Thornton fires Shamrocks ladies to league victory

Westmeath LGFA Division 2 league final: Mullingar Shamrocks 3-13, Killucan 2-9

Mullingar Shamrocks ladies were crowned Division 2 league champions at Lakepoint Park yesterday (Saturday) evening, with a sublime individual display from Clara Thornton key in overcoming a battling Killucan side.

Thornton shot 2-7 and could easily have had more, as the Mullingar women pulled away in the second half to finish comfortable winners. Killucan, meanwhile, had their own star forward in Cailín Raleigh, who notched up 2-4 including a superb penalty when the Saffrons were briefly in the driving seat towards the end of the first half.

On an evening when occasional showers made for a greasy surface, the quality of football was unaffected and the small crowd in attendance were treated to an open game packed with honesty of effort.

It was Killucan who drew first blood with a well-taken free from Amelia Shaw, but after four minutes Shamrocks skipper Tara Fagan split the Saffrons’ defence with a superb long-range pass and found the inrushing Clara Thornton, who delivered a powerful shot to the net.

Shamrocks suffered a couple of setbacks in the ensuing minutes, temporarily losing midfielder Mairéad Newman to a knock and tacking on a couple of wides. However, on 13 minutes, Thornton added a point after a lovely over-the-top kicked pass from Honor MacNamara.

Moments later, Thornton had another goal chance blocked by Killucan’s Hannah Borthwick, and the ball was recycled out to Clíodhna Spellman, who kicked a fine score.

However, by the 20th minute, Killucan heaped the pressure back on Shamrocks with a trio of points from Rachel Darby, Fiona Leavy and Cailín Raleigh. The Mullingar girls then moved a goal in front with back-to-back scores from MacNamara (after some good work by Holly McCormack) and Thornton.

Killucan kept battling though, and on 25 minutes Raleigh was bodychecked and knocked to the ground, winning a penalty for Killucan and despatching a superb left-footed kick to the roof of the net to level matters. When Amelia Shaw pointed three minutes later, the Saffrons led for the first time since the fourth minute.

Three minutes into stoppage time, Clara Thornton converted a free for Shamrocks to make it 1-5 apiece at the break, and Killucan will surely have been the happier of the two sides at the short whistle.

Shamrocks were more ruthless in the second half however, and this was epitomised by their second goal on 34 minutes, when a short free from Thornton found MacNamara, who rifled a low, left-footed shot to the net.

Shortly afterwards, Thornton had another low shot saved by Killucan netminder Sarah Kiernan, but Holly McCormack put four between the sides with a good score.

Killucan weren’t prepared to throw in the towel, and within two minutes they halved Shamrocks’ advantage with scores from Amelia Shaw (a free) and Cailín Raleigh. However, Mullingar replied with two consecutive scores from McCormack and Thornton (the latter struck off the ground after a Killucan defender fumbled a lob from Shamrocks’ Michaela O’Connor).

The pendulum swung in Killucan’s favour again in the ensuing minutes, with Raleigh dividing the posts before rounding a would-be marker to drive the ball to the net, making it 2-8 apiece after 44 minutes. Moments earlier, Aoife Boyle had rattled the crossbar for Killucan.

The Saffrons couldn’t build on this momentum however, and Shamrocks bossed the final quarter by outscoring Killucan 1-4 to 0-1. What broke Killucan’s momentum was Mullingar’s third goal on 47 minutes, when Mia Gilligan’s lofty pass connected with Clara Thornton, who beat Killucan’s Caoimhe Brady in the air to nudge the ball home.

From there, Shamrocks – sporting a black and green away kit – closed out the game with scores from Thornton (3), Clíodhna Spellman and MacNamara.

Cailín Raleigh replied with a late free for Killucan, and deep into time added on, Thornton almost completed a hat-trick after a superb Shamrocks passing move.

At full-time, Ted Cronin of Westmeath LGFA presented the Division 2 trophy to Mullingar Shamrocks captain, Tara Fagan.

Scorers – Mullingar Shamrocks: C Thornton 2-7 (0-2f), H MacNamara 1-2, C Spellman and H McCormack 0-2 each. Killucan: C Raleigh 2-4 (1-0 pen, 0-1f), A Shaw 0-3 (2f), R Darby and F Leavy 0-1 each.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Lauren McCormack; Sophie Hegarty, Niamh Spellman, Anne-Marie O’Reilly; Shona McNicholas, Tara Fagan, Clíodhna Spellman; Caoimhe Gaffney, Mairéad Newman; Clara Thornton, Michaela O’Connor, Emma Morris; Holly McCormack, Honor MacNamara, Mia Gilligan. Subs used: Laura Whitelaw for Newman (inj., 7), Newman for O’Reilly (inj., 46), Jasmine Haugh for Gilligan (53).

Killucan: Sarah Kiernan; Mary Dunne, Jade McKeogh, Hannah Borthwick; Rachel Darby, Caoimhe Brady, Aisling Keogh; Fiona Leavy, Meghan Carroll; Faye Dunne, Aisling Doyle, Aoife Boyle; Cailín Raleigh, Saoirse McGee, Amelia Shaw. Subs used: Kathy Doyle for Keogh (36), Aoife Flynn for Borthwick (53), Hannah Kilmartin for F Dunne (53), Nicole Mullen for McGee (60).

Ref: Jim Rock (Coralstown/Kinnegad).