All roads lead to Shane Mc Gettigan Park (Drumshanbo) on Sunday next for our senior ladies 2^nd  Connacht Championship Final appearance of the 2000’s. This final appearance comes as a result of a well-deserved semi-final victory over Galway Champions Naomh Anna on Sunday last. Played in the depths of Connemara in blustery and wild conditions, our ladies set out their stall early on with a goal from Corner Niamh Mohan, full forward Sinead Mc Tiernan had opened our ladies scoring with a point. The strong breeze seemed to be of no benefit to either team in this game, Naomh Anna opened their account with a point, our keeper Aisling Sweeney made two good saves in quick succession to keep our opponents forwards at bay, wing forward Elaine O’Reilly opened her account for the afternoon with a pointed free on the 12th minute mark. Naomh Anna struck for their first of two goals in this semi-final moments later. The score at the first half water break was 1.4 to 1.1 in our ladies favour.

Further first half points from Sinead Mohan, Gemma Brehony & Captain Sarah Reynolds saw our ladies go in at the half time break in the ascendancy by 5 points. (1.7 to 1.2).

The first half saw both sides guilty of some poor shot selection & shooting, the conditions were a major factor in this, with a severe cross field breeze blowing over the course of the hour.

Naomh Anna hit a purple patch early in the second half kicking 3 points without reply to reduce the margin convincely.

To their credit our ladies upped the ante again with pointed frees from Elaine O’Reilly (2), our wing half backs Caoimhe and Megan who making forward runs at every available opportunity, this caused a lot of problems for Naomh Anna as it created overlaps. A hiccup in our lady’s plans came moments before the 2^nd half water break when midfielder Niamh Ryan received a yellow card and was subsequently sin binned, this reduce our ladies to 14 players, but if anything it rallied them and Niamh Mohan kicked a fine point to add to her first half goal to leave the score at 1.10 to 1.6 in favour of Geevagh.

After the second half water break our ladies struck for their second goal of this game, it was a case of anything you can do I can do better from the other half of the Mohan sisters when Sinead rattled the net for a goal after our backs broke up a Naomh Anna attack.

It was our opponents who had the final say in this enjoyable semi-final, when Geevagh captain Sarah Reynolds was yellow carded when conceding a penalty, our opponents’ duly converted the spot kick but it was to be the final act in this semi-final. Our ladies ran out winners, and deservedly so on a 2.10 to 2.7 final score line.

Our opponents in the final are near neighbours Glencar / Manorhamilton (Leitrim), who defeated Kilmovee Shamrocks in the other semi-final.

Great credit goes to David, Sean, their backroom team and all the players for another gutsy performance and the best of luck in the final. Five of the six starting forwards scored in this game which is a big positive for any team going into a provincial final.

Our Ladies have a 100% record in Connacht Finals so fingers crossed this record will remain intact on Sunday evening next.

Ladies Squad:

Aisling Sweeney, Rebecca Breheny, Bernice Byrne, Nicola O’Reilly, Caoimhe Mc Donasgh, Stephanie O’Reilly, Megan Davey, Niamh Ryan, Sarah Reynolds ©, Cora Ryan, Elaine O’Reilly, Gemma Brehony, Niamh Mohan, Sinead Mc Tiernan, Sinead Mohan. Caitlin Corcoran, Christy Cullen, Nicky Brehony, Maureen Mostyn, Claire Conlon, Aoife Dowd, Rachel Gaffney, Aoife O’Reilly, Katie Davey, Amy Gaffney, Shauna Mc Donagh, Emer Mc Donagh, Ava Glancy.

This team has a great balance of youth & experience, which they will to call on all their resources to outwit Glencar/ Manor in a Sligo Leitrim Connacht Final.

Our U.12 Boys are in “B” Championship semi-final action on Sunday morning next October 10^th at 12 noon. The game is fixed for Geevagh with St Pat’s providing the opposition. Our lads last championship game was way back at the end of August, but Emmet & Tony have being keeping our crew on their toes with challenge games and training sessions.

 All the best on Sunday morning.

We are awaiting, at the time of writing an update on possible changes to the Government Covid restrictions. We will keep our members / supporters updated on what any new restrictions mean for our club activity as soon as they are finalised.

Great credit to all our club teams & mentors who represented the club over this difficult season, hoping 2021 will be a little less stressful from a regulatory point of view.

Thanks for your understanding and patience in supporting all of the public health guidance over the last number of months.