LGF Under-14 Division 5 Final: Mullingar Shamrocks 3-4 Tyrrellspass 1-4

Our Under-14 girls set the early standard on Saturday morning for our double county final day with a great win over a strong Tyrrellspass team. The Tyrrellspass girls dominated the early stages and their captain Kate Coyne scored the opening two points. Great defending and tackling by the Mullingar defenders helped by some poor shooting confined the lead to a couple of points before Florence Geelon pointed for Shamrocks. Florence was injured soon after and was replaced by Abi Healy. Inspired by great play from Aya Hacini and Alexa Gavigan in particular who covered acres of ground and Elle O’Donnell and Rachel Cassidy, Mullingar Shamrocks gradually began to great a grip on the game. Aya, Ellie and Alexa combined with Lucy Pierce who provided the final pass to Caoimhe Farrell who finished to the net. A brilliant pass from Aya created a second goal scoring opportunity for Caoimhe but on this occasion Tyrrellspass goalkeeper Lucy McGivney saved well. Katie Rigney goal attempt for Tyrrellspass hit the post and Emily Ford, who made several great saves, saved the rebound. Inspired by the let-off Shamrocks moved the ball quickly downfield and the move finished with Caoimhe Farrell sending a rocket of a shot to the net to give Mullingar Shamrocks a half-time lead of 2-1 to 0-2.

Shamrocks scored their third goal early in the second half when Aya Hacini and Alex Gavigan interpassed and carried the ball the full length of the field, a move that ended with Robyn Byrne shooting to the net for a great team goal. It looked like a match winning lead but a lot of good defending was needed to secure the title. Katie Rigney pointed for Tyrrellspass; their next attack ended with the award of a penalty. Grace Murphy’s shot was expertly saved by Emily Ford who cleared to Elle O’Donnell. Elle set off on another run which was ended by a foul. Caoimhe Farrell slotted the free to extend the Shamrocks lead (3-2 to 0-2); Caoimhe added another pointed free shortly afterwards Emma Coyne smashed a shot off the crossbar, Emily Ford saved in style on two occasions. Emily saved again from Kate Coyne and this time the clearance ended with a point from Alexa Gavigan, Shamrocks last score of the morning. Tyrrellspass refused to admit defeat and Kate Coyne added 1-1 to their total before referee Mick Gordon called an end to the day’s play.

This was a great team victory based on great defending with the full back line of Amy, Saoirse and Maeve Shaw in particular doing great work supported by Aida, Abi Matthews and Grainne Heap. The contribution of Emily Ford, Aya Hacini, Alexa Gavigan and Elle O’Donnell has been outlined already. Caoimhe Farrell was the scorer in chief with her second goal in particular a special one. Caoimhe got great support from team captain Rachel Cassidy, Robyn Byrne, Layla Dowd was great from the start, Florence, Lucy and Abi Healy.

The team management put countless hours into the preparation of this team and deserve great credit for their committed work with the girls. The work of Seamus Kiernan, Aimee Ford, Keith Matthews and Karen Magee made it all possible.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Emily Ford; Amy Devaney, Saoirse Clinton, Maeve Shaw; Aida Glover (Abi Matthews) Aya Hacini, Grainne Heap; Elle O’Donnell, Alexa Gavigan (0-1); Robyn Byrne (1-0) [Aoibh McCann], Rachel Cassidy, Caoimhe Farrell (2-2); Layla Dowd (Anna Clarke), Florence Geelon (0-1) [Abi Healy], Lucy Pierce (Sara Cosgrave). Panellists: Tess Foy, Sarah Cosgrave, Ece Ozedemir, Liepa Reminaite, Alsesha Turley Gabija Mazelkaite, Masa Pesic.