LGF Div.4 League Final: Mullingar Shamrocks 1-15 Athlone 3-6

A venue was eventually located and Mullingar Shamrocks and Athlone journeyed to Rosemount on Sunday evening for the LGF Div. 4 league final and produced a superb match that displayed all that is good in the sport of Ladies Gaelic Football.

Mullingar Shamrocks have a reputation as slow starters and provided more evidence of this characteristic in the early stages on Sunday.  Athlone began brilliantly and in the first minute Brianna Geoghegan skinned the Shamrocks defence and slammed a brilliant shot past Isobella Clinton. Grace Halligan pointed and then Aofie Gill flicked a second goal to establish a seven point lead for Athlone. However, inspirational play by Emma Morris helped to steady the Shamrocks ship. Emma pointed a free and then goaled after a great combined move made possible by the superb ball-winning ability of Liveta Lazauskaite. Sarah Geoghegan and Emma Morris combined to create a scoring chance for Zara Gilligan who pointed (2-2 to 1-2). Grace Halligan and Brianna Geoghegan exchanged points with Zara Gilligan and Niamh Kennedy and while this was happening a superb Liveta punched pass created a goal scoring opportunity for Emma Morris who was unfortunate to see her shot strike the upright. Athlone too hit the crossbar at this stage. Another passage of combined play (and there were many on the night) ended with a second Niamh Kennedy point ... the last before the interval to reduce the deficit to two points (2-4 to 1-5).

            Early in the second half Isobelle Clinton saved well before Susanna Buckley pointed and this began a long period of Shamrocks control. Emma Morris pointed two frees to establish a Shamrocks lead for the first time (2-4 to 1-8). A great long-distance solo run from Susanna Buckley ended with a great point from the young player; Sarah Geoghegan also pointed to send Shamrocks into a three point lead. Athlone responded in style and Grace Halligan raced through the Shamrocks defence and scored a brilliant goal. The sides were level again but Shamrocks quickly regained the initiative. Some astute substitutions also proved effective at this stage and the Spellman sisters were seen to good effect in the final stages.  Emma Morris (0-2), Gemma Kerrgian (0-2) and Susanna Buckley completed the Shamrocks total before the Athlone full-back pointed for the last score of the evening (1-15 to 3-6). There was a premature final whistle but no one panicked and the game restarted with Liveta firing in a shot that was well saved by the Athlone goalkeeper and then Kylie Kelly ripped through the Athlone defence but her rocket shot was also saved in what was one of the final acts of the evening.        

            Shamrocks were fully deserving of their 0-3 winning margin in what was a superb team victory with the foundation laid by great defensive work by all six defenders and goalkeeper Isobelle Clinton (her long kicking was a decided assett). Midfielder and captain  Niamh Kennedy worked herself to near-exhaustion and her partner Susanna Buckley was equally impressive. The young player displayed some superb skill and was always composed and creative. Full-forward Liveta Lazauskaite was unbeatable and must have established some type of record for the number of posessions secured and balls passed to better placed colleagues. A great save by the Athlone goalkeeper at the end denied Liveta the goal her performance deserved.

            And then there was Emma Morris. The long-serving Mullingar Shamrocks player can seldom have played a better game for the club she has served so well. In the early stages when the game seemed to be going away from Shamrocks, Emma was inspirational. She controlled the match and delivered a superb exhibition of football skills and also found time to score 1-5 from play and placed balls. 

 Mullingar Shamrocks: Isobelle Clinton; Michelle Morris, Chloe Swarbrigg (Niamh Spellman), Lorna Morris; Carla Gibney, Shauna McNicholas, Sophie Hegarty (Cliona Spellman); Niamh Kennedy [0-2] (Captain) and Susanna Buckley (0-3); Laura Whitelaw (Gemma Kerrigan (0-2), Emma Morris (1-5), Sarah Geoghegan (0-1); Zara Gilligan [0-2] (Katie Kelly), Liveta Lazauskaite, Teresa Connell.