“A” Championship football commenced last week for the U14 and U16 girls with matches in Hazlewood against Calry.   On Monday, at the U14 age group, both sides were missing a number of starters due to the holiday season, so it gave an opportunity for girls who would not normally get full games to step up.   The teams served up a tremendous display of football despite difficult underfoot conditions and Marys edged the victory over the 60 minutes.   St Marys will play their next Championship tie against Eastern Harps in Kent Park on Monday 21^st.   The U16 girls side returned on Thursday in their first match since winning the league last May and certainly will benefit from this competitive outing against Calry.   St Marys won but the result could easily have been in Calry’s favour as they led 5-05 to 3-05 at half time and then the second half went point for point until St Marys finally pulled away in the last 5 minutes.   Testing encounters will be the norm for the next few weeks in a very competitive Championship and Thursday sees Drumcliffe/Rosses Point visit Kent Park.

The Ladies section has been very busy and our U10’s particularly so.  A week ago they attended a blitz organised by the Sligo Ladies Committee in Kilcoyne Park Tubbercurry, playing 6 games.  Opposition included Curry, Tourlestrane, Eoghan Rua, Shamrock Gaels, CT Gaels and Eastern Harps.  The girls gave a fantastic account of themselves and worked extremely hard demonstrating all of the key skills they have learned during the year measuring up to and often outperforming the opposition during the course of the blitz.  Then last Tuesday evening the girls travelled to Oxfield to play Drumcliffe for the first of 5 games in an end of season competition set up by the Sligo Ladies Committee. Once again the girls showed their continued improvement with a very strong performance in all positions. Next up is a home game against Curry this coming Tuesday 22nd August.   Congratulations from everyone in the Club to Sligo ladies on beating Roscommon last Sunday in the All Ireland Intermediate Quarter Finals and especially to our own players Karen Maloney, Sarah McMoreland and Emma Hansberry.

Our U16 boys, despite losing, played very well against Drumcliff/Rosses Point last week in the first round of their Championship. The lads started brightly with good early ball delivered into the forward line, where brisk interplay yielded results through fine points from Jay Cox.  Then an Eamonn Flynn solo run ended with him chipping the keeper for the opening goal, and we moved into a five point lead. However, Drumcliff responded, and scored a goal and six unanswered points, until points from Micheal Morgan and Daire Cawley left St Mary's at a one point deficit at half time.    Michael Munnelly's introduction added great energy to St Mary's and his two fine points put Marys ahead. However, the lead was short lived as Drumcliff's pace proved too good for our hardworking defence, and some well taken goals put the game out of reach.  Still the guys did not give up and buoyed by the introduction of Marc O’Hehir and Fergal O’Kelly-Lynch, St Marys battled to the end and added points from Jay Cox and Jimmy Monaghan.    The next round is this Monday at home to Tourlestrane

An exciting night is promised for this Wednesday when our U12 Division 1 team play Shamrock Gaels in the league final, starting at 6.15.   Afterwards, our U12 Division 3 side have a 3^rd place play-off in their league.   Come out and support these young lads who play a brand of football, where they give everything each time they take to the pitch.   Good luck to everyone.

The Senior men's team travelled to Tourlestrane to face Tubbercurry in Round 2 of the Belfry Senior Football Championship, both teams having won their first match.   This was always going to be a tight encounter, and half time saw the teams level at 7 points a-piece.   St Marys dominated the early exchanges of the second half, but could not pull away and a Tubbercurry penalty kept them in the game. As the game drew to a close, the teams exchanged points before a late David Kelly goal proved the difference and Tubbercurry snatched victory.   The loss means that St Marys now have to beat Curry in their last group game to qualify for the quarter finals.    The Junior Championship commences this Sunday when our lads take on Shamrock Gaels in Markievicz Park with a throw in at noon.   Again support will be greatly appreciated.

Michael Morgan who plays with our U16 boys side again showed his athletic prowess on coming 3^rd in the Community Games national competition for 1500 Metres, and congratulations to Michael on this fantastic achievement.