History was made on Sunday evening as our Seniors started
their Belfry Senior Championship campaign with a home game at Kent Park against
neighbours Coolera / Strandhill. The
game was attended by a large number of supporters from both sides enjoying
pleasant if a little breezy conditions.
St Mary's started the game a little quicker than Coolera and were 2
points up after five minutes, Coolera were not going to be beaten that easily
and the scores where exchanged throughout the first half . St Mary's came out in the second half and
started to play a much better standard of Football and with a strong breeze in
their faces they passed the ball much better than they had in the first
half. St Mary's kept going to the end
and introduced fresh legs from the bench to replace some battle weary
teammates. St Mary's won the game with a score line of 1-11 to 1-6 which hides
the real competitive nature of Coolera in this game. Congratulations to all
involved on and off the pitch in making this historic day at St Mary's such a
great success.
St Mary's ladies created history by winning the intermediate
league for the first time when they defeated Eoghan Rua by 2 points in a very
entertaining game. From the start both teams produced a high level of skill and
the result was in doubt right up to the very end. An outstanding performance by
Cathy Newton in the St Mary's Goal helped her team to go in at halftime leading
by a single point despite playing against a strong breeze. In the second half
the play swung from end to end with no more than a point or two between the
sides at any time. A penalty with seven minutes to go put Eoghan Rua a point up
but St Mary's allowed their time and hit 3 unanswered points in the last five
minutes to win by two poits. The cup was presented to Lisa Melly by the
Chairperson of the Ladies Board, Kathleen Keane amid scenes of great
Jubilation. Team and Scorers C.Newton,
A.Connolly, S.Brennan, C.Kelly, L.Melly, C, A.Egan, G.Egan (0-4), ,
H.Kilgallen,, R.Goodwin, (0-1) K.Maloney(0-4), L.Maloney, L.A.Laffey(0-3) ,
L.Martyn, R.McGoldrick (0-1), S.Keaney, M.Gillen, S.McMoreland (1-0), O.Kelly.
The U 14 girls play in the A league semi final this Tuesday
30th June, with a home match against Shamrock Gaels @ 7pm. Please come and
support the girls.
Our U14 boys took part in the Provincial Feile on Saturday
at the Connacht Centre of Excellence in Ballyhaunis. We played St Ciaran’s of Roscommon
first. The lads played some excellent
team football and with a goal from Aidan Campbell and points from Michael
Munnelly, Hubert Gilvarry, Eamon Flynn, Anthony Maher and Anthony Fidgeon we
were 1-5 to 1-2 at half time. With
further scores from some of the above and Finn Young and Jay Cox joining the
action we won 3-10 to 3-2. Our second
game was against Drumkeerin, Co Leitrim.
Again we got off to a good start and lead 1-5 to 1-1 at the half way
mark. Our first of 2 points in the
second half was an excellent point from corner back Juan Lyons and we won 1-7
to 2-1. The next game was a different
story and we knew we were up against it as we got prior information on Mayo
Gaels tall centre-fielders and full-forward.
Manager Hubert Gilvarry played a tactical game and dropped Jason Devaney
back as a sweeper, with the primary aim of doubling up on the
full-forward. This worked very well in
the first half against the wind and we scored 3 points to their goal and point. However they took full advantage of the wind
in the second and went on to win convincingly.
Our keeper Jack Teape was on good form on the day and his highlight was
a saved penalty.