St Brigid's make winning start to championship defence
The three clubs who earned the title of senior county champions in 2023, 2024 and 2025 all kicked off their 2026 John Keane Kia Senior Championship campaigns with victories over the weekend, though St. Brigid’s, Clann na nGael and Boyle, all earned their wins in sharply contrasting styles.
St. Brigid’s, the reigning Marie McAleer Cup holders, had the most straightforward opening tie on paper, at home to a Shannon Gaels side that didn’t win a championship game last year and who failed to get out of Division Two of the League in the Spring.
That was exactly how it played out too in Kiltoom, where it finished 6-9 to 2-6 in favour of the home side.
Goals from Lucy Sheffield, Kate Nolan and Áine O’Brien in the opening ten minutes shattered the confidence of a young Shannon Gaels team, who could only register points from Chloe Dunne and Sorcha Bruen by the change of ends.
Sheffield (two) and Aoibheann Fallon added further green flags in the second half, though Sorcha Bruen hit three second half points before Sarah Keane and Sarah Boyd (a penalty) found the net for the underdogs, who will take on Boyle in a local derby this coming weekend.
Boyle’s confidence will be sky high coming into that game after they put a dangerous and developing St. Barry’s side away in fine style in Tarmonbarry.
All-Ireland final 'Player of the Match', Saoirse Wynne was unavailable to Boyle manager Kieran McKeon but her older sister Róisín was as good as ever in the half-back line, helping to load the bullets that Caitlin Conroy (0-5), Aimee Roddy (0-3), Aisling Feely (1-8) and Michaela Ward (0-5) fired with accuracy on the beleaguered St. Barry’s defence.
It was 1-12 to 0-2 in favour of the town club at half-time, but led by teenage star Georgia Gerrity, St. Barry’s fought back well to edge the second half, with the scoreboard reading 2-21 to 1-12 at the long whistle.
Shannon McGuinness, Erica Jordan, Orlaigh Tighe and Niamh Toolan were all missing from the St. Barry’s lineup and the current intermediate champions will hope to welcome some of those back for their daunting trip to Kiltoom next Sunday.
If Boyle and Brigid’s flexed their muscles with big wins, then the meeting of St. Ciarán’s and Clann in Fuerty was a real arm wrestle, eventually settled by Róise Lennon’s seventh point of the afternoon late on.
Ger Dowd’s side were unlucky not to take something out of a very even contest where Caoimhe Lennon and Rachel Fitzmaurice pointed early for their respective sides, and that was the only scoring until half-time.
Two Róise Lennon frees nudged Clann into the lead only for Ciara Dowd to hit back with a goal and a point, and the contest continued to swing over and back until a late breach by St. Ciarán’s gave Lennon the chance to make it 0-9 to 1-5 at the death.
Meanwhile in Ballaghaderreen, a late Aimee O’Connor penalty took the bleak look off the scoreboard, but Éire Óg were still well worth their 1-14 to 1-8 win.
Lily Murray opened the scoring for St. Dominic’s but that was to be the Knockcroghery club’s only score of the first half, while Éire Óg went on to score 1-7 unanswered before the interval, their goal coming from Nikita Regan.
Glennon inspires Pearses to big win
In the Hannon’s Hotel IFC, 17-year-old Laura Glennon played like an established senior star as she kicked 0-11 in Pádraig Pearses’ 2-19 to 2-7 win over Michael Glaveys.
Katelyn Keogh gave Pearses a dream start with a top corner finish on their very first attack, but Glaveys came back with a brace of points from Vivienne Gannon and Shauna Fleming, and they were very competitive with last year’s finalists from open play.
In front of the posts, it was a different story. Glennon, along with fellow minors Sarah Kate Goode and Esmae Halpin, picked off the scores that gave Pearses a flattering 2-9 to 0-2 half-time lead.
Glaveys spurned a world of glorious chances in that opening half and while they did find the net through Niamh Fleming and Aoife Burke in the second half, Glennon continued to win frees and kick scores with abandon right up to the end.
County panelists Aisling Shanagher and Aisling Hanly were also in prolific form in Kilbride’s 4-13 to 0-6 win over Western Gaels at Frenchpark. Hanly struck 1-10 and Shanagher landed a hat-trick against the home side, who will take encouragement from the performances of Lorna Flynn, Lisa Flynn and Críosa Gallagher in goal.
It was a defensive battle in Ballinameen where five points from Emma Thompson, four from frees, wasn’t enough to prevent St. Croan’s from falling to a 1-9 to 0-6 defeat to Northern Harps.
Mayo native Megan Bilbow has settled in Elphin after coming home from Australia and her tally of 0-5, as well as a first half goal from Niamh Cunningham, was central to the reigning junior champions knocking over a competitive but wasteful St. Croan’s team.
Murray’s two-pointer lights up Tulsk
St. Mary’s, who were a hair’s breadth away from securing championship glory in the 2025 Castlerea Vehicle Recycling JFC final against Northern Harps, got their 2026 campaign up and running with an impressive 2-15 to 1-3 win over an improving Four Roads side in Tulsk.
Sandra Keane and Hannah Moylan were the goalscorers for St. Mary’s while Niamh Feeney, Grace Jones and Louise Brady also stood out for the women in maroon, but it was Kate Murray’s audacious two-pointer that was the story of the day in Tulsk, as she achieved something that no player managed to do across the senior, intermediate and junior All-Ireland finals at Croke Park a fortnight previously.
Their neighbours Oran are also looking strong as they made it two wins out of two with a 3-7 to 1-3 win over Castlerea St. Kevins, the scoring burden shared entirely by Orla Connolly (2-3) and Niamh Walsh (1-4).
Tia Cronin and Chloe Coyle caught the eye for Oran in a dominant half-back line display, while Lisa O’Rourke hit 1-1 for Castlerea, who are now on the back foot with two defeats.
For drama and excitement, the place to be on Sunday was Kilglass, where St. Michael’s/St. Ronan’s were rocked on their heels in the early stages of their first ever Junior 'A' championship match, shipping goals to Natasha Munnelly and Aisling McGuire as they fell behind by 2-3 to no score.
Rachel Flynn got the Saints going with a goal, albeit one that was cancelled out by a second green flag from Munnelly, but by half-time it was a very different scoreboard at 3-3 to 1-5, and that momentum continued after the restart.
With the breeze at their backs, St. Michael’s/St. Ronan’s looked to be in a good position when points from Flynn, Chloe McGuinness and Danielle Gannon nudged them into a one point lead with ten minutes to play. There was a strong finish to come from Kilglass/Kilmore however, and Munnelly’s hat-trick goal saw them over the line, 4-7 to 1-12.
In the Junior 'B' championship, Shannon Gaels beat St. Dominic’s by 2-10 to 3-4, Clann enjoyed a 5-8 to 0-7 win over near neighbours Pádraig Pearses and Roscommon Gaels beat Boyle by 3-13 to 1-11.
Finally Nicole McGinley (0-5) and Jessica Lee (2-5) led the scoring for Strokestown in their 4-14 to 2-10 win over Kilbride.
Please see https://roscommonlgfa.ie/fixtures-2026/ for all updated fixtures and results.