Éire Óg and St. Brigid's to battle it out for semi-final berth
The Northern Harps junior ladies' team that defeated St. Faithleach's in last weekend's Roscommon LGFA Junior Championship in Ballyleague.
Éire Óg are still in with a shout of securing top spot in Group One and an automatic semi-final berth in the Dermot Hughes Cars Roscommon LGFA Senior Championship after they came away from Knockcroghery with a 2-7 to 0-12 win over home side St. Dominic’s on Sunday morning, setting the stage for a top-of-the-table clash with St. Brigid’s 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 crossfield 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 St. Dominic’s chipped away at the Éire Óg lead, but the absence of a goal to take a chunk out of the margin proved to be their undoing.
Éire Óg goalkeeper, Lily Vickers, performed heroics 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, deputising for the injured Niamh Flannery. The return from long-term injury of Fiona Crawley was a further boost to the West Roscommon club.
St. Brigid’s scored five goals in the first quarter but they still had to stave off a Clann na nGael comeback to get the better of the county champions in Sunday’s second round Dermot Hughes Cars Senior Ladies’ Football Championship clash at Johnstown.
Player of the Match Marian Nolan, Lucy Sheffield, Aine O’Brien, Sarah O’Rourke and Alison Nugent raised green flags before the first water break.
Although Clann stemmed the bleeding somewhat in the second quarter, a 5-3 to 0-7 deficit looked insurmountable.
But Clann continued to climb the mountain, led by the outstanding Róise Lennon and Caoimhe Lennon.
The former scored a brilliant individual goal, but the home side also left chances behind them to just fall short on a scoreline of 5-6 to 1-15 after a thoroughly entertaining game of football between two fine footballing sides.
In Group Two, 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.
The home side played their best football in the early stages, picking off points from Sorcha Bruen and Aishling McDermott, while the latter also crashed a shot off the crossbar.
By the second quarter, St. Ciarán’s were controlling possession, winning frees in the tackle and letting Ciara Dowd do the rest from the resultant opportunities.
The 0-10 to 0-4 half-time lead was halved when an effort for a point from Christina Beirne dropped just under the St. Ciarán’s crossbar, but they couldn’t build on that boost and, instead, a well-worked team move was finished to the net by Hollie Gavin for the visitors.
Points from Rachel Fitzmaurice, Dowd and Gavin saw out the game, and now the challenge for Jonathan Conroy and his players will be to manage a four-week gap until their quarter-final.
Next Sunday, St. Brigid's will host Éire Óg, with the winner automatically securing the first semi-final berth in this year's championship.
In the Coachman’s Inn/Harry’s Restaurant intermediate championship, the big question was how St. Barry’s would respond to their first round defeat. The answer from the Tarmonbarry women was emphatic as two goals in a minute from Cara Cox and Edel Beirne midway through the second half killed off the challenge of a dogged Michael Glaveys side at Ballinlough.
Cox, Sarah McVeigh and Holly Rogers returned to the St. Barry’s team for this game and a 4-13 to 1-10 final score would indicate that the Division One League finalists were comfortable throughout.
It was anything but that. Michael Glaveys led by 0-3 to 0-2 after a tense first quarter, and even after Orlaigh Tighe and Beirne found the net in the 20th and 22nd minute, Niamh Fleming came back with a green flag for Glaveys, ensuring a finely poised contest at the break, 2-5 to 1-4.
Shannon McGuinness hit the second of her three points from play early in the second half but the home side rattled off the next three in a row, cutting the gap to just two points.
The contrast in the range of scoring threats was stark, however. Fleming finished the day with 1-2 while Sheila Brady hit 0-8 (two frees) for Michael Glaveys, while St. Barry’s had seven scorers in total.
Cox and Beirne hitting the net allowed St. Barry’s to run the bench — they used 22 players in all — and they played with no shortage of energy and fluency in the closing stages.
They’ll be hot favourites next Sunday too when they play host to Western Gaels, who continue to find life very tough in the intermediate grade. St. Croan’s ran out 5-23 to 1-5 winners in a one-sided contest at Nash Park on Sunday morning, and all across the pitch, the visiting Ballintubber/Ballymoe club was dominant.
Aisling King and Aoibhin Collins starred in defence, Ella Thompson kicked 2-5 while lording matters at midfield and, perhaps, the remarkable statistic of the day was that just four players contributed to St. Croan’s hefty tally — Anna Gooney (0-9), Leah Malone (1-5) and Sinéad Kenny (2-4) all ran riot, with 5-21 coming from play for the winning side.
