July 10’12
Westmeath 6 – 22
Monaghan 0 – 3
Monaghan will be anxious to forget last Saturday’s demoralising defeat at the hands of Westmeath in the Junior “A” All Ireland Championship series which took place in Oram GAA grounds. Starting with 14 players and losing Donna Mc. Kenna to injury in the early stages of the second half, they fought an uphill struggle from the onset and found it difficult in accumulating scores.
Within a minute of throw in Louise O Connor had one over the bar for Westmeath and by the 10min Dinagh Loughlin had converted two frees one of which was a ’45. Monaghan’s Goalkeeper, Roisin Mc. Kenna who was under severe pressure made an excellent save when Dinagh Loughlin tried to put one past her but Loughlin hit the rebound in the 11th minute and registered a goal on the scoreboard .
Loughlin who was dominating the state of play for Westmeath was accurate in placing a converted free a minute later. Laura Newman made a good run from the midfield and placed one over before disaster struck for Monaghan, half way through the first half when Pamela Greville rattled the net for Westmeath. Loughlin once again placed a free between the posts 5 mins later.
Monaghan’s Michelle Morgan carried the ball into the forward line but was stopped in her tracks on several occasions, Mairead Mc. Carron who was collecting a lot of possession around midfield , fought tirelessly for scores but was fighting an uphill battle, due to an outnumbered full forward line. Saturday fixtures are proving detrimental to the Monaghan side with quite a few of their girls being unavailable due to work commitments, but credit must go to the girls who fielded and battled against the odds.
In the 28th and29th minute Muireann Scally and Greville had points apiece. Monaghan’s Amber Lam intercepted a good pass from Marie Greenan but the Westmeath defence proved too difficult to infiltrate. Monaghan got their first score just before the half time whistle when they were awarded a free when Aisling Conaty got a yellow card for a foul on Mary Meehan which Marie Greenan converted . Kelsey Lam made a good clearance in the Monaghan defence before Loughlin once again converted a free for Westmeath.
Monaghan were first off the mark after the interval , when Marie Greenan sent a good ball into Amber Lam who in turn got it past the Westmeath Goalkeeper but this was subsequently disallowed for an infringement in the square. Loughlin then put one over the bar for Westmeath in the 4th min and Donna Mc. Kenna got Monaghan’s first score from play a minute later when she lobbed the ball over the bar. The Monaghan defence was caught out when Roisin Mc. Kenna made a brilliant save in goal but Westmeath’s substitute Laura Hannon hit the rebound back into the net. Westmeath continued to accumulate a brace of scores with Joanne Walshe getting 3 goals in as many minutes. Amber Lam got a consolation point for Monaghan and Westmeath claimed their second victory in the Championship.
Tyrone is the next port of call when Monaghan cross the border to play the next round on Saturday next.
Venue: Derrytresk Co. Tyrone Saturday 14th @ 6pm
Monaghan Team
Roisin Mc. Kenna,Kelly Fisher, Kelsey Lam, Loiuse O Connell, Emma Mc. Kenna, Mary Meehan, Mary Mc. Elroy, . Amber Lam, (0-1) . Marie Greenan, (0-1) Michelle Morgan, Mairead Mc. Carron, Donna Mc. Kenna, (0-1). Kate Deasy, Emma Forde
Manager: Paul Forde
Westmeath team
Fiona Keatin, Sarah King, Jemma Egan, Capt. Lizzy Hannon, Aoife Higgins, Aisling Conaty , Roisin Scally, (1-0). Dinagh Loughlin, (1-10).Muireann Scally, (0-1) Pamela Greville, (1-4) Louise O’ Connor, Denise Mc. Grath, Laura Thompson, Joanne Walshe, (3-0). Caroline Kelly, Debbie Ennis, Emer Clarke, Ciara Corcoran, Aoife Boyle, Laura Newman, (0-1). Nicola Fagan Avril Fagan, (0-1) . Clodagh Cleary, (0-1). Aisling Boyhan, Eileen Murphy, Catriona Murtagh, (0-2). Joanne Walshe, Laura Hannon, (0-1)
Manager : Noel Boyce, Yvette Cully, Mark Scally, Ian Fivey, Seamus Sheridan
Royal Jade Championship Launch
Amber and Kamie Lam representing the Royal Jade Restaurant, Castleblayney , who are this years sponsor of the Senior Championship together with the Captains of the Clubs, Catherine Tomany, Clontibret (holders ) Carmel Mc. Skane, Inniskeen, Mary Meehan, Truagh and Roisin Mc. Kenna, Castleblayney were present in Cloghan on Monday evening last to officially launch the 2012 Championship.
Underage Blitz
Inniskeen will host the underage development blitz this Saturday 14th July which begins at 11am. Sharp.
