Mary’s ladies take shield
By Daire Walsh
The old adage of ‘goals win games’ proved to be the case at 12th Lock on Saturday as St Mary’s, Saggart secured the Dublin Ladies Football U15 Division Six Shield with a 8-2 to 1-8 final victory over Lucan Sarsfields.
En route to this showpiece affair, both teams were forced to dig deep before recording semi-final wins. On their home patch of Saggart on October 8, Mary’s had just three points to spare (4-5 to 2-8) over a well-drilled Garda/Westmanstown Gaels side.
Lucan were also afforded home advantage for their last-four encounter with Ballinteer St John’s ‘B’ on the same day. The visitors largely gave as good as they got in 12th Lock, before Sarsfields eventually recorded a 3-7 to 3-5 win.
Playing a second successive knockout game at home was an ideal scenario on paper for Lucan and they started the action in fine form. However, Mary’s responded with a penalty from captain Sadhbh Walsh and never looked back from that point.
Walsh also converted a spot-kick in the second half and grabbed a third goal to mark an outstanding individual performance. She wasn’t alone in claiming a hat-trick on the day as Davina Strumble finished with an excellent haul of 3-1 to her name.
There were additional goals from Hannah Walsh and Mia Norman, with the latter also chipping in with a fine point. Although raising the green flag on eight occasions is notable, keeping Lucan to a solitary goal of their own was also commendable from Mary’s.
Amongst a strong defensive unit, Eabha O’Callaghan and Emily Condon cut off the Sarsfields supply line and launched a series of attacks at the opposite end.
There was some disappointment for the Thomas Davis U15 ‘A’ side at Kiltipper Road on Saturday as they lost out to Na Fianna on a scoreline of 2-14 to 3-7 in a Division Two Shield decider.
However, their U15 ‘B’ team did enjoy success at the same venue in the form of a 4-5 to 2-3 win against Naomh Maur ‘B’ in a Division 10 Shield final. This was the first of two triumphs for Davis in the juvenile ranks over the weekend, with their U16s recording a 7-7 to 1-10 victory at the expense of Castleknock in a Division Three Shield showpiece at Somerton Park on Sunday.