Minor Football Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 2-17 Lilliput Gaels 4-11.

We don't have too many games like this one in Springfield which is just as well for those Shamrocks supporters of a nervous disposition. 

The game of two halves is well known animal in the GAA world but this was the game of four quarters. The first was relatively even with Lilliput establishing an early lead before Shamrocks drew level; the second was somewhat similar but e with fortunes reversed as Shamrocks dominated and the early three point deficit was transformed into a four point interval lead (0-9 to 0-5). The third quarter was totally dominated by Mullingar Shamrocks and featured some great episodes of football and superbly created scores.

At the end of this quarter Shamrocks were fifteen points ahead and the game was effectively over. Or so we thought as substitutes were warmed up to give them a run-out in the final stages. But the Dysart-Ballinagore boys had other ideas and as Shamrocks began to play freestyle football, without any regard to the basics of defending, which quickly turned to freefall football and Lilliput Gaels shredded the Shamrocks defence and scored not one, not two, not three but four goals and four points as well and the fifteen point deficit was transformed into a single point lead as Jack Gallagher levelled matters and Daragh Seery with a great long range point kicked Lilliput Gaels into the lead.

Despite the near-meltdown, Shamrocks regained their composure and worked the ball up-field, a foul was committed that was suspiciously close to the penalty zone and Jack Gillen, a superb place kicker, kicked the equalising point from the routine free. It was the last play of the day as referee Ken Gunning blew the final whistle on the restart.

The initial Lilliput Gaels lead of 0-3 to 0-0 was slowly whittled away and points by Jack Gillen (0-2) and John O'Reilly levelled matters before another Lilliput point restored their lead. Zach Aherne  equalised and Jack Gillen and Peter Reynolds exchanged points. A Trevor Keena point edged Shamrocks ahead for the first time and this was followed by points from Jack Gillen, and two more from Keena to establish a half-time lead of 0-9 to 0-5.

Shamrocks resumed with points from Jack Gillen and Oliver McNamara  and a great save by Sean Hynes at the expense of a point  prevented a Lilliput goal. For the next ten minutes or so the Shamrocks lads played some excellent football. Jack Gillen pointed a free and then Trevor Keena goaled after John O'Reilly unselfishly created the opening with a pass across the goalmouth.

Jack Gillen added a second goal after a superb turnover and defence splitting pass from Zach Aherne (2-12 to 0-6). Trevor Keena, Mark Flynn, Jack Gillen and Andrew Shaw added points to establish a 2-16 to 0-7 lead. Almost immediately Lilliput Gaels began dancing to a different tune and began their spectacular revival inspired by Jack Gallagher with a point. Conor Murphy, Daragh Seery, Eoin Glennon and Jack Gallagher scored goals, a couple of points were thrown in for good measure, before Jack Gallagher kicked the levelling point and Daragh Seery with a great long range effort kicked Lilliput Gaels into the most improbable lead seen in Springfield for many a year. Shamrocks deep in lost time recovered from the shock and as stated earlier equalised from a Jack Gillen free. A great game of football, great fun and a great 2-17 total by Mullingar Shamrocks, the most improved set of players in the club over the past eighteen months. And lessons learned.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Sean Hynes; Ciarán Looby, Emmet Walsh, Daniel Chukwuemeka; Cian Fox, Matthew Siode, Tomass Turks; Mark Flynn (0-1), Jack Gillen (1-8); John O'Reilly (0-1), Zach Aherne (0-1), Oliver McNamara (0-1);  William Adzonga, Trevor Keena (1-4), Barry Nwokeiwu. Substitutes: Andrew Shaw (0-1), Niall Ouchbakou. 

Under-12 LGF Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 2-10 Goldsmith Girls 1-4

Mullingar Shamrocks  Under-12 LGF team made the journey to Tang to play Goldsmith Girls in the penultimate round of the championship round robin group.

They produced another great performance and came away with the win 2-10 to 1-04.

On a very warm day for football, the girls demonstrated great team work throughout the match and the standard of football from both teams was extremely high. It was great to see so many parents and family members travel to Tang to support the girls.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Nicole Griffin, Ann Ninan (1-0), Shauna Russell, Nicola Byrne, Mollie Darcy, Rosie O'Grady, Nicole Isis, Aoibhe O'Neill, Katie Matthews, Ella Moore (0-3) Lavinia Matthews, Mollie Maguire (1-1), Niamh Darcy (0-1), Ella Briody, Arlene O'Herron, Abigail Molloy, Grace Daly(captain) (0-1) Zara Corroon (0-3), Grace Hanley (0-1), Sarah Ford, Aine Creagh.

The GAA is family ...

The Rob Cornally Memorial Tournament provided more evidence of one of the defining characteristics of the GAA that linked clubs from the east coast, the west and the midlands.  Lining out for St Sylvester's and wearing the No. 9 jersey was one Charlie Ryan, son of the great Dermot, a winner of 6 county senior medals with Mullingar Shamrocks, long-time net minder and miracle worker for Westmeath and a former treasurer of  our club.

One of those leading the charge for Mullingar Shamrocks in the tournament was Ruairí Kilmartin with Dermot's sister Gráinne, a supporting mum.  (The third member of the Ryan family Daragh was over in Oliver Plunkett's ground as a member of the management team of Mullingar Shamrocks LGF intermediate team). When Mullingar Shamrocks played St Sylvester's Charlie Ryan and Ruairí Kilmartin were in direct opposition.

Ollie Keating is another former Westmeath great with several Westmeath senior football medals in his collection won with Athlone. Ollie is now a valuable member of the Mullingar Shamrocks club while his brother Tom is involved with the Uarán Mór Mearaí club. Tom' s son and Ollie's nephew Barry Keating was a member of the Uarán Mór Mearaí winning team.