Fixtures
Fitzpatricks Coaches League
Tuesday 17TH July @ 7,30pm
Castleblayney V Clontibret
Inniskeen V Truagh
Feile na nGael 2012
Castleblayney Under-14 camogie team represented Monaghan in the All Ireland Féile na nGael competition which was held in Dublin last weekend. The Castleblayney team was hosted by Cumann Baire Caoimhín and travelled to Dublin on Thursday morning. Their first game was against their host club at 2.30pm on Thursday afternoon. From the outset, the Castleblayney girls showed they meant business and had a decisive victory on a score-line of 10 goals 3pts to no score.
The team, mentors and supporters then set off for Croke Park to take part in the Féile Parade. This was a wonderful occasion with over 145 teams parading in glorious sunshine. The huge crowds lining O’ Connell Street ensured that this was the highest attended Feile Parade to date.
Unfortunately the sunshine was short lived and was replaced on Friday by continuous rain. Castleblayney travelled to Drumnigh for a 10.00am match on Friday morning but neither the rain nor the early start could dampen their spirits as they faced another Dublin team, Trinity Gaels. The Blayney girls once again showed a far superior level of skill winning by 6goals 7pts to no score. Their final match in the section was against Sligo Development Squad who were also unbeaten so in effect this was the final match to decide the winners of the section. Sligo were by far a bigger and physically stronger team but the Blayney girls did not let this deter them. Although it took them a while to settle down, they soon came to grips with the size and strength of their opponents and had a well deserved victory on a score line of 5 goals to no score. Scenes of jubilation followed as the team, mentors and parents celebrated their wonderful achievement : to have won their section and qualified for the semi-finals without a single score being scored against them truly was something to be proud of.
The semi- final was played in Erin’s Isle, Finglas at 7.00pm on Friday evening and the weather conditions had deteriorated to driving, persistent rain. Bray Emmets had qualified from section B and although they were a much bigger and stronger team than Castleblayney, it was a very evenly contested match. Castleblayney scored a point midway through the first half and the score remained thus until ten minutes into the second half when Bray were awarded a penalty. To the dismay and astonishment of everyone present including neutral spectators, the referee placed the ball on the 14 metre line for the penalty to be taken. In spite of personnel from Blayney and a neutral spectator who was not connected to the Blayney club appealing to the referee and reminding him that the rule was penalties are to be taken from the 20 metre line, he inexplicably refused to move the ball back and allowed the penalty to be taken from the 14 metre line. Apparently the referee and other match officials were the only ones present who didn’t know the rule as there were appeals even from neutral spectators that it should be from the 20 metre line ! ! ! A goal ensued and that was the final score of the game. Blayney had lost on a score line of 1 goal to 1 point. The Blayney girls were devastated but accepted their defeat gracefully and were the first to approach their opponents to conduct the” hand-shake ceremony”.
As we left the field, our mentors were approached by a neutral observer who was very irate at what had happened and he informed us that the club had 15 minutes in which to lodge an objection in writing to the Féile committee. We did this and our objection was lodged at 8.30pm. We awaited a response but it was 4 hours later before one came ! In fact at 12.30am one of our mentors was in bed when she received a phone call to say that our objection had been rejected because we had not quoted the rule retaining to penalties (so we were expected to know the rule and be able to quote it and yet the match official didn’t know the rule !) We had 15 minutes to appeal this decision in writing to the committee ! The absolute ludicrousness of expecting a club in 15 minutes to get access to a fax machine at 12.30am in a strange area, is beyond belief and we are left with the question “Why did it take 4 hours for the committee to reach its decision ? “ If our objection was rejected on the grounds stated then it was a very straight forward decision and should not have taken 4 hours to reach, this delay left it physically impossible for us to appeal the decision. This, along with the question of how, for an All Ireland Semi-final, a committee could appoint an incompetent referee who had not a basic knowledge of the rules, has left us extremely angry ! !
Nevertheless, in spite of this, the girls had a great weekend. We are very proud of their achievement in reaching the semi-final and proud of the gracious and sporting manner in which they accepted what happened. Great friendships were forged during the weekend and we look forward to a visit from our host club later in the year.
Castleblayney Feile na Gael Panel 2012
Nicola Quinn, Jordan Mc Mahon, Clodagh Duffy, Deslit George, Eimear Duffy, Sheena Mc Kenna, Caireen Mc Kenna, Arlene Leonard, Róisín O Sullivan, Leah Haughey, Michelle Forde , Rachel Mc Bennett, Anike Olajide, Eileen Cullen, Aoife Cullen, Shaunine Rice, Janine Mc Bennett, Jade Lam, Louise Gorman, Móirín Lanney, Lisa Rose Mc Mahon, Néamh Agnew, Megan Kelly, Chelsea O’ Neill
Poc Fada
The Ulster Poc Fada on Divis Mountain has been rescheduled for Saturday 21st July at 11am
Anyone from around the clubs who is interested in taking part should contact: Ciaran Kearney, Administration Manager, Ulster Camogie Council www.ulstercamogie.ie 07825855718
By michael Tue 10th Jul
