Ladies Football Corner with Noel Holohan
The preparations for the upcoming ladies football season continued over the weekend as the Wexford Junior and minor teams had useful practise matches on Saturday and Sunday.
On Sunday in Kilanerin the Wexford Junior team had their first competitive outing of the new season and they defeated Wicklow on a 4-7 to 4-5 score line. There was a completely new look about the Wexford side with only four players from last year panel involved namely Roisin Murphy, Kellie Kearny, Sharon Kehoe and Katie Redmond. There was several of the new recruits who impressed with Natalie Cush (Kilanerin) and Katie Sludds (Crossabeg Ballymurn) both impressing in the goal, while out the field there was encouraging performances from Marica Cullen (St Anne’s), Niamh Moore (Kilmore), Ciara Neville (Shelmeliars), Ciara Corrigan (Shelmeliars), Julie Coakley (St Fintan’s) , Fiona Bennett (St Anne’s) and Aine Leacy (Rathgurogue Cushinstown) to give Billy Donnelly plenty of positive thoughts and he will assess his charges again on Wednesday night as they play WIT in The WIT Sport’s Campus at 7.30 pm.
On Saturday night St James’s GAA grounds in Mersheen played host to a cracking minor challenge game as the Wexford minor side took on the senior team from St Mary’s in New Ross. Just two points separated the sides at the end of a good open game of football with Wexford winning on a 5-7 to 3-11 score line. St Mary’s New Ross held a five point half time lead with Mary Cummins and Chloe Foxe among the goal scorers for the Mercy girls while finding the net for the purple and gold was Ellie O’Connor.
The second half continued in a fast open affair with plenty of space being found on the pitch eventually goals from Amy Banville, Rebecca Foley (two) and Aoife Park was enough to give Wexford the win, who have another game this coming Saturday night as they play the under 16 county team under lights in St Patrick’s Park. With a lot of the Wexford team lining out in the Mercy colours plus injury’s the Wexford minor management team are left in the great position of having close to forty players fighting hard to make the squad.
For St Mary’s New Ross, it is Leinster semi final action this coming Wednesday as the girl’s from the Irish Town School in New Ross come up against Trim from Meath in what should be a very tough game. This is the same Mercy team that collected junior honours two years ago and they will be hungry for more success this Wednesday.
Wexford Minor team
Geraldine Curtis (Clongeen), Trudy Downey (Volunteers), Ciara Goland (Castletown), Kate Stafford (Shelmeliars), Aoife Parkers (Shelmeliars) (1-0), Geraldine Doolan (Shelmeliars), Ellen Barrett , Sarah Banville (Taghmon Camross), Sarah Farrell (Clongeen), Ellie O’Connor (Kilmore) (1-1), Noeleen Shanahan (Crossabeg Ballymurn) (0-1), Leanne Corrigan (Shelmeliars), Aisling McCaulife (0-1), Amy Banville (Crossabeg Ballymurn)(1-1), Meghan Whitty (Horeswood) subs used Aoife McCaulife (St Martin’s), Caoimhe Roche (Castletown), Stephanie Sinnott (Adamstown) (0-1), Rebecca Foley (Clonard) (2-2), Ciara McKelvie (Castletown).
Leinster Ladies Gaelic Football is once again seeking applications for its Gaelic4Girls programme, which is a twelve week programme incorporating coaching sessions with fun non-competitive blitzes aimed at increasing participation in the game. The programme targets girls aged between 8-12 , who are not currently registered with a Ladies Football club; essentially it is a great way to attract new players into your club.
The programme is open to new, established and struggling ladies football clubs and this can help any of the three to bring in new members and players. The mixture of training, fun games and structured coaching is a great incentive for any club and applications will soon close on the 31st of January, the full applications are available on www.ladiesgaelic.ie.