Under-15 Div. 1 Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 2-10 Shandonagh 2-8.

 

Shamrocks’ under 15s made the short journey to Shandonagh on Wednesday evening to face the home side in round 4 of the under 15 championship.

It’s fair to say that our championship performances this year in the higher division have been patchy and confidence was not at a high level among our supporters. The Shamrocks lads turned the pre-match predictions upside down with a performance full of grit, determination and no little skill. 

Every player played his part in keeping the side always within touching distance throughout and late opportunistic goals from our two best forwards on the night, Ted Aherne and Hugo Corroon gave the green and whites the lead for the first time at a crucial juncture. 

James Ryan, Rian Sheerin, Rory McCaul, Liam Heffernan, Harry Tilson, James Davitt, Sean Hickey and Zac Coyne led a disciplined defensive effort in the closing stages with Oisin Gavin reliable as the last line of defence and thus the visitors secured our first two points of the championship campaign. 

The squad on duty was: Oisin Gavin, Padraig Regan, Harry Tilson, Ryan McNamee, Ruairi Kelly, Ruairi Kilmartin, Ted Aherne, Hugo Corroon, Rory McCaul, Isaac Haughey, Dylan Byrne, Luke Kelly, Aaron Conroy, Gareth Sweeney, Conor Walsh, Charlie Murtagh, Zac Masterson, Zac Coyne, James Ryan, Sean Hickey, Paddy Colleary, Liam Heffernan, Daragh Ryan and Rian Sheerin.

 

Minor Football Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 3-13 St Loman’s 2-8

 

A high scoring local Minor championship Derby that was not always characterised with accurate shooting ended in a comfortable victory for Mullingar Shamrocks over the near neighbours. Shamrocks showed a welcome return to early season form and dominated for most of the hour and notched the first score courtesy of a Paul Keating point. The St Loman’s response was immediate and ended with Eoin Meehan shooting to the net, the first of many scores kicked by the corner forward. Shamrocks retaliated with points by Conor Heffernan, Alex Sheerin (0-2) and Paul Keating again to establish an 0-5 to 1-0 lead after 15 minutes. Arthur Lazar kicked a long range point for St Loman’s before Ryan Kelly added two points for Shamrocks. The final score of the half provided a classic example of the virtues of the old-style quick delivery football. Adam Glynn won the ball deep in defence and found Gavin Pierce who delivered a lightning quick and accurate pass along the sideline to Ryan Kelly. Ryan fielded and delivered an inch perfect pass to Donnacha Maguire who had made the run from midfield. Donnacha collected and shot to the net for a crucial goal that sent Shamrocks into a 1-7 to 1-1 lead. A great save by Adam Buckley prevented an immediate St Loman’s response for a similar score as Gavin Pierce and Ryan Kelly added two more points before the interval (1-9 to 1-1).

The game effectively ended as a contest within minutes of the restart. Ryan Kelly’s pointed free was followed by three points from the accurate boot of Eoin Meehan (1-10 to 1-4). The second Shamrocks goal was the decisive score. As St Loman’s began a movement across their half-back line, Arthur Lazar’s lateral pass was brilliantly anticipated and intercepted by Paul Keating who sent Callum Rigney Clyne flying through on goal. Callum created the goal scoring opportunity for Conor Heffernan who finished in style for Shamrocks’ second goal. Peter Finch won possession from the restart and sent Callum Rigney Clyne steaming through for a second time. This time Alex Sheerin, ever the predator, collected Callum’s pass and shot to the net to extend the Shamrocks’ lead to 11 points (3-10 to 1-5). Gavin Pierce, Ben Sheerin (a battling score by the corner back who was one of the stars of the night) and Ryan Kelly added points to complete the Shamrocks’ total.

In between these scores, Eoin Meehan added to the St Loman’s total, with a collection that included the last goal of the evening as he finished the night with a tally of 2-7 to his credit. There is a lesson to be absorbed from this as well – it does not pay to foul when a dead ball expert like Meehan is doing his John Heslin impersonation act. 

Mullingar Shamrocks: Adam Buckley (Matas Puida); Adam Glynn, Ty Masterson (Hugh O’Sullivan Sexton), Ben Sheerin (0-1); James Flynn (John Shaw), Peter Finch (Ronan Byrne), Ben McNamee; Ameen Hacini (Mohammed Mohammed), Donnacha Maguire (1-0); Paul Keating (0-2) [Andrew Gavigan], Conor Heffernan (1-1) [Jack Toal], Callum Rigney Clyne [Padraic Casey]; Gavin Pearse (0-2) [Matt Shaw], Alex Sheerin (1-2), Ryan Kelly (0-5).

