 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
Ladies football has a proud tradition in the parish going back to the early 70s when two parish towns lands (Ballycullen & Modeshill) first played a challenge. Ballycullen won but the seeds were sown for future years. A parish team was formed and the sport blossomed. Some of the girls went on to represent Tipperary at senior level.
In 1974 Tipperary won the first All Ireland Ladies football final. Playing that day from Mullinahone were Mary Power O Shea from Ballycullen and Ann Croke Newlands. Also on board were Catherine and Josephine Keane from Cloneen & Lillian Gorey, Drangan.
In 1978 Mullinahone and Grangemockler joined forces to form Slievenamon Ladies football team. This team was very successful in U16 and Senior grades winning both county finals in 1980. Mary Power, Lilian Gorey, Ann Maher also played on the Tipperary team that won the Senior All Ireland in 1980. Lilian Gorey and Ann Maher also won All Stars for their performances in 1980 & 1981.
This partnership continued for many years and last year when the Slievenamon team won the County B League final, Mary Connolly, Ann Marie Maher and Sandra O’Keefe were part of the winning team.
However with all the great work been done at underage level in Mullinahone it was felt that now was a good time to re establish a parish team so that the underage girls would have a local team to join. So the Junior Ladies team came together in February 2003 with players joining from local parishes under the guidance of Ky Vaughan who bravely took on the task of manager.
We started our campaign brightly on March 29th with victory over Moyne in the league. Mary Power leading the way scoring 2-3 helped by Linda Dunne and Emily Noonan with a point each. Next was Upperchurch who beat us well but after a walkover from Kilruane we found ourselves in a league semi final.
The league took a break and championship started on May 10th.The team went through a bad phase of injuries (especially finger ones) and lost some players who went traveling for the summer. The championship was played on a league basis and our first outing was against Kilruane, which we won. Next was a local derby against Fethard but unfortunately we lost narrowly here. We then faced a strong Cahir side at home and suffered a bad defeat 1-10 to 0-04.
Our next game was against Cappawhite B team away. With a lot of our regulars missing we called on some of the other U16’s girls to join their teammates Maireid Luttrell, Natasha Scott & Emma Williams for this game. Mullinahone played very well and went down by a few points with Sarah Curran, Una Ryan, Fiona Maher and Aoife Hackett staking a claim for places on the junior team.
Things were looking bad for our championship hopes at this stage with 3 victories needed to claim a spot in the qualifiers. The team was starting to settle now and worked hard to improve for remaining games. On August 14th we took on Newcastle away and came through with a good victory on a scoreline of 1-10 to 0-7. Ann Marie Maher scored the goal and there was good points scored by Natasha Scott, Emma Maher and Mary Connolly.
We then played a very strong Upperchurch/Drombane side on August 18th in Ballycahill, which we won 6-5 to 2-5 goals coming from Jill Horan and Emma Williams. Our defence was under constant pressure in the final quarter but Maighread Britton, Martina Griffin and Ann Marie Horan defended brilliantly to ensure victory.
To guarantee a place in the semi-finals we needed a victory away to Moyne/Templetuohy. This was a tough battle as Moyne needed to win also to go through. Mary Connolly and Maireid Luttrel dominated midfield so Mullinahone were on top and with Bridget Maher and Jill Horan doing well upfront we came out winners by 3-8 to 2-3.
Mullinahone drew Cahir in the semi final draw. The game was played in Moyle Rovers on September 7th. There was good support for both sides despite the miserable conditions. Mullinahone started very well and a goal from Emma Williams sent us in 1-3 to 0-0 up at half time. Cahir came out very strong in the second half and Mullinahone were under a lot of pressure. Bernie Phelan saved a penalty but Cahir eventually got the goals they needed.
Despite a great effort Mullinahone could not get the scores they needed and Cahir went on to win by 2-5 to 2-4. Jill Horan and Emma Williams did our scoring. The team that played; Bernie Phelan, Ann Marie Horan, Maighread Britton, Sarah Curran, Elaine O' Brien, Ann Marie Maher (Capt), Martina Griffin, Mary Connolly, Maireid Luttrell, Natasha Scott, Emma Maher, Emily Noonan, Emma Williams, Jill Horan, Bridget Maher. Subs: Catherine Comerford, Debbie Dunne, Linda Dunne, Sandra O’Keefe, Fiona Maher and Aoife Hackett.
Our league semi final was played on October 11th in Clonmel Og’s pitch where we faced Cahir again. Grainne O’Meara made her debut in goal for us and Mary Power returned from injury but we were missing Mary Connolly who suffered ligament damage in the championship semi final. Natasha Scott opened our scoring with a good point from play however Cahir finished the half strongly and led us by 0-04 to 0-01 at half time. A well-worked move resulted in a great goal from Jill Horan at the start of the second half that brought us back into it. Our defence was on top now with Elaine O’Brien and Ann Marie Maher cleaning up but we failed to capitalise on scores up-front despite the best efforts of Natasha Scott, Mary Power, Fiona Maher & Jill Horan. Cahir went on to win 0-08 to 1-02. The team was; Grainne O’Meara, Martina Griffin, Maighread Britton, Ann Marie Horan, Elaine O’Brien, Ann Marie Maher (Capt.), Sarah Curran, Maireid Luttrell, Emily Noonan, Bernie Phelan, Emma Maher, Natasha Scott, Emma Williams, Mary Power and Jill Horan. Subs: Aoife Hackett, Fiona Maher, Bridget Maher, Sandra O’ Keefe, Tania St John & Eileen Brennan.
That brought our first season to a close and although there was no silverware won, to reach both league and championship semi final’s is a great achievement. The groundwork has been done and we are looking forward to next season already.
Thanks to our manager Ky Vaughan for all his hard work, commitment and encouragement during the year. Thanks to Grainne O’Meara and Mary Power for all their help, our water girls Lorraine and Aoibhe and also our supporters.
Finally, congratulations to Mary Connolly who was a member of the Tipperary team that won the Munster Junior Football final this year.
|
local
news / local events / business
guide / clubs / message page / photo gallery / history / other links For site content please contact: site designer contact site administrator © 2005 mullinahone-parish.com |