Westmeath Ladies Gaelic Football Senior Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 5-3 Killucan 0-19

For the second successive occasion, the Mullingar Shamrocks women suffered defeat by the minimum margin in the senior championship when going under to Killucan in Springfield on Thursday night. Their loss to St Mary’s was by a two-point margin so the players who have worked hard on their game this year have been most unfortunate.  Led in fine fashion by Ruth O’Connor, Killucan dominated the early exchanges scoring two points before Jemma Kerrigan set-up Tara Fagan for Shamrocks opening point.  The visitors added nine more points prior to the interval but goals from Anna Jones and Karen Hegarty maintained Mullingar Shamrocks interest in the game (0-11 to 2-2).

Killucan generally dominated the second-half but the ability of the Shamrocks women to score goals ensured an exciting finish. Mullingar Shamrocks kick -out strategy was also much more effective on resumption. Of the fourteen first-half kickouts, Shamrocks and Killucan shared 7 each; in the second-half Shamrocks gained possession from 7 of their 8 restarts. Goalkeeper Lauren McCormack also played a lead-role in keeping the Killucan forwards in check making many great saves over the hour. Ruth O’Connor and Fiona Leavy were scorers-in-chief for Killucan on resumption but a pointed free from Karen Hegarty and a goal from Honor McNamara reduced the deficit (0-16 to 3-3). Killucan added three points but Shamrocks responded with two big scores. Great play by Clara Thornton and Kirsti Dunne created a goal scoring opportunity for Anna Jones who responded by blasting the ball to the net. Almost immediately Gemma Kerrigan delicately lobbed the Killucan goalkeeper for Shamrocks fifth goal but unfortunately that proved to be our final score and Killucan collected the championship points.

The quality of football in this championship has been of a very high standard with fitness and skill levels of the highest order. Westmeath’s standing as a Division 1 county is clearly evident. Mullingar Shamrocks now play Moate All-Whites in their final game of the season.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Lauren McCormack; Rachael Hannigan, Carol Finch, Melek Fagan (Kirsti Dunne); Niamh Kennedy, Niamh Spellman, Áine Melody; Anna Jones (2-0) and Michelle Buckley; Tara Fagan (0-1), Jemma Kerrigan (1-0), Faye Walshe (Honor McNamara 1-0); Clara Thornton, Lisa Burke (Chloe Swarbrigg), Karen Hegarty (1-2).

In the curtain raiser to the main event Delvin-St Pauls defeated Mullingar Shamrocks in the Westmeath under-14 football championship (6-9 to 4-4)

Mullingar Shamrocks: Michael McDonagh; Pete McGuiness, Ben Ryan, Óisín Sheridan; Matthew Clinton, Daithí Martin, Michael Wycherley; Thomas Turks and Ben Meredith; Aaron Russell, Mark Shaw, Conor Fagan; Jamie Rooney, Adan Boyle, Caoilín Walshe. Subs: Aaron Smith, Jack Mee, Alex Scally.