Clinton save prevented an equaliser but this was followed by 20 minutes of Caulry dominance and goals from  Áine Gaynor and Jasmine Maloney opened a gap that reflected the Caulry dominance. Gaynor (0-3), Quigley (0-2) and L. Claffey (0-1) added to the total before M. Connaughton completed the Caulry total with a goal (5-10 to 3-5).

Shamrocks charged back for the final minutes and a few good saves, last ditch defending, a couple of bad wides and a few shots off the goalposts prevented scores and a possible steal. Susanna Buckley pointed and Anna Jones buried a penalty, which had to be retaken. Anna slotted home the second attempt,  just to confirm her class. This was the last play of the match as the girls went down with all guns blazing. 

We congratulate all the players for their efforts and to the management team of Karen Hegarty and Ciarán McKenna for their great work on behalf of the team with Geraldine Buckley also helping out in many ways.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Isabelle Clinton; Ellen Sleator, Chloe Flood (Eve Hynes), Jenna Kelly (Holly McCormack); Máiread Newman[Nicola Groenewald], Catherine Tubridy, Laura Culkin (1-0); Carla Gibney (0-1) & Susanna Buckley (0-2) Allison Bane, Anna Jones (1-0), Sarah Geoghegan (Zara Gilligan); Sadhbh O'Brien, Katie Kelly (1-0), Chloe Smullen (1-3).

Westmeath LGF Minor Semi-final: Mullingar Shamrocks 5-2 Coralstown-Kinnegad 3-7

Another great battling performance from our minor LGF team in what was another great game of LGF played in bitterly cold conditions in the floodlit splendour of Kinnegad on Monday night.

Great and brave defending, some great saves by Isabelle Clinton, some wayward shooting by Kinnegad and the scoring ability of Chloe Smullen were the key factors in securing this victory which secures a county final place for the Mullingar Shamrocks girls. The girls began by taking a leaf from the senior men's playbook and scored 1-1 in the opening minute - scores that proved vital in the end. Susanna Buckley pointed after a patient build-up and Katie Kelly's long range shot found the back of the Kinnegad net.

This was something of a false dawn as the Kinnegad girls dominated for the next ten minutes and with Sinéad Murtagh dominant added 1-3 without reply from Shamrocks. A great Isabelle Clinton save prevented further damage before Chloe Smullen pointed after a great solo run. A great piece of combined play involving Katie and Chloe ended with a good save by the Kinnegad keeper and at the other end Isabelle again saved well before Patricia pointed (1-4 to 1-2). Another Kinnegad attack was brilliantly intercepted by Carla Gibney, this began a move that ended with Chloe shooting to the net.

There was more to come when an Anna Jones free was fielded by Katie Kelly who transferred to Laura Culkin who crashed home Mullingar Shamrocks third goal and the final score of the opening half that ended with Shamrocks holding a four point lead (3-2 to 1-4).

Kinnegad dominated the second half and Patricia added a point on resumption before great perseverance by Chloe Smullen saw the corner-forward shoot her second goal (4-2 to 1-5). Kinnegad with a second goal from Sinéad Murtagh reduced the deficit before Anna Jones cut through the Kinnegad defence, combined with Katie Kelly who set-up Chloe Smullen who crashed home her third goal (5-2 to 2-6). Again Sinéad Murtagh responded with a brilliant individual goal and added a point to reduce the deficit to the minimum before the final whistle brought relief to Mullingar Shamrocks and a hard-earned place in the county final.

This was another great team performance but a few individual efforts are deserving of mention. Isabelle Clinton's saves have been mentioned already and her kick-outs are also noteworthy. A notable feature of the second half was the great solo runs of Alison Bane which were so important in lifting the Kinnegad siege at crucial stages.

Anna Jones showed her ability to defend on this occasion and this match will become something of a collector's item in the future - a match won by Mullingar Shamrocks without Anna getting a score. And of course, Chloe Smullen with 3-1 to her credit gets better and sharper with every game.  

Mullingar Shamrocks: Isabelle Clinton; Ellen Sleator, Chloe Flood, Jenna Kelly; Máiread Newman (Holly McCormack), Carla Gibney, Catherine Tubridy; Susanna Buckley (0-1) & Laura Culkin (1-0) [Nicola Groenewald]; Allison Bane, Anna Jones, Sarah Geoghegan (Zara Gilligan); Sadhbh O'Brien, Katie Kelly (1-0), Chloe Smullen (3-1).

Junior B Football Championship: Milltown 4-18 Mullingar Shamrocks 1-11.

We wrapped-up our football season in Milltown on Saturday when going down to the home side by a ten-point margin. After trailing by twelve points at half-time we staged a mini-revival in the second half and despite Robbie Boyle's five points and the best efforts of Shane Colleary,  there was never any real danger of getting the better of the Joe Kenny inspired Milltown.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Daragh Ryan, Peter Bane (Chris Fox), Mark Butler, Eamonn Breslin; Cormac Murphy,  Ross Corroon, Marc Eivers; Gary Corroon, Ross Corroon; Nathan Smyth, Dillon Matthews, David Culkin (Danny Purcell); Ciarán Curley, Shane Colleary.

Santa Claus is in Springfield on Sunday next ...

He is coming early this year. He will be in The Clubhouse for the Shamrocks Christmas Party on Sunday 2 December between  5.30 and 8.30 ...  

It's amazing the things that Santa knows about ... he has sent a special request to have a drink from the Flanagan Cup as he says that in his previous visits to Springfield it was missing from what he called its natural home in Mullingar but he might have been a bit mistaken in that.

He also asked Mullingar Shamrocks to make sure that the second handle was on the cup as none of his elves were even half as strong as Eddie Moore and they wouldn't be able to pick it up with one hand.  He also asked that we not use the same repair man as we used last week when the cup was brought to Gainstown as the Man in Red said  'that repair job didn't last one lift from  the fellow that wore No. 11 in the county final'.

The man is amazing ...

All Done and Dusted

The defeat of our Junior B football team and our minor LGF team at the weekend  brought  our playing season for the year to an end. The AGM was staged on Saturday night (full details, next week) so all the 2018 business is done and dusted on what was a great season for the club at a number of levels. Now it's time to start the work of organising the Dinner Dance, Fundraising Events, Underage coaching - there is no escape.

The Late Rose Longworth ...

The club received the sad news during the week of the death of Rose Longworth, sister of our President Detty Cornally. The club extends its deepest sympathy to Detty and her sisters Ita and Mary and to the members of the Cornally family. Sympathy is also extended to Rose's son Joe, daughter Áine, grand-daughter Dara, daughter-in-law Joan, son-in-law John, and to the members of the extended Longworth family.

Rose was an institution in the world of Westmeath and Leinster Scór and the trips to Ballymore will never be the same again without 'Rose Longworth', as she was always referred to by Detty, being present.

May Rose Rest in Peace.

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