Westmeath LGF Minor 'B' Final: Caulry 5-10 Mullingar Shamrocks 4-6

A great championship run by our Minor LGF team came to an end in Lakepoint Park on Sunday with another good display against a very fine Caulry team, who were deserving winners on the day. They early exchanges ended scoreless and several minutes had passed before a great passing move involving Alison Bane and Sarah Geoghegan created a chance for Katie Kelly who slotted home Shamrocks opening goal. Chloe Smullen followed this with a point after a superb piece of fielding from an Anna Jones free. G. Quigley saved well from Anna Jones to prevent a second Shamrocks goal before M. Connaughton pointed for Caulry; Áine Gaynor added another point from a free. Carla Gibney kicked a great long-range left-footed point to complete a move began with a great Máiread Newman interception. Áine Gaynor again pointed, a score that was matched by a Susanna Buckley score for Shamrocks. This was Shamrocks best stage of the match and with Sadhbh O'Brien playing as a sweeper they dominated the play but this was not reflected on the scoreboard. Caulry's Jasmine Maloney had moved to mid-field at this stage and this switch began to pay dividends. A sweeping Caulry attack ended with another point from Áine Gaynor (1-3 to 0-4). Another great Alison Bane solo run ended with a point by Chloe Smullen. The final minutes of the half proved to be crucial as Áine Gaynor and R. Martin struck goals for Caulry and Gaynor also added a point from a free to send Caulry into a four point lead (2-5 to 1-4). Shamrocks responded and good combination play between Alison and Anna was finished by Chloe Smullen for another point. Chloe then goaled to level matters when she was put clear by a wonderful Katie Kelly pass. The left-footed bullet gave the Caulry goalkeeper no chance but unfortunately just before the interval a yellow card sidelined Chloe for ten minutes. Shamrocks received a great boost on the restart as Anna Jones won possession from the throw-in and passed to Laura Culkin who shot to the net to give Shamrocks the lead once again (3-5 to 2-5). A great Isabelle Clinton save prevented an equaliser but this was followed by 20 minutes of Caulry dominance and goals from Áine Gaynor and Jasmine Maloney opened a gap that reflected the Caulry dominance. Gaynor (0-3), Quigley (0-2) and L. Claffey (0-1) added to the total before M. Connaughton completed the Caulry total with a goal (5-10 to 3-5). Shamrocks charged back for the final minutes and a few good saves, last ditch defending, a couple of bad wides and a few shots off the goalposts prevented scores and a possible steal. Susanna Buckley pointed and Anna Jones buried a penalty, which had to be retaken. Anna slotted home the second attempt, just to confirm her class. This was the last play of the match as the girls went down with all guns blazing. We congratulate all the players for their efforts and to the management team of Karen Hegarty and Ciarán McKenna for their great work on behalf of the team with Geraldine Buckley also helping out in many ways.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Isabelle Clinton; Ellen Sleator, Chloe Flood (Eve Hynes), Jenna Kelly (Holly McCormack); Máiread Newman[Nicola Groenewald], Catherine Tubridy, Laura Culkin (1-0); Carla Gibney (0-1) & Susanna Buckley (0-2) Allison Bane, Anna Jones (1-0), Sarah Geoghegan (Zara Gilligan); Sadhbh O'Brien, Katie Kelly (1-0), Chloe Smullen (1-3).

Junior B Football Championship: Milltown 4-18 Mullingar Shamrocks 1-11.

We wrapped-up our football season in Milltown on Saturday when going down to the home side by a ten-point margin. After trailing by twelve points at half-time we staged a mini-revival in the second half and despite Robbie Boyle's five points and the best efforts of Shane Colleary, there was never any real danger of getting the better of the Joe Kenny inspired Milltown.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Daragh Ryan, Peter Bane (Chris Fox), Mark Butler, Eamonn Breslin; Cormac Murphy, Ross Corroon, Marc Eivers; Gary Corroon, Ross Corroon; Nathan Smyth, Dillon Matthews, David Culkin (Danny Purcell); Ciarán Curley, Shane Colleary.