Back to Basics ...
Shorty before 6.30 club chairman Sean Hynes opened the lock and the gates at Springfield were thrown up for the first time since Leo ordered a complete lockdown on 27 March. At this stage a few of the Mullingar Shamrocks lads had already checked in to the lower car park ready for the post Covid-19 football liberation. It was far from business as usual but the millennial generation got a chance to experience what football life was like back in the era that delusional sentimentalists like to refer to as 'the good old days', when players togged out from the boot of the car if they were lucky and showers were what fell from the sky.
Enough of this nonsense; it's not the normal practice to report on challenge matches but this meeting of Mullingar Shamrocks and St Mary's, Granard was of some minor historical significance and was apparently one of the first challenge matches to be played nationally after the lockdowns were ended.
And the pitch was immaculate condition thanks to the care and attention of Davy Gavin and his diligence in carrying out the essential maintenance during the lockdown.
Lorcan Smyth scored the first point - a superb long range effort from close to the sideline; Denis Corroon scored the first goal. It wasn't the best goal Denis ever scored but they are all worth the same value. At the interval Mullingar Shamrocks secured a 1-6 to 0-2 lead ..
Mullingar Shamrocks lined out the following fifteen at the start: Philly Shaw; Billy Flynn, Pádraic McKenna, Efe Siode; Brendan O'Reilly, Micheál Curley, Killian Daly; Denis Corroon, Paddy Fagan; Darren Keena, Dónal O'Donoghue, David Gavin; Lorcan Smyth, Dean Moore, Jordan Warde.
Thanks to All ...
During the break from training from mid-March to late-June many Shamrocks’ underage and indeed adult players improved their repertoire of skills due to the wonderful videos posted by our underage coaches and their families. Greg Gavin set the ball rolling with his challenging weekly drills for our Under 11 group. Greg was assisted by Oisín, Anna, the always eager Harry and Lucy. Greg even found time to introduce a Spot the Ball competition which was greatly enjoyed by all the players. Micheál Burke’s videos involved MJ and Josh displaying their abilities and there was even a casualty in the form of a deckchair!!! Adrian Keaveney and his sons Huw and Austin helped our younger players to hone their performances and proved very able performers for the camera while Karen and Sophie Hegarty’s videos introduced a fun and competitive element with Eddie Moore’s pass into the cement mixer a particular highlight. Inquiries are ongoing as to how many takes were involved!!!! The club would like to sincerely thank all those mentioned above, not forgetting the camerawork of Caroline, Andrea and Kate. Brilliant work folks.
This week has seen the Mullingar Shamrocks’ grounds in Springfield transformed from its Covid 19 enforced spell of hibernation to a hive of activity, fun and laughter now that training and matches have recommenced. By Saturday afternoon every one of the club’s many squads had seen action, many of them on a couple of occasions. The Under 11s started the ball rolling with 42 players in Springfield on Monday evening and the action has continued non-stop all week. Thanks to Davy Gavin who carried out the essential maintenance during the lockdown period the pitches were in immaculate condition for the return to play.
The work involved by many people in facilitating this has been phenomenal. Parents have completed e-learning courses and submitted health questionnaires, players from 5 years of age to the more senior seniors have observed social distancing regulations, brought their own labelled water bottles and resisted the temptation to high five a brilliant block, a sublime score or an inspired interception. Coaches have sanitised footballs and cones, ensured that the protocols have been followed and devised innovative drills to get their charges back up to speed. Lead mentors have contacted parents regularly and checked the GAA’s return to play link on an hourly basis at times. The club executive have helped to erect signs, distributed hand sanitiser and ensured that all regulations were strictly adhered to. It has been a fantastic team effort by hundreds of people and all we can say is thanks to everyone. The past week in Springfield has been worth the effort.
Thanks too to all those who documented their careers and made public their memories of great moments in Mullingar Shamrocks, Westmeath's GAA and Westmeath LGF history. It all began with Kieran Gavin's memories of his week's trial with West Ham and the various pieces asas well as the Remember the Team features informed our younger memories of the great traditions and achievements of our players. WE will continue with these pieces when the playing season concludes. The pieces were also made a significant contribution to enhancing the profile of the club. We gained almost 200 followers on Facebook over the lockdown period. Thanks also to those who entered our 'Why I Miss Mullingar Shamrocks' competition. The judges are still in conclave and hopefully the results will be availalble soon. Thanks too to Ollie Gallagher for the many videos made available and uploaded on YouTube . We now have a full archive of our county titles winning finals since the 1980s available on the internet thanks to Ollie's generosity.
We must not forget our great fundraising event, driven by Kieran Gavin and Ritchie Daly, held over the June bank holiday weekend in aid of Pieta House and Heroes All. The €10,449 raised exceeded all our expectations and was a source of great pride for all club members.
Thanks then to all who helped to make the period of isolation a little less demanding.
Emma Morris Remembers ... and tells it like it was!
Emma Morris is one of Mullingar Shamrocks all-time great players and has been a superb player with the club for many years scoring numerous goals and points from play and frees. Emma also has a great record with Westmeath and was a key player when Westmeath won All-Ireland and National League titles in 2011. Emma was top scorer with 1-26 in the league campaign and scored 1-7 in the championship series and with a combined total of 2-33 was Westmeath's leading scorer for the year followed closely by Karen Hegarty who scored 4-22. Great days for Mullingar Shamrocks LGF. Here Emma remembers where it all began and recalls the sacrifices, the joy and the heartbreak of Westmeath's great 2011 campaign.
So when Tom first contacted me I thought he was asking me to write about my football career and had to tell him I had no intention of hanging up the boots just yet. However, he reassured me it was to tell my All-Ireland story and a quick overview of how I started playing football.
