Club's Progressive Initiative: Cardiac Screening Programme

Mullingar Shamrocks is nothing if not innovative and the latest example of the club's progressive attitude was unveiled on Saturday at Springfield. This date, 24 September 2016, might well go down as one of the most important in the club's history. Aware that its responsibility to the young people involved in the club extended beyond the football pitch, the Mullingar Shamrocks under-age committee led by Robbie Boyle and supported by Pat Collins and Seán Hynes have implemented a very ambitious programme that will continue into the future with the support of parents. The objective is to have all children playing for the club tested as a measure to combat Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (S.A.D.S.), an uncommon condition that is responsible for the deaths of numerous Irish sportsmen and women every year. With this test, which is compulsory in several European countries, it is possible to identify the children at risk and with simple treatment and monitoring, the chance of future problems can be greatly diminished.

Shamrocks teamed up with Advanced Medical Services (AMS) ) who set up their Mobile Cardiac Screening Programme in Springfield, converted the clubhouse into a temporary cardiac unit and carried out the tests on forty-five young people involved in the club's under-age activities. As this was our first year of testing the main focus was on the under-12 and under-14 footballers. Going forward it is proposed to test each player who has turned 12 years of age on the date of testing (the minimum age required for testing in twelve).

Each screening included a personal and family history questionnaire, a medical examination conducted by a doctor, a lifestyle assessment, blood pressure measurement, obesity screening, a 12 lead electrocardiogram (ECG) and a review and report prepared by a consultant cardiologist presented to the parents-guardians of those involved on a confidential basis. With sponsorship and club funding it was possible to make the test available to each participant for €20; for a service that normally costs €65, this might well prove to be the best investment made this year.

This progressive and much appreciated initiative, which is recommended to senior inter-county players by the Gaelic Players Association, is something every future club player will benefit from while Shamrocks are also spreading awareness of a little known issue that actually costs lives.

Mullahoran Blitz: Vivian Daly Tournament

Two teams of Mullingar Shamrocks youngest footballers accompanied by their mentors Tom Ormsby, Ollie Keating, Barry Maguire and Killian Daly braved the atrocious weather conditions and travelled to Kilcolgy in Cavan to take part in the Mullahoran Dreadnoughts Vivian Dowd Tournament. The journey was worthwhile as the under-10's played against Dunboyne, Gowna, Monaghan Harps and the host club. Dunboyne proved to be too good for the Shamrocks boys on this occasion but they recovered well and qualified for the Shield Final in which they played and beat Mullahoran Dreadnoughts. The under-9 boys returned unbeaten after playing the hosts under-9s, Clontibret from Monaghan and Ballintubber (Mayo). Well done to these brave players and their coaches; one can only marvel at the amount of time and energy that is invested in looking after these young players and the efforts that are made to take them to various venues outside the county to compete in blitzes and introduce them to football as it is played in other counties.

 

Fixtures

Cusack Park will be the centre of our football universe next weekend as our senior footballers take on Athlone in the championship quarter-final on Saturday (1 October) at 1.00pm and on Sunday at 11.00 am our under-14 footballers taken on Killucan in the Westmeath championship shield final. This will be a special day for the young footballers as many of them will have the pleasure of playing in Cusack Park for the first time. These lads have worked hard all year, their mentors Seán Hynes, Paul Ahern and Kieran Ryan have worked even harder and all are wished the best of luck in Sunday's final. Saturday is the seniors' special day and the safety net is now removed as clubs traverse the championship tight rope. From now on there is no comeback from a defeat and rejuvenated Athlone will relish the challenge. We wish Eddie Casey, his management team and the players the best of luck in what will be a serious challenge.

 

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