The Village Barn Senior LGF Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 1-10 Moate Ladies Football 1-4

 

Mullingar Shamrocks senior LGF secured their first group stage win of the 2023 senior championship with a deserved victory over the Moate Ladies. Shamrocks controlled the match for the most part, a match in which both sides had trouble with their shooting as the wides tally mounted as the game progressed. 

Shamrocks held an interval lead of 0-4 to 0-2 thanks to points from Anna Jones (0-2), Chloe Swarbrigg from a pass supplied by Chloe Smullen and Karen Hegarty. Karen’s point ended a move that involved several Shamrocks players starting with Lauren McCormack deep in defence and ended with a superb Anna Jones pass to Chloe Smullen who in turn found Karen who finished the move of the night. Therese Geoghegan and Tara Hughes replied for Moate.

Máiread Newman charged forward from the restart and her dipping shot just skimmed the crossbar to extend the Shamrocks lead. Anna Jones pointed her second free and then sent a quick free ( a Johnny Sexton type box kick deep in to the corner) to Susanna Buckley that stretched the Moate defence, Alison Bane was on hand to collect from Susanna who set up Rachel Cheevers to score her first championship goal for Shamrocks. Rachel was later unlucky to have a second ‘goal’ ruled out for a ‘square’ ball infringement. Chloe Smullen pointed, Anna Jones pointed her third free kicked off the ground (one of the game’s highlights was Anna’s old school off-the-ground free taking), Karen Hegarty pointed twice from play and Chloe Swarbrigg returned Chloe Smullen’s first half favour by setting up Chloe for her second point of the evening. It wasn’t all one way traffic; Vanessa O’Brien’s solo goal midway through the half reduced the deficit to 3 points (1-6 to-1-3) but good defending especially in the closing minutes secured the victory and the important championship points. 

Mullingar Shamrocks: Lauren McCormack; Annemarie O’Reilly, Siobhán O’Donnell, Melek Fagan; Chloe Swarbrigg (0-1), Máiread Newman, Jenna Kelly; Caoimhe Gaffney, Anna Jones (0-4); Alison Bane, Karen Hegarty (0-3), Micaela O’Connor; Chloe Smullen (0-2), Rachel Cheevers (1-0), Susanna Buckley.

 

Under 13s return to winning ways with victory over Garrycastle

 

Our under 13's got back to winning ways against a strong determined Garrycastle side in a damp Friday evening in Shamrocks. Shamrocks started brightly with Shay Leavy, MJ Burke and Colm Clinton linking well for early score. Shamrocks were well on top at this stage but Garrycastle worked their way back into the game. Scott Farrerly and Conor Glynn goals gave Shamrocks a cushion at half time. Garrycastle started the second half much more dominant and only for good defending from Manus Kelly, Sean Dooley and Cian Traynor the margin would have tightened a lot quicker. Good scores from Darragh Daly and Colm Clinton helped keep the scoreboard ticking but Garrycastle won the half and pushed the game hard to the last minute. 

A good contest despite the wet conditions and both teams now progress to the quarter final next Friday and could end up playing each other which will be another big battle.

 

Panel for the game: Darragh Daly, Theo Kelly, Eoin Reddin, Eddie Leavy, Sam Philips, Evan Nohilly, Tom McCaul, Oliver Keane, Scott Farrerly, Conor Matthews, Jamie Timoney, Shay Leavy, Conor Glynn, Cian Traynor, MJ Burke, Carl Keane, Conan Kelly, Cian Mc Namee, Kian Newcombe, Majus Virketis, Killian Hand, Ryan Keavney, Colm Clinton, Manus Kelly, Sean Dooley, Pau Dooley, Marius Budavicious, Fionn Ledwith, Darragh McCabe, Ruari Thornton,

 

Congratulations Naima …

 

Our Under-14 LGF player Naima Whelan was a member of the Westmeath panel that won a Leinster Title this year. Our LGF Committee Chairperson, Adrian Buckley, presented Naima with her medal on Thursday evening in Springfield.  Well done, Naima.

 

Fixtures 

 

Wednesday 6th Sept, Under 15 Championship Division 1, Round 6.

Shamrocks v Moate All Whites – Springfield at 7pm. Referee: Ken Gunning.

 

Tuesday 12th Sept, Under 15 Championship Division 1, Round 7.

Coralstown/Kinnegad v Shamrocks – Kinnegad at 6.45pm. Referee: Sean Carroll.

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