The GAA truly is family ...

Under 16 Football Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 5-12 Delvin/St Pauls 2-10

Our Under-16 lads delivered their best performance of the season with a comprehensive victory over a good Delvin/St Pauls team in Springfield on  Monday evening. However, the game started badly for Shamrocks, conceding 1-1 early on and  then losing full back Conor Kelly to an ankle injury (best wishes on a speedy recovery, Conor). This led to the earlier than anticipated introduction of Daragh Hughes, who won the next kick-out and  set up Ollie McNamara for Shamrocks’ opening score. Hughes and midfield partner Ben White began to dominate in the middle and with Daithí Martin having a greater influence on the 40, Shamrocks got back into the game. A superbly weighted pass from the aforementioned Martin to McNamara led to Conor Fagan finding the net and putting Shamrocks ahead. McNamara goaled again to leave the home side winning 2-6 to 2-5 at the interval.

The second half started like the first with Delvin side starting the stronger and rattling off four unanswered points. A good goal from Adam Boyle settled down the Shamrocks side. Excellent defending from Rian Adamson and William O’Reilly kept Delvin at bay. Hughes then went into full forward and grabbed 2 great goals which effectively killed off the game. This was an all-round excellent performance with everyone putting in a huge effort individually and also as a team.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Mikey McDonagh, Ciarán Kiernan (Cian McGrath), Conor Kelly (Daragh Hughes), Matthew Clinton (Nathan McLoughlin), Tomass Turks, William O’Reilly, Ben White, Rian Adamson, Adam Boyle (Michael Horan), Daithí Martin, Aaron Russell (Ben Egan), Oliver McNamara, Conor Fagan.

Andrina's Canvas Painting Night: 'O What A Night'

We've had lots of great nights in The Clubhouse but Andrina Finch's Canvas Painting night on Saturday is up there with the best of them. Andrina's networking and people skills encouraged  52 people to devote their time  to what was a unique and highly successful fundraising event for The Sound of the Musicals which takes place in the Mullingar Park Hotel on 28 September.  The buzz of artistic inspiration in the clubhouse was extraordinary. Van Gogh's Yellow House in the south of  France can hardly have been as busy.  And in between the brush strokes, there was fun and banter, healthy and unhealthy eating and appropriate beverages to encourage artistic expression.

 Andrina: A MASSIVE well done.

Well done also to the members of Team Chicago who organised a Clothes and Accessories Sale and turned The Clubhouse into a Pop-up Boutique on Saturday morning. On a day when the footfall was lower than usual because of various blitzes at away venues, the financial return was substantial. Unsold items of fashion and accessories will be available again on Saturday next when Team Les Mis stage their Car Boot Sale.   

All-Ireland Ticket Draw ...

The winners of our All-Ireland Final Ticket Draw are

1st Prize, Two All-Ireland Final Tickets: Martina Cassidy.

2nd Prize, €100: David Cornally

3rd Prize: Ciara Molloy.

Thanks to all those who bought and sold tickets ... another successful Pat Collins promotion.

Mullingar Shamrocks LGF take part in Under-10 Blitz, Under-10 Boys in Celbridge and Under-8 Boys in Kinnegad

Another one of those mad busy weekends at under-age level. Mullingar Shamrocks Under-10 Ladies travelled to St Lomans today to take part in the Leinster U10 blitz. The girls played great football and demonstrated huge improvement in their skills-pinging passes through the hand and foot. They showed great team work and work rate which produced some fantastic scores. Many of the girls have a year or two years left to play at this age group so it was a great experience for all. The girls played three games against Maynooth (Kildare), St Ultan's (Meath) and Kinnegad (Westmeath). Well done to all the girls who took part and played great football. Thank you to St Loman's on  being the hosts and to all the supporters who travelled to cheer on the girls.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Emily Maguire, Emily Ford, Moya Buckley, Lily Walsh, Anna Clarke, Tess Foy, Ellie O’Donnell, Gráinne Heap, Saoirse Corroon, Aida Glover, Ula Kulej, Marta Paul

Two Mullingar Shamrocks Under-8 boys teams  travelled to Kinnegad on Saturday morning and took part in two mini-games. Every child got 40 minutes of football and all did very well. It was great to see big improvements from all players in the basics of passing, pick-ups and catching. Some great scores from both sides and some exceptional performances in what was a lovely morning for football. Thanks to all players, parents and coaches there on the morning and to the hosts Coralstown-Kinnegad.  And we had two Under-10 boys teams in Celbridge for an Under-10 Go-Games Blitz.

Fixtures

Junior B Football Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks v Milltown in Milltown on Tuesday 3 September at 7.00 pm.

Under-12 LGF championship quarter final: Mullingar Shamrocks v Caulry, Tuesday 3 September in Springfield   at 7.15

Under 12 League: Mullingar Shamrocks Greens v Multyfarnham, Wednesday, 4 September at 6.30, Springfield .

Shamrocks Whites v  Castletown-Finea/Coole-Whitehall, Wednesday, 4 September at 6.30 Springfield .

Under 14 Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks v Coralstown Kinnegad, Thursday 5, September, Springfield  at 6.30

LGF Intermediate Football Final: Mullingar Shamrocks v Coralstown-Kinnegad, Saturday, 7 September, Lakepoint Park, Mullingar at 4.00 pm.  

Westmeath Senior Football Quarter-Final: Mullingar Shamrocks v Coralstown-Kinnegad, Sunday, 8 September, Cusack Park, 6.15, pm.

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