Westmeath LGF Senior Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 3-11 The Downs 2-17

Mullingar Shamrocks LGF travelled to The Downs on Sunday evening for the first round of the senior championship. The sides met in May in the league and on that occasion Shamrocks ran out winners. Newly promoted The Downs were always going to present a much sterner test in the championship however. Shamrocks started well and went into an early lead, with points from Clara Thornton and Karen Hegarty. Carole Finch was at the end of a well worked move and rifled the ball to the net to consolidate the Shamrocks lead. The Downs however worked their way into the game with a series of well taken points. The remainder of the first half was played at frantic pace with good scores from both teams. A goal from Clara Thornton ensured that at half time Shamrocks were 4 points up and  leading 2-8 to 1-7.

The second half started well for Shamrocks with further points from Karen Hegarty and Emma Morris. Early in the second half, Shamrocks suffered a double blow with first the departure of Karen Hegarty due to an injury sustained in the first half and then shortly after an injury to centre back, Tara Fagan. Substitute  full-forward, Liveta Lazauskaite made an early impact scoring a goal from her first possession. The Downs then started to control the game and dominated the last twenty minutes. Although Shamrocks were 7 points up early in the second half, The Downs chipped away at their lead with a series of well taken points. It is telling that Shamrocks last score was a point from Clara Thornton at 46 minutes. The Downs equalized with a goal and scored 4 unanswered points to run out winners on a score line of 2-17 to 3-11.

Next up for the Shamrocks will be a tough away match against St Mary's, Rochfortbridge with both sides battling to gain their first vital championship points but to an end on a positive note, a team rarely loses a championship after scoring 3-11. Unfortunately, this was one such occasion in what was another superb game of Ladies Gaelic Football in keeping with the county's status as a Division 1 county. It's time to release the secret.  

Mullingar Shamrocks: Lauren McCormack, Lorna Morris, Niamh Spellman, Melek Fagan (Sophie Hegarty), Cliodhna Spellman (Shona McNicolas), Tara Fagan(Chloe Swarbrigg), Niamh Kennedy, Michelle Buckley, Anna Jones, Gemma Kerrigan (0-1), Emma Morris (0-2), Aine Melody (0-1), Carole Finch (1-0)[Susanna Buckley], Karen Hegarty (0-4)[Liveta Lazauuskaite,1-0], Clara Thornton (1-3)