Clann impress with victory over Kilbride on emotional day

Roscommon LGFA round-up

It was an emotional atmosphere at Kilbride on Sunday morning when the home club returned to the playing field for the first time since the sad passing of their former colleague Rochelle Mullaney, with Clann na nGael the visitors to the mid-Roscommon venue for the round three fixture in the Dermot Hughes Cars Senior Championship.

Despite the ongoing absence of Fiona Tully and Aisling Hanly from the Kilbride side, the hope team were quite competitive and will take heart from an improved performance, but their hopes of a fairytale win didn’t materialise as Clann ran out 5-15 to 3-5 winners, picking up their first victory of this year’s campaign.

Casey Keane led the way for Kilbride with 1-5, including a first half goal, while Aisling and Niamh Shanagher also found the net for Con Moynihan’s side. Clann were simply too powerful, however, creating numerous scoring chances and firing 5-12 from open play.

Róise Lennon shot 0-6 to head the scoring charts while there were five different goalscorers, including Hope Glynn, who showed immense promise on her second senior appearance.

Clann were still without established stars such as Caoimhe Lennon, Orla O’Neill and Jenny Higgins, while injury also ruled out Mia Macken and Áine Connaughton from starting roles, but Megan Glynn thrived in her new role at centre back. Up front, Fiona Scally anchored the forward line on the edge of the square, registering a goal, with Kara Earle (1-2), Therese Lennon (0-3) and Ruth Finlass (1-2) also impressing.

Also at senior level, the tie of the round was at Knockcroghery, where St. Dominic’s shot the last four points of their clash with Shannon Gaels to pick up an 0-12 to 1-8 win, their first of the campaign.

A string of missed frees haunted St. Dominic’s in the early exchanges as they fell into an 0-4 to 0-1 deficit, with Chloe and Michaela Dunne playing well for Shannon Gaels up front, and Christina Beirne deployed in a sweeper role.

A missed penalty led to a shift in momentum and St. Dominic’s drawing level by half time with wind advantage to come, but three points from Sorcha Bruen and a penalty from Sarah Boyd left Shannon Gaels in the driving seat coming into the closing minutes.

Between them, Aoife Gavin with two superb late points and Lilly Murray (with a massive block at one end and the winning of a free at the other), were the central figures in Dominic’s surging late to pick up the win.

Two goals in the space of a minute for St. Brigid’s midway through the second half of their clash with Éire Óg were the vital scores as Laura Harrison’s side made it three wins from three, prevailing by 5-9 to 0-13 in Loughglynn.

Lucy Sheffield got the game’s first goal, Abby Curran and Áine O’Brien also raised green flags to make it 3-4 to 0-7 at half-time and while Éire Óg had the better of the third quarter, back to back goals from Sarah O’Rourke and O’Brien allowed them to ease over the finish line.

In the intermediate championship, an unplayable pitch meant that Western Gaels and St. Barry’s will have to wait another week to get their first game of the 2024 campaign, but there were emphatic victories for St. Ciarán’s and St. Croan’s over Michael Glaveys and Kilmore/Kilglass Gaels respectively.

Laura Fleming was in sensational form for St. Ciarán’s as the county star weighed in with four goals, while Ciara Dowd, Tara O’Brien (two) and Elaine Daly also raised green flags in an 8-18 to 1-5 win for last year’s defeated finalists.

The only cloud on the horizon for the club, and indeed for Athleague’s chances of retaining their camogie title, is the news that Éala Coyle’s impressive showing will be her last for the foreseeable future as she heads out to Australia, with Aoife Beades and Chloe Whyte-Lennon set to follow her to foreign shores after next weekend’s trip to Kilglass/Kilmore.

The Leitrim border combination have a lot of work to do themselves after they were overwhelmed by St. Croan’s in Enfield, 7-26 to 1-3. St Croan’s had five goals on the board by half-time, with the two sister combinations – Ella and Emily Thompson, as well as Ava and Leah Malone, all enjoying productive afternoons.

In the junior championship, there was a thriller of a contest between Oran and Castlerea, ultimately finishing in a draw, 3-11 to 4-8. Megan Flynn with two goals from play and Gráinne Whyte with six points from play were the stars for Oran, who led by eight points at the interval. However, Castlerea worked their way back into the game with a much-improved performance, taking the lead through a Lisa O’Rourke goal before Orla Connolly’s late equaliser ensured that Oran had something to show for their efforts.

In the second group, St. Mary’s racked up a 5-16 to 1-6 win over Four Roads at Ballyforan, with Aoife Byrne and Niamh Feeney controlling the central positions while Louise Brady (0-6) and Rebecca Keane (2-3) did most of the damage up front.

Finally, there was an entertaining contest in Lisnamult where Siofra Hession showed her quality with a strong scoring display from frees and Shauna Walsh also impressed for Roscommon Gaels, but they didn’t have the firepower of St. Faithleach’s, who ran out 6-17 to 2-11 winners.

Eimer Flynn (2-7) and Ellen Irwin (1-5) topped the scoring charts for St. Faithleach’s but in a strong and balanced team display, wing forwards Orla Irwin and Rachel Banahan, as well as Niamh Scally at midfield and Marie Kelly at full back, also stood out in an impressive showing from the Ballyleague women in what was their first outing of the season, setting themselves up well for a heavyweight clash with St. Mary’s next Sunday.