All-Ireland Final Qualifiers .

The early start and the over 4 hours 330Km round trip proved very worthwhile on Saturday morning for Mullingar Shamrocks Scór Tráth na gCeist team of Tom Hunt, Ritchie and Conor McKenna and Davy Gavin representing Westmeath who finished in third place in the Leinster final held in Carnew, Co. Wicklow, to secure a place in the All-Ireland final. 

The team started sluggishly during the Table Quiz phase but gathered pace as the game progressed and a strong second half performance secured a third place finish behind the Offaly contenders, Edenderry and the Kildare title holders Clogherinkoe with just two points separating the three teams. 

The final individual rounds were something of a midland championship and at the end of three rounds of individual questions (20 questions for each team worth 2 marks each) the overall positions remained unchanged. 

The Mullingar Shamrocks team of Tom, Conor, Ritchie and Davy will contest the All-Ireland final for the third time, on the 25 April, in Castlebar.

Detty would be pleased.

Presentation Night

Friday night was a special night in The Clubhouse as we honoured our eleven panel members of the Coláiste Mhuire All-Ireland Post-Primary Schools football champion team. A special presentation of a famed photograph of the Mullingar Shamrocks group was made to Adam, Ben, Ty, Críostóir, Paul, James, Ronan, Rory, James, Killian and Hugo. Thanks to Conor Brennan Photography for the special image.  

Chairperson David Nohilly delivered the words of  welcome and appropriately Seán Hynes, who captained St Mary’s to the Leinster title in 1983, made the presentations and spoke of the importance of the victory and the  life-time memories that were created.   It was great to see the parents present as well as Derek Sheridan, Tom Ormsby and Aaron Purcell, three of the Mullingar Shamrocks coaches who have contributed so much coaching expertise to developing the skills of the players as well as Pat Collins, the ringmaster-in-chief of the club’s under-age system over the years. 

Finger food was served and with the Hogan Cup and Br. Bosco Cups in the premises, photo opportunities were numerous. 

 A busy weekend with ACL Div.1, Div.2 and Div. 5 fixtures all taking place. 

In the Div.1 game, Tubberclair were the visitors to Springfield on Saturday  and departed with the two league points winning on a 2-9 to 1-14 scoreline against a very understrength Mullingar Shamrocks team. Later in the day Kilbeggan Shamrocks were our guests and they too went home with the Div. 5 points winning a high scoring classic 6-11 to 5-12.  It’s fair to say that defences didn’t dominate as Kilbeggan clawed back a nine-point interval deficit to win by two points despite the fielding excellence of Adam Buckley at mid-field.

It’s always a special day when you play your first competitive game of adult football and for Ronan Byrne, Andrew Gavigan and Adam Buckley, Saturday was that special day. For Andrew Gavigan, it was even more significant, as Andrew was making a comeback after a year’s absence due to a cruciate injury.  Tommy Daly was playing his second adult match and Tommy made his scoring debut with a tidy 1-2 to his credit. 

The other end of the experience spectrum was represented too. You might recall that Westmeath its first and only Leinster Senior football title in 2004. Well two of that champion side Shane Colleary who is still scoring goals and Dónal O’Donoghue lined out and more than held their own. Class is permanent etc.  

Mullingar Shamrocks: Mikey Curley; Andrew Gavigan, Eamon Breslin, Alex Donoghue; Ronan Byrne (0-1), Dylan Carey, Mark Shaw (1-0); Adam Buckley, Ciaran Kiernan; Matt Shaw (0-1), Ross Corroon (1-3), Donal O Donoghue; Tommy Daly (1-2), Alex Sheerin (1-6), Shane Colleary (1-0). 

Many of the same players were back in Springfield early on Sunday morning for the ACL Div. 2 game against Tang who pulled away in the final stages to win on a 2-9 to 2-5 scoreline. Conditions were rough but young Grace Breslin braved the conditions to see her daddy play for the first time. Playing against a strong wind, Shamrocks trailed by just a point (0-8 to 2-1) at the interval thanks to goals from Ross Corroon and Killian Mooney with Tommy Lennon and Martin Rock doing the scoring for Tang. A Tommy Lennon early second half goal gave Tang a bit of breathing space but a brilliant 2-pointer from Trevor Keena and points from Ross Corroon (0-2) brought the sides level. However, Tang finished the stronger and a pointed free and a last-kick of the game goal form Ross Hanly secured the victory for Tang. 

All in all a good display considering the weekend work load. .

Mullingar Shamrocks: Liam English; Ryan Blundell, Dylan Carey Eamonn Breslin; Ronan Byrne (Pearse Corroon), Donal Lane, Ciaran Kiernan; Brian Farrell, Jack Toal; Matthew Shaw (0-1), Trevor Keena (0-2), Andrew Shaw; Keith Mooney (1-0), Ross Corroon (1-2), Nathan Cornally (Tommy Daly). 

Super Lotto 

Numbers Drawn: 1, 4, 13, 16.  No Jackpot winner. Luck dip winners (€50 each): David Penrose and Niall Quinn.  

Congratulations, Ellie ...

Mullingar Shamrocks are delighted to see that Ellie O'Sullivan Sexton has been selected on the Ireland Under-21 Rugby squad for the inaugural Women's Six Nations rugby series. 

Ellie has represented Mullingar Shamrocks in all grades of LGF from Under-12 to Senior and no doubt the Gaelic football skills coached in Springfield and Gainstown school are proving useful with the oval ball.

Congratulations Ellie and the best of luck in the Six Nations.

 

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