Girls’ Under-14 Football League: Mullingar Shamrocks 6-6 The Downs 3-3

Mullingar Shamrocks were deserving winners in this encounter with The Downs. After a relatively even first-half Shamrocks retired at the interval leading by 1-3 to 1-0, The Downs goal scored shortly before the interval. Chloe Smullen who opened the scoring for Shamrock with 1-1 showed glimpses of what was to follow in the second half with her first goal which was executed following a great solo run and a rocket of a shot to the net. Abbey Smith contributed two fine points to the total. In this half, some great defending by the Shamrocks girls was noticeable and particularly by Ann Marie O’Reilly at full-back (at least one member of the O’Reilly family is a defender), Sarah Corroon at wing-back and Nelly Nwoekeiwu at centre-back.

The Downs quickly wiped out the deficit when play resumed and opened with two goals to establish a three-point lead. Both teams exchanged points before the final fifteen minutes were transformed into the Chloe Smullen Show. Springfield has been the venue for many fine individual performances and Chloe’s performance in this match was as good as any witnessed. It’s not often we witness a player score 5-3 in a single outing: players who score that amount in a season are scarce enough in the world of sport.  Chloe’s tour de force began with her third point of the evening when she collected the ball in the left-half back position and set off on a jet-propelled solo run along the sideline before cutting in to the fourteen-yard line to send a blistering shot over the cross bar (1-5 to 3-2). From then on every time Cloe won possession she had only goal in mind and she scored her second goal, her third goal, her fourth goal and her fifth goal before Mick McAdden blew the final whistle. Others too got in on the scoring act and Robin Rafter pointed and Máread Newman raced through to crash the ball to the net. It was a fine Shamrocks performance and a reward for all the training the girls have completed in the past few weeks, guided by their mentors Martin Gilligan, Eric Smith and Tony Rafter.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Chloe Flood-McCormack; Áine McKenna, Ann Marie O’Reilly, Elyse Byrne; Sarah Corroon, Nelly Nwokeiwu, Eve Hynes; Máread Newman (1-0), and Jenna Kelly; Mia Gilligan, Chloe Smullen (5-3), Leah Glynn, Molly Byrne, Abby Smith (0-2), Robin Wrafter (0-1); Sub used: Kaylin McNally.