I first started playing football at a very early age at the Downs GAA summer camps where I would stay with my nanny and granddad (Christy Whelehan, R.I.P, first President of the Westmeath GAA) and they would bring me and my siblings to the camp. It was the fun I had at these that enticed me to play football and it was here at this club I learnt all my bad habits too!! I joined Mullingar Shamrocks then after the advice my granddad gave us which was "play where you live and with your friends, football that way will always mean more”, he was so right.
My parents encouraged and supported me in whatever I wanted to do or needed to go and loved that I enjoyed it. They still do. I started playing with my school team, Presentation Senior School, around this time also and we got to the Cumann na mBunscoil final. It was on this occasion I got my first taste of defeat in a final, something I became very accustomed to as a footballer!
My county journey started when I made the under 12 panel and I played with Westmeath all the way up to minor. I won a few medals with Westmeath underage, even if they were mostly in B competitions :) I remember very little of the details if I’m being honest, only that I started playing as a cornerback with Westmeath and one of the forwards was missing one day so I got moved into the forward line. I have stayed around that forward line ever since. I played senior a couple of years on and off before the famous 2011, but did not make much of an impact on any of these panels.
I got a call to trial out in November 2010 under Peter Leahy, Alan Mangan and co, and I made the panel to my delight. I loved the training sessions despite them being tough at the start, the weights programme, the hard endurance stuff in the rugby club and not being able to move without pain for days after them! It was weird though as I looked forward to training each week as we were having good craic along the way and personally I knew I was improving!
It was a huge commitment for me to play with Westmeath in 2011 as I was in Tralee College and had to make the long journey back every weekend for training. My daddy used to collect me in Tralee or Limerick as the bus would never make it home in time and we often left at 4.00 am in the morning to get back for 9.00am lectures for midweek sessions (He is still waiting for me to clear the diesel receipts). It all paid off when we won the league and I happened to be top scorer (1-26) in that campaign which gave me a huge boost. We went on to win Leinster also so I guess really began to believe in the All-Ireland dream from here.
The road to Croker was intense, with every game coming down to the wire. I earned my place to start all of the championship games up to the semis which I was very proud of as the panel was bursting with talent. I worked super hard in every training game, as there was immense pressure for places and it was in these we nailed down a starting place in the next game. I had a few very competitive battles marking Finchy thrown in there, she was harder to play against than anyone, these battles really stand out to me when I look back. I was thrilled to have started the semi-final and I scored a great goal that day when we were behind against Limerick in the second half, to put us in the lead. I am proud of that one! (See Photo).
I was over the moon to be in the final at the end of that game and couldn’t wait for the weeks ahead. I will admit I was happy it was Cavan we were playing as we always have great battles with them. On a personal level I had a great game against them in the first round of the Championship scoring 3 points from play out in Ballinagore and being positive going head to head against a team is crucial to how I perform. Sadly though in the first final I didn't make the starting 15, and although I was very disappointed, I understood that is that reality of football and everyone on the squad deserved their place. I couldn’t complain about the starting 15 so I was 100% behind all of the girls and when I came on that day I fisted a point and was relieved we got to fight another day.
However, the replay was a different story, I was left very disheartened. On this occasion the management team decided to play a girl who had not played all year and joined the panel at the very late stage of the semi-final. She was a very talented footballer and athlete, trained hard when she came on board but she was not part of the panel for all of the season but in particular for the championship (None of the panel were angry at this player personally, but management. We were behind her and obviously wished her all the best). It honestly left me wondering what I had done (or didn’t do!!) between the semis and final to not get my starting place again, but also for management not to play any of the other subs who they trusted all year and who had also played their part in getting us to this stage. There was a very negative atmosphere after the announcement of the team that week, many were upset, gutted and angry, emotions you should not feel in the lead up to an All Ireland Final Replay! However, we regrouped and all the focus was on getting our hands on the Mary Quinn Cup.
So swiftly back to talking about happy times, because the year 2011 was full of them with Westmeath. In the replay Karen Hegarty got the start, I was delighted for her as my club-mate as she truly deserved it and more importantly we got the win that day. I featured as a substitute that day and being on the pitch at the final whistle was surreal, no words can describe it, it was one of the best feelings in the world. The celebrations that followed that night and for weeks after were mighty! :) The homecoming is something I will never forget and how proud all my family were of me, in particular my Mammy who followed me around the country that year, as she always did and continues to do :) Olga was another top fan I must mention that year travelling the length and breadth of the country with mammy to my games. My twin Ciara and sister Lorna always had my back in anything I needed that year, whether it was a positive word when I was under pressure with college or football or even just to do my makeup on nights out, no lie!! :) I wasn't short of support that's for sure.
It was a huge honour for me to represent Mullingar Shamrocks that year with Carole, Gemma and Karen (See photo). How could I not mention Gemma that year, she was our keeper and she was outstanding throughout the campaign, we were always in safe hands. The support the rest of the girls in the club gave us was phenomenal, especially when we had so many occasions to celebrate they were always there waiting at the Crossbar doors :)
Lastly, I admire any of the girls who did not get a run out during that championship yet still came back each session and trained as hard as everyone else, as it would have been easy not to. That is commitment for you. At the end of the day the success we achieved that year came down to training and commitment and we all had it. We had what it took to win an All Ireland and win the three-in-a-row :) Something I am so proud and honoured to have been part of.
Now to win an Intermediate medal this year!! ;)
Congrats Peter ...
Congratulations to our club member Peter Burke on his appointment as a Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government with special responsibility for Local Government and Planning. It's great to see ability rewarded and incredibly Peter becomes the first from the town of Mullingar to hold ministerial office since 1933 and of course is the first member of the club to hold ministerial status. We had the TD in Paul McGrath.