Nolan’s return a big plus as Brigid’s overcome Clann

Roscommon LGFA club championship round-up

St Brigid’s gained a small measure of revenge for last year’s county final defeat to Clann na nGael when they picked up a 5-6 to 1-15 win in the glamour fixture in the Dermot Hughes Cars Senior Championship on Sunday last.

But arguably the most important aspect of the day from the perspective of Niall Mackey and his St Brigid’s team was the return to action of Kate Nolan, who came off the bench to make her first competitive appearance since she sustained a cruciate ligament injury last year.

As was the case in last year’s round-robin game at Kiltoom, and even the 2024 county final, St Brigid’s exploded out of the traps and had three goals on the board in the opening minutes.

Marion Nolan scored one and set up the other two for Lucy Sheffield and Áine O’Brien, and she continued to play the role of playmaker, assisting a fourth for Sarah O’Rourke before Alison Nugent scored a fifth, all before the first half water break.

From then on, however, Clann were arguably the better team, albeit they had left themselves with too much to do. Róise Lennon (1-9, 0-7f) and Caoimhe Lennon (0-4) led the scoring with Kelley Colgan and Kim Finlass working hard in defence to ensure that there were no more green flags raised, but ten wides, combined with that dreadful start, was too much to overcome.

Éire Óg are still in with a shout of securing top spot in group one and an automatic semi-final berth after they came away from Knockcroghery with a 2-7 to 0-12 win over St Dominic’s last Sunday, setting the stage for a top-of-the-table clash with Brigid’s in Kiltoom this Sunday.

Like their first round game against Clann na nGael, Éire Óg dominated the first half and took a 2-5 to 0-5 lead into the dressing room thanks to goals from Rebecca Madden and Alannah McGreal. On a day when shooting was tricky due to a difficult cross-field breeze, Amy Doory’s relentless running and energy earned frees that helped Claire Flanagan score 0-4 in the first half.

Aimee O’Connor and Aoife Gavin began to find their groove early in the second half as Dominic’s chipped away at the deficit, but the absence of a goal to take a chunk out of the margin proved to be their undoing. Lily Vickers performed heroics in the Éire Óg goal once again with three superb saves, the most impressive and important of those when she denied Niamh Watson what would have been a winning score.

O’Connor and Gavin finished with 0-5 and 0-3 respectively but Nicola Bruen performed admirably at full-back, and the return from long-term injury of Fiona Crawley was a further boost to the western outfit.

In Group B, St Ciarán’s proved that their first round win over Boyle was no fluke as they travelled up to Croghan to play Shannon Gaels and were full value for a 1-16 to 1-6 win.

*Please see https://roscommonlgfa.ie/fixtures-2025 for updated fixtures and results. Roscommon LGFA thanks Dermot Hughes Cars, Coachman’s Inn/Harry’s Restaurant, and Leydon Brothers for their generous sponsorship of the adult club championships.