U14 Tigers bowed out of the Championship on Sunday when they played away to League winners St Furseys in the Semi Final. Furseys dominated for most of the first half creating many scoring opportunities but excellent work from Rebecca Downes and the Claregalway full back line of Gwen Horkan, Ellen Connolly & Deirdre Keane denied them on many occassions. There were excellent performances from Catriona Moran who battled up and down the field and from Roisín Conlan (Captain) who led by example on the day with Morgen Conroy Broderick covering the other wing. Claregalway were 6 pts down at the break with a scoreline of 1-5 to 0-2. In the second half, Claregalway began strongly with excellent Mid Field play from Eva Gilmore and Aisling Murphy who continually fed the ball down the field narrowing the gap to just 1 pt. The forwards Moya Dunleavy, Megan Shaughnessy, Chloe Donnellan, Laura King, Leah Flemming, Sky Nash all put in a great performace and were unfortunate to miss a number of good chances. A late goal in the 2nd half put the Claregalway Girls ahead for the first time in the game, however, a free awarded to St Furseys on the Claregalway Line in the closing minutes ended with a goal followed by another free which gave Furseys the game on a final scoreline of 2-6 to 1-6. Aoife O Connell, Aoife Gavin & Orla O Gorman also contributed to what was an outstanding and spirited Claregalway performance.
The U-14 Lions played Corofin in the Championship semi-final in Claregalway on Monday evening. Having won the toss Claregalway played with the strong breeze in the opening half and playing some good football led at the break by 1-9 to no score. Corofin came much more into the game in the second half scoring four goals but the Claregalway Girls added further scores to run out deserving winners. This was a great Team performance by the 20 girls that played and they can now look forward to a county final against Moycullen in two weeks time. The Team travel to Ballyboden this weekend to take part in the All-Ireland U-14 Sevens and we wish them well. The Club has complementary tickets available for next Sundays Ladies All-Irelands and anyone interested contact Jimmy Gavin 0872835847.
Well done to the Junior Ladies who won out strongly to Leitir Mór in Moycullen at the weekend in the Junior A Championship Final. Claregalway can now compete at intermediate level next year which is a great achievement for the Club. Best of luck to the girls in their upcoming League Finals and as they progress to Connacht.
