Daniel O'Brien and Emer Brennan
THERE were celebrations in the Dunedin Connollys and Glasgow Gaels camps recently as the former won the Junior Championship, while the latter were Junior Shield winners.
Connollys and Dalriada played out the Scottish Junior Final in Dundee in sunny conditions. Both teams enjoyed a competitive first-half with Dunedin playing a running brand of football, with Dalriada playing more directly making use of the wind in the first-half.
Dalriada kicked 2-02 in the first-half, but it was Connollys who were in the lead at half-time with the score at 1-06 to 2-02. Ciara Dillon—an Under-16 player from Dunedin’s youth section—showed up showing well finishing the half with 1-02 from corner forward. Maria O’Rawe and Kelly Mulligan also showed well for the Edinburgh side.
In the second-half, Dalriada started well with a further goal and point, but with the wind Dunedin started to take control and over the course of the final 20 minutes kept Dalriada scoreless whilst shooting 1-13 themselves for a final score of 2-19 to 3-03 (above).
The standout players for Connollys were Darcy Robertson, O’Rawe, Dillon and Mulligan.
Glasgow Gaels Junior team, meanwhile, also travelled to Dawson Park in Dundee to meet Tír Conaill Harps for a Glasgow derby in the sunshine in the Shield Final.
Having met twice before during the season, Gaels and the Harps were familiar enough with each other. Tír Conaill have shown great determination and development throughout the season—a ladies team that is just three years old.
Gaels were captained by Amy Smyth, who shows great leadership on and off the pitch, being direct, organised and inclusive of all players on the team.
This season, Gaels were fortunate enough to be able to field two teams—one at Junior and one at Intermediate level—after last year’s success in the Junior British Championship.
This may have been the cause for a large influx of new players this season, some completely new to the sport of Gaelic football. It’s a very exciting time for Gaels and for Ladies Gaelic football in Scotland!
The match began with some early points for Gaels as they demonstrated a strong and active forward line, with lots of nice movement and passing between Kim Guthrie and Jane Marshall. Jenn Treacy held a solid position in the middle of the pitch giving lots of direction and motivation to the team. The day grew warmer and Gaels kept up an impressive work rate with great running from Amy McGinley and Amy Chambers. They secured a comfortable win in the end, and finished the season off with some silverware and a giddy bus journey back home. Congratulations to Kim Guthrie who was named Player of the Match.
With the season wrapping up soon for Gaels, it was a great way to finish and to look forward to the season next year and see the Junior team grow even more.
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