Close Encounters on St. Valentines Day in Tyrrellspass

The St. Sylvester’s U16 girl’s team played their match first V Tyrrellspass U16 team which also included a number of girls from the nearby Ballinagore GAA Club. St Sylvester’s are a very young U16 side for 2010 and with the exception of one girl have graduated up from U14 Div 1 in 2009. They are moving up to U16 for 2010 in order to provide football for a few girls who are too old to play U15 this year. The U16 team were also assisted in this game by a number of Brian Sullivan’s U14 side.
Sylvester’s girls did very well in the first half with Kim White scoring 1-2 from midfield. Seana Reilly also scored 1-1 and Graine McGinty scored a goal making the score the Sylvester’s 3-3 to Tyrrellspass 0-1 at the interval. Tyrrellspass/Ballinagore proved that they were a very good team and put in a huge performance in the second half.  They responded with three very quick goals and a point causing the Syls girls to defend desperately at times. Syls got a grip on the defence again and towards the end of the game were launching a series of attacks again. They hit the post three times and were unlucky not to add to their half time score. 

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The match ended Syls 3-3 Tyrrellspass 3-2. Rachel Whaley was very good in goal for Syls. The full back line of Lucia Hughes, Niamh Harney and Sarah Purcell were outstanding. They were assisted by the half backs Leah White, Ciara Lynch and Shannon Gunning. At centre field we had the two Leinster Championship U14 winners from last year Eimer Treacy and Kim White and as usual they were outstanding. In the half forwards we had Leah Harrold, Graine McGinty  and Emma Sullivan all doing well. The full forward line included Claire Hopkins Seana Reilly and Shauna Barry all doing very well. Seana Reilly dropped back to defence in the first 20 minutes of the second half and in a big way she helped to put out the fire.  This was her first game as Captain of the team.
Subs coming into the game included Emma Lynch, Rachael Dempsey Laoibhse Brannigan and Aoife O’Flynn who showed that we have great strength in Dept.
The Minor game followed with Syls under the direction of Chris Ryan, Panner, and (29 year old for another while) Ronnie O’Carroll. The Syls Minor team were missing about 12 regulars because of the Scoil Iosa mid term trip away as well as some injuries. However the replacements from the Minor B team did very well. Tyrrellspass normally play in 13 a side competition in Westmeath because of lack of numbers. In some ways this may benefit them as it ensures that most members of the panel get plenty of match practice. They have a very good team and were very accurate at point scoring. Syls were 0-5 to Tyrrellspass 0-9 at half time. Syls outscored Tyrrellspass in the second half with the scores ending Syls 1-12 Tyrrellspass 0-17. However Tyrrellspass won the match by two points and therefore winning the Denis Glennon Memorial cup for the first time. Similar to the girl’s match this was a also very exciting game with Sylvester’s putting on the pressure in the last 15 minutes. In this period Syls missed a penalty which was a very good kick going in to the bottom corner but saved by the keeper. There were some very good displays on both sides but the writer thought Conor Meaney and Halligan were outstanding.
These two games are a great preparation for these 4 teams who have their season starting soon. After the game the Cups were presented to the Syls U16 Girls team and the Tyrrellspass team by David Glennon Tyrrellspass and Westmeath and a grandson of Denis Glennon Snr. Sylvester’s had four girls playing in the U16 team who also had brothers playing in the minor team. Following the presentation the teams & supporters had a meal in the Tyrrellspass Club and after this parents & mentors from both sides had a few drinks and a few songs with the Glennon family in Willie Gavigan’s pub in the Village. At 6.00pm the two buss headed back to Malahide & St. Sylvester’s. Moss Fagan who presented Syls boys with an U16 trophy in 1980, attended the matches and meal. He is now Life President of the Club and addressed the teams with stories of the sporting past of Tyrrellspass after the games.  This we hope will be an annual event and Tyrrellspass have already been invited back.
On returning to Dublin the U16 girls received more good news in that they have been confirmed as U14 Division 1 League Runners Up for 2009. The last game played on Saturday 13th February 2010 ended in a draw between Ballyboden St Endas (Dublin & All Ireland Feile Champions) 1-5 and
Castleknock 1-5. They share 9 points each with Syls 10 points second to Kikmacud Crokes on 14 points. This is a great achievement by these girls who have won medals in all 5 seasons since 2005. The future is looking bright for ladies football and all football in this great club.
Le meas,
Eddie