Fixtures: MJS Building and Development League

Under-14 Football, Div.1: Mullingar Shamrocks v The Downs, Springfield, Wednesday, April 3, 6.30.

Under-14 Football, Div.4: The Downs v Mullingar Shamrocks, The Downs, Wednesday, April 3, 6.30.

Minor Football, Div.1: Garrycastle v Mullingar Shamrocks, Garrycastle, Friday, April 5, 6.30.

Minor Football, Div.1: Mullingar Shamrocks v The Downs, Springfield, Sunday , April 7, 11.30.

“Wasn’t that the best night”

This what the woman announced in Mullingar and how right she was. Certainly, it was up there with the best of our social gatherings and those who stayed away were the losers. Bloomfield House Hotel was buzzing and a sea of green and white … and the staff served up a superb meal … Get Hitched played brilliant music … the organizing committee were meticulous in their preparation and the results were obvious … Will O’Callaghan was a superb MC … Chairperson, David Nohilly welcomed the guests and explained the Development Plans … Ray and Eileen Smyth, and Kevin and Helen Lynch were special guests and were applauded for their role in making the future possible for Mullingar Shamrocks … the newly elected President of the GAA, Jarlath Burns honoured us with his present and delivered a superb bilingual address that centred on the Mullingar Shamrocks club and the manner in which it has embraced the numerous initiatives of the GAA and the LGFA … Jarlath missed his first Armagh game in 20 years to be present … Presidency brings new demands … “I could listen to him all night one” one member commented … the numbers wishing to be photographed with Jarlath was an indication of the impact of the new man at the helm … our own President, the great Detty was acknowledged in Jarlath’s address … three sets of medals were presented … each group of recipients were fantastic ambassadors for the club … their sartorial elegance could only be admired … the night featured 3 excellent videos … one featured the Minor campaign to the background music of Van Morrison singing Days Like This … Living in the Hall of Fame compiled by Niall Masterson featured the year’s highlights for Mullingar Shamrocks … the third video was the special one as Bressie, David Clifford, the Two Johnnies, Donnacha O’Callaghan, Joe Schmidt “a Shamrocks supporter from way back”, Dessie Dolan and the legend that is Marty Morrissey congratulated the Minors on their success … all the celebs called on the Minors to push on and make an impression at senior level … the paparazzi were out and about … Ned’s interview with Will and his memories of the 3 & 4-in-a row was a bit special too with memorable quotes that expressed his pride and love of the club … on what constitutes a Mullingar Club: “when you play in Mullingar you’re playing Shamrocks” … “Express yourself, shove yourself out there, show your colours, sing your songs” … this interview came before what was one of the real surprises of the night when Ned revealed a hidden talent: Ned the poet/songwriter and singer of his own composition.

Where else would you find a night like it?

That our Dinner Dance Gathering was a brilliant success didn’t happen by accident. Nothing was taken for granted as the evening was minutely planned over several weekly and sometimes twice weekly meetings and hundreds of WhatsApp conversations.

The Bloomfield House Hotel function room and entrance was stunning in its green and white grandeur. No banner was left unfurled, everything green and white in its place and a place for everything with Andrina Finch’s Mullingar Shamrocks crest attracting special attention. Everything that happened from the entrance was the responsibility of the Organising Committee from the food choice, to the music, the various video presentations (thanks to Conor Moore and Niall Masterson for their superb editing and compilation work), the glitter wall, the green and white balloon arch in

the hall (thanks to St Mary’s for the loan of the arch and Charlie Foy and Criostóir Ormsby for the assembly work), Sharon Foy and Michelle Gavigan used their influence to compile the Celebs message of congratulations to the minors. Shandel Sheerin performed the miracle of designing a seating plan that kept everyone happy. The Organising Committee members were Roisin Masterson, Darina Maguire, Rosemary Elliott Keating, Michelle Gavigan, Sharon Foy, Aileen Daly, Shandel Sheerin, Tom Hunt and Emer Buckley.

The Organising Committee would like to place on record how proud they were of the young players on the night . They were impeccably behaved in the presence of the President of the GAA, Jarlath Burns, and the dignatories. They were a credit to their families and the club.

MJS Building and Development Under-12 League

Our Under-12 Boys began their big league football careers tonight. The pitch is bigger, the goals are wider, the teams are 15-a-side and positions have to be managed, the referees are stricter (Paddy Joyce made his comeback to refereeing in Springfield wearing the nice new distinctive jersey) and the games are longer than the Go-Games Blitzes. Mullingar Shamrocks Greens played St Loman’s and Mullingar Shamrocks Whites travelled to Ballymore to play Millmore Gaels. We had 32 players available on this busy Easter weekend. All the hard working at training was very evident in Springfield and Ballymore with lots of great kicking and tacking, good scores and passing movements and lots of good movement on and off the ball.

The boys who played against St Loman’s were: Aaron Smith, Caolán Murphy, Cillian Keegan, Conor Carey-Peyton, Donnacha Doyle, Dylan Conlon, Conor Hogan, Evan Palmer, Harry Gavin, James Casey, Jamie Byrne, Josh Burke, Lucas Hassett, Nathan Naughton, Rogan Moore, Ryan Kelly, Tom Frayne.

The lads who made the journey to Ballymore were: Adam O’Donoghue, Fionn O’Donoghue, Ainle Smith, Cian Gavin, Daniel Conaty, Dylan O’Reilly, Ethan Nally, Geoffrey Rogers, Josh McName, Lia redden, Matthew Leavy, Seaghán Óg Collins, Stephen Cornally, Tadhg Connolly.

Lá na gClub Update

We’re experiencing a bit of organizational exhaustion at the moment and with the St Patrick’s Day Parade, our Dinner Dance Gathering, the resumption of the Na SeamrÓigí and underage coaching and playing and the Easter Football Camp symptoms of event overload are evident. Therefore we have taken an executive decision to stage our own Lá na gClub event later in the year rather on the designated day of Easter Monday. Hopefully, the summer will have arrived in June or July! We’ve always had spectacular Lá na gClub days as the attached pictures demonstrate and we will match our best later in the year.

Lotto Results (27 March 2024)

Numbers Drawn: 8, 9, 23, 24. No Jackpot Winner.

Lucky Dip Winner: Owen Barron.

Next Draw: 3 April 2024 with Jackpot of €11,500 on offer.

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