Impressive win for Shamrocks U12s

U12 DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE

Our U12s produced another fine performance last week when we hosted Erins Own in Knockanore. The girls have been playing some great football with five wins from their five games so far, with just two games remaining versus Portlaw/Ballyduff Lower and Old Parish before the knockout stages later in the Summer.

In Erins Own they faced their toughest test, and from the opening minutes it was clear that there was very little between the teams. Erins Own opened the scoring with a point and soon added a goal before Alyson Murphy got Shamrocks up and running with a point from midfield. The next two points came from Erins Own before Shamrocks finished the half in spectacular style with a long-range Sophie McCarthy shot going all the way to the net.

That goal was sandwiched between two superb Alyson Murphy green flags to leave Shamrocks ahead at halftime with the score reading Shamrocks 3-01 Erins Own 1-02.

Bizarrely Shamrocks wouldn’t score for the second period, as Erins Own backed by the slight breeze tried to edge ahead in a game they would now have the majority of possession. The Shamrocks defence however produced an exhibition of defending in a second half where every Erins Own attack was repelled by the superb Ciara Martin and Louise Moloney in the Shamrocks full back line.

At centre back, Shamrocks had the player of the match in Sophie McCarthy as she dominated the number 6 position, ably assisted by her wing backs, Bonnie McLaughlin and Aifric Sheridan. Shamrocks needed two superb saves midway through the half from their outstanding goalkeeper Ella Daly to keep their slender lead intact. With Alyson Murphy and Saoirse Massey getting the better of the midfield exchanges and Cara Morrison and Caoimhe O’Connell working tirelessly in the Shamrocks full forward line the game entered the final minutes with Erins Own only registering a single point for their endeavours in the second half.

Their second and final point of the half came deep in injury time as Shamrocks held out to deservedly claim the points with the final score: Shamrocks 3-01 Erins Own 1-04.

Our next game is an away trip to Portlaw/Ballyduff Lower this Monday evening.

JUNIOR & MINOR CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES

With a break in games for the last few weeks due to exams its very much back to business with the start of the junior and minor championships in the coming weeks. Our juniors kick off their championship with a home fixture versus Kilmacthomas on Sunday, July 10.

The following evening July 11, the minor championship is up and running with our minors hosting Portlaw/Ballyduff Lower in their opening game.

U13 & U15 LEAGUES

Our U13s and U15s will also be in action in July with the start of both the U13 and U15 leagues. We hope to receive the fixtures this week with the U13 due to kick off on July 6 and U15 on July 13.

WATERFORD SENIORS

Last Saturday afternoon saw the Waterford LGFA senior team bow out of this year’s All-Ireland TG4 Championship when they were defeated by Cork 2-10 to 1-05 in O’Moore Park, Portlaoise.

Played in very difficult conditions with driving rain and a gale force wind blowing directly down the field it wasn’t until the final minutes that Cork secured their place in the quarter-finals when they scored 1-03 without reply. Playing with the wind in the first half Waterford led 1-05 to 1-03 at the break. With the strong wind favouring Cork in the second half that two-point advantage needed to be more and in the end the elements played their part as Cork finished deserving winners. Waterford now face Monaghan in the relegation play-offs next month.

FAREWELL

All in Shamrocks LGFC would like to wish a fond farewell to Barbara Brodersen who returned home to the United States last week. Barbara was a member of our U14 and U15 teams this year and soon after moving to the locality last June from Washington came along to training and seamlessly slotted in and became an important member of our teams.

Having never played football before, her improvement in such a short time was remarkable. Soon after joining Barbara was playing with our U12s and by last September played a starring role when they beat Gaultier in their U12 County final in Lemybrien. This year Barbara made the step up to our U14 team and just a few days before leaving was outstanding at corner back in her final game for the club against St Olivers. She had her final training session with us last week where we were delighted to present her with her U12 County medal and U15 County Féile medal as well as a framed photograph of our 2021 U12 County champions.

Barbara is going to be really missed by everyone and we were delighted to have her play for Shamrocks for the last 12 months. Barbara’s football career is far from over however, as she has already plans in place to continue playing with the Washington DC Gaels on her return home!

U6S – U10S

Our U6s, U8s and U10s are busy training and playing matches and last week made the trip to Aglish to take on St Olivers. For many of our U6s this was their first ever game! All three teams had a really enjoyable evening and the progress they are making is fantastic to see.

BOOGIE BINGO

Our 2022 fundraiser ‘ Boogie Bingo’ is fast approaching on Friday, July 9 in the KGK Hall, Knockanore. ‘Boogie Bingo’ is a fun spin on traditional bingo with numbers replaced by a playlist and snippets of classic songs.