Mullingar Shamrocks outside chance of making the play-off stages of the Village Barn LFG Senior football championship disappeared in Springfield on Thursday evening as Garrycastle shaded the verdict in a high scoring encounter. Lining out without regulars Anna Jones, Chloe Smullen, Annemarie O’ Reilly and Honor MacNamara, with a little bit of luck Mullingar Shamrocks could have collected the points. It didn’t matter in the end, other results ended any chance of qualification.
Garrycastle led by 2-4 to 0-6 at the interval with the Garrycastle goals coming after 35 seconds of the start and with the last kick of the half from a penalty. Lorraine Duncan scored the first and Kacey Mulvihill stroked home the penalty with supreme confidence. The two Graces then exchanged points, Grace Daly for Shamrocks and Grace Halligan for Garrycastle. Karen Hegarty scored her first point from a free before Susanna Buckley and Kacey Mulvihill exchanged points. Karen again pointed from a free before Clodagh McCahey finished a slick Garrycastle move with a point. Shamrocks were under pressure at this stage and were helped by some wild Garrycastle shooting and the intervention of the crossbar or goalpost on more than one occasion. There was also a lot of good defending with all six defenders having an impact. Midfielder Mairéad Newman was at the heart of everything and clocked up big mileage on the night. More than once the thought crossed the mind that if Mairéad was in Carrick-on-Shannon a few weeks ago WestmeathLadies Gaa might now be All-Ireland champions. Mairéad was well supported by the returning Rachael Cheevers, welcomed back after a HYROX and running sabbatical. Despite being under pressure, Mullingar Shamrocks did the important thing – they stayed in the game and remained in touch. Grace Halligan pointed (1-4 to 0-4) but Shamrocks responded with another Karen Hegarty point from play created by a great run from Zara Corroon – one of the youngest players on the pitch. Another Karen Hegarty pointed free reduced the deficit to the minimum before the penalty goal on the stroke of half time.
Shamrocks opened the second half scoring with a point from Mairéad Newman created by an inspired Sarah Geoghegan pass. Kacey Mulvihill again pointed as did Karen Hegarty after some great work by Mairéad. Clara Thornton was introduced to the game and with her first touch had the ball in the Garrycastle net and the sides were level. Karen Hegarty kicked the point of the evening – a definite two pointer in the male game and Shamrocks were ahead (2-5 to 1-9). Unfortunately, Garrycastle immediately responded with a goal of their own – scored by Shannon Mulvihill. Clodagh McCahey also pointed as did Karen Hegarty from another free (3-6 o 1-10). Shamrocks hopes were extinguished in the next few minutes. Grace Halligan pointed a free and from the restart Garryowen reclaimed possession and Grace planted the ball in the back of the Shamrocks net and sent Garrycastle into a six point lead with the scoreboard, operated by Chloe Smullen, reading 4-7 to 1-10. There was no surrender by Shamrocks. The excellent Susanna Buckley pointed for Shamrocks, and Karen Hegarty rounded off the evening by pointing three frees in succession. Karen’s 100 % record from eight free kicks needs to be recognised. “Practice makes perfect the woman said”. Could we have a Michael Murphy type comeback? It should also be noted that the majority of these frees were from infractions on Karen herself. The LGF game could do worse than introduce the black card for cynical play rule that is used sometimes in Gaelic football. Next Thursday Mullingar Shamrocks play St Joseph’s in Springfield in the final game of the 2025 championship, a frustrating one from the players perspective.
Mullingar Shamrocks: Katie Kelly; Melek Fagan, Siobhan O’ Donnell, Sinead Sweeney; Eve Hynes, Chloe Swarbrigg, Jodi Aherne; Mairéad Newman (0-1), Rachel Cheevers; Susanna Buckley (0-2), Karen Hegarty (0-10), Zara Corroon (Aideen Langtry); Sarah Geoghegan, Holly McCormack (Clara Thornton, 1-0), Grace Daly (0-1)
