Shelmalier U12 played some great football this season and made huge progress from their initial game V Crossabeg/ Ballymurn where they were defeated by a score of 3-7 to 1-2, to their final game V St. James (County runners-up) whom they defeated 3-12 to 1-2.
In the early stages of the season the girls found it hard to gel as a team and were defeated in their first two games loosing some vital points. They fought hard in their game against Crossabeg but were not strong enough to defend against a very good half forward line. Having made some changes in the way they lined out Shelmalier defended much better against St. Anne’s in their next match but after two quick goals from Fiona Bennett in the second half they had no reply and were again defeated on a scoreline of 3-3 to 1-2.
Shelmalier next met St. James and were very unlucky not to beat them. These teams were more evenly matched and Shelmalier managed to take the lead late in the second half but only finished with a draw scoring 2-3 a piece after St. James scored an equalising point in the last few minutes.
In their next game they were defeated 8-5 to 2-3 by a very strong Kilmore side in Kilmore and again two weeks later in Hollymount by The Saints 3-6 to 0-2. In both games the girls fought hard but failed to take the scores they needed.
When the girls met Crossabeg for the second time they put up a much better fight and although they didn’t win the margin between the teams was much less. The final score that day was Crossabeg 3-6, Shelmalier 2-3. St. Anne’s also beat them again but in a much closer game than first time round. The Shelmalier backs defended wonderfully but again Fiona Bennett scored two late goals to give St. Anne’s the advantage. Final score was 4-2 to 2-2.
In their next match Shelmalier had their first win of the season defeating St. James on a score line of 5-12 to 1-1 The girls began this match with great determination winning the ball from the first throw in with Gemma McCabe converting it to a score straight away. They continued to take advantage of all scoring opportunities presented to them while St. James failed to score for the first half. The Shelmalier half back line of Ali Murphy, Clíodhna Flynn and Ciara Corrigan worked very hard throughout while all of the six forwards scored.
It was evident at this stage of the season that the Girls were becoming more of a gelled team, You could really see the benifits of Trianing and the improvemnt in the skills of the game and although they next played one of their best games of the season against Kilmore they were defeated 4-5 to 1-9 by the team who eventually went on to become U12 County Champions. Ciara Roche had an outstanding game scoring 1-5 and Róisín Tobin excelled in goal.
Shelmalier ended the season with a great display of football in their final game V The Saints. Niamh Doyle and Niamh O’ Connor took advantage of every scoring opportunity and put 1-11 on the score board between them. Eadaoin Fitzgerald, Gemma McCabe and Gemma Fox also scored. The Shelmalier backs were extremely solid and the team who went on to become County Runners-Up only managed to score 1-2 against them. This game concluded the U12 season and demonstrated the huge progress the U12 Shelmalier team had made during the year.