It was a day of double disappointment for Roscommon Ladies Footballers with a defeat for the Intermediate Team and representatives on the Connacht Post Primary Schools Team.
Following on from their strong workout against Clare in Johnstown last Sunday the Roscommon Ladies Intermediate Football team, sponsored by Ward Brothers, completed their pre-season activity with another tough challenge against neighbours Longford in Rathcline this afternoon.
By Ollie Colgan
Unfortunately it was a game in which the Roscommon Ladies will want to forget as quickly as possible. Longford were far superior in nearly all aspects and ran out comfortable winners on a score line of 2-13 to 0-9. Indeed if it were not for some poor shooting by the Longford girls it could have been a lot worse but in credit to the Roscommon girls they did show good heart and never gave up and did put in a good second half performance but the damage was done in the first half when Longford led by 1-9 to 0-2. However it was an opportunity for the management to use most of their squad which will be of benefit going forward.
This brings the girls nicely onto the beginning of their national league programme which begins next Sunday, January 29th, against Offaly (venue TBC) at 2pm. This is the beginning of two fixtures one Sunday after another for the girls as they face Tipperary at home on February the 5th. Then it’s away to Meath on the 19th February, home to Down on the 25th February, next up is two away fixtures to Leitrim on the 18th March and Limerick on the 26th March, before finally wrapping up the group by facing Wexford at home on the 2nd April.
Elsewhere, three Roscommon Ladies Footballers, Shannon Dowd (Western Gaels), Amy Malone (St. Croans) and Rachel Fitzmaurice (St. Ciarans) along with Francie Keane (Manager) represented Roscommon and Connacht this weekend at the All-Ireland Post Primary School Inter-Provincials in Kinnegad.
In the first round they played Munster and won by 1-5 to 0-6. In the second round they lost out to Ulster on a score line of 1-7 to 1-2. In the last round they defeated Leinster 3-03 to 1-06. This qualified the Connacht team for the A final, which the won in 2015 and 2015 and lost in 2016. This year their opposition was a very strong Ulster team and they lost by despite a great effort from all players including the Roscommon girls by 2-7 to 1-1. Francie Keane has managed this team for 6 years now and the work he and his team have put into the Inter Provincial competition has been commendable.