In a depleted Western Gaels side, Críosa Flanagan made her senior debut, Edel Murray struck the consolation goal when Liah Lavin was on the mark with two points, but a significant turnaround in form will be needed if they are to be competitive in Tarmonbarry next Sunday.
Picking a winner of the battle of two unbeaten sides in Enfield next weekend will be a very different matter. Pádraig Pearses are set to travel north and they will do so in confidence after they eventually broke down a stubborn and competitive Kilbride side on Sunday.
There were just three points between the teams until late goals from Áine Galvin and Sarah Dooley pushed Pearses across the line by 4-8 to 2-6 against a Kilbride side that continues to have trouble breaking a run of defeats that has now extended to 15 competitive games since March 2024.
Early points from Clara Tully and Aisling Hanly indicated that Kilbride believed this could be their day on their home field and a yellow card for Ciara Lohan of Pearses after eight minutes opened another window of opportunity.
The reigning junior county champions responded perfectly to that setback, outscoring Kilbride by 1-3 to no score in the ten-minute sin bin period — the goal coming from Michaela Keogh.
Despite playing with the aid of the breeze in the first half, Kilbride looked to keep things tight and stay in the game. Caitlin Malone found the net for Pearses on her first championship start of the year, having missed the St. Barry’s game, but a goal from the impressive Laura McSharry in response kept it competitive by half time, 2-4 to 1-5.
With the wind behind them and with Chloe Mulryan and Emma McGreal performing well in the backline to keep the Aisling Hanly-led Kilbride attack at bay, points from Laura Glennon — who finished with 0-5 — Lorraine Kenny and Esmae Halpin put a little bit of distance between the sides.
Clara Tully halved the gap with her goal in the 52nd minute, but Áine Galvin replied in kind just 30 seconds later to ease the visitors’ nerves.
There were three games in the Leydon Brothers JFC and already Northern Harps and St. Mary’s look to be putting distance between themselves and the chasing pack, as they each recorded comprehensive victories over St. Faithleach’s and Four Roads, respectively.
As is customary on the northern edge of Lough Ree, there was a strong breeze in Ballyleague which favoured Northern Harps in the opening half of their game against a St. Faithleach’s side who were without county player Ellen Irwin.
Shauna McGrath was the tormentor-in-chief of the home side’s defence, attacking from the centre-forward position to kick five of the Harps’ seven points in the opening half hour.
A goal from a Sarah Scally free gave St. Faithleach’s some hope as they turned around to play with the wind, but, instead, the momentum shifted the other way.
Ciara Cunningham’s quick point was followed by her winning a penalty, which Leah Casey converted. Cunningham added two more scores, Louise Leonard chipped in with a point before substitute Grace Cullen sealed a 2-11 to 1-1 victory with a well-taken goal.
Shona Hanley, Aisling Callaghan, Hannah Moylan and Niamh Feeney were among the leading lights in Four Roads where St. Mary’s came away with a 6-12 to 1-7 win over the home club.
It was tight in the first half with the scoreboard reading 2-6 to 1-5 at that stage, but Hannah Moylan, Sandra Keane and Kate Murray were on the mark early in the second half to give St. Mary’s momentum that they never relinquished.
In Group Two, there was an early start in Rockfield for the meeting of Oran and Kilmore/Kilglass Gaels, where the visitors took a strong step towards topping their group by recording a 4-5 to 1-8 win.
Oran got off to a great start with a point from Taylor Kelly and a goal from Áine Earley, while they also responded well to the concession of a Natasha Munnelly goal by adding the next two points.
In what proved to be a feisty and physical battle between the sides, Munnelly added a second goal from open play and two more from penalties. Michaela McHugh kicked a couple of crucial points and their defence stood firm as the tone was set by Áine Caslin, Aoife Butler and the industrious Becky Coyle.
There was a further setback for Oran in advance of a big local derby against Castlerea next week when Orla Connolly, the team’s only scorer in the second half and a perennial leader in the group, sustained an injury late in the game.
In the Junior B and C championships, Roscommon Gaels continue to make strides forward as their young side beat Strokestown by 4-12 to 0-5. In the same group, Michael Glaveys beat St. Ciarán’s in a shootout, 4-16 to 5-10.
It was similar fare in Woodmount where St. Dominic’s beat Pádraig Pearses by 2-21 to 5-7 in what was Pearses' first time in 33 years to field a second team, while on Friday evening, three Aishling McDermott goals powered Shannon Gaels to a 4-13 to 1-5 win over Kilbride.
