Ladies football continues to go from strength to strength in North Westmeath (Multyfarnham, Bunbrosna, and Streete). The Clann Gaels membership has once again increased and on the back of this we look forward with confidence to the 2007 season. Thirteen years on including five years under the banner of Clann Gaels the amalgamation is very much alive and full credit must be given to the committee members representing each area who have come together and formed such a strong alliance. The shining light of our 2006 season was undoubtedly our under 12 team which featured in Group one of this year's under 12 championship and on route to the final recorded great wins over St. Loman's, Garrycastle, Athlone and Coralstown Kinnegad. The final took place in St. Loman's against Moate. Appearing in the final of the A championship for the second time in five years Clann Gaels were hoping for a repeat of their previous winning performance. Unfortunately, they had to field without their captain and the loss of this influential player proved too much on the day. While the team put up a gallant performance the real drive was missing and Moate proceeded to record their victory. Our under14 team played in group two of the championship and had a great run recording victory in all of their seven games. We were drawn to play Rochfortbridge in the semi-final, a team which we had met and accounted for in the earlier season. This game took place in Shandonagh. The Clann Gaels girls did not perform on the day and were lacking the drive shown previously in the championship. The easy passage through their earlier games may have led to complacency setting in and hopefully the knowledge gained from this defeat will benefit these girls on future occasions. Our under 16 team played in group one of the championship and while having successfully played at this grade at the under 12 and 14 age group, found the going tough in the 2006 season. Nevertheless they reached the B semi-final against Rochfortbridge. This game was played in very blustery conditions, which resulted in it being a game of two halves. Rochfortbridge playing with the strong wind in the first half gained a commanding lead and were well ahead at half-time. The second half saw a great Clann Gaels comeback with the Rochfortbridge lead being steadily whittled away. Unfortunately time ran out and Rochfortbridge were successful by the narrowest of margins. Our minor team has once again under performed at this level. Our turn out at training for this age group has suffered due to the pressure of exams early in the year and the availability of part time work during the holidays. Also other sports such as camogie, athletics, basketball and soccer in general are competing for the same group of players and a combination of all of these events places huge demands on the limited availability of their time. Out of a panel of twenty two players it is difficult at times to field a team. There is great sporting potential among this talented age group in Clann Gaels and our challenge for 2007 is to rekindle the enthusiasm for Ladies Football that was present during their very successful years as younger players. Having said all of that our team played some memorable games in 2006 and gave a very good account of themselves, although at a lesser grade in the minor final against Athlone. While our Intermediate team did not have one of its better years, we did field a strong team in this year's Westmeath Shield competition and have retained our Intermediate status for the coming year. In the semi-final of the Shield we were drawn against Shamrocks. This proved to be a highly competitive game, with Clann Gaels matching Shamrocks in all aspects of their play, but failed to put away enough of our chances and in the end had to concede victory to the eventual champions Shamrocks. For a number of the younger players this was their first year of Intermediate football and we are hopeful that the experience gained during last season will be of great benefit to them in the forthcoming year. Tweet

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