For breaking news concerning Lucan Ladies Gaelic Football, Follow @LucanLGF_PRO

For the latest Club news, please see main News Page, View this page as pdf

In this edition of Lucan Sarsfields Ladies Football News, there are recent results and match reports, info from the Ladies Football March meeting, mentor information, referee updates, and how two Dublin No1’s, Ciara Trant and John O’Leary, got on with the Gr8 Quiz

Membership is now due for 2018
All Ladies Football players need to be registered before they can play.

Lotto
The Jackpot has reached €20,000. Support Your Club and subscribe to the weekly draw when you log in to the membership page, Tickets can be purchased at the Clubhouse bar and from the usual outlets. You can check your numbers here 

Molly O’Toole Memorial Secondary Schools Tournament
The second tournament in Mollys memory will be run on Thursday 19 April at 3pm. Volunteers will be required to help out, please contact lucansarsfieldsladiespro@gmail.com if you can spare an hour or two.

Team Photos
Some teams have yet to submit photos, the others are up on the Ladies Football pages of the website.

Feile 2018
Feile Preparation is well under way, April 14 and 15 are the dates for the Dublin Feile,

Division 1 has Lucan Sarsfields in a group with Brigids, Clontarf and Clanna Gael/Fontenoy and Division 4 has Lucan Sarsfields B’s with Tempelogue, Skerries and Sylvesters in their group. Best of luck to all.

League Games
The weather has played havoc with the fixtures, but all teams except U18 have played at least one game. See below for the results and match reports.

County Footballers

Congratulations to all players representing the club at county level and on development squads.

Minor - Laura Quinn, U16 - Abbey Shiels, Aoife Coffey and Caitlin Maguire

Mentors and Coaching
Brief Update from Meeting held 22 March

• All players must be registered before playing, if in doubt, please contact Billy Egan, Club Registrar
• All mentors to wear bibs at matches.
• Help is required from U13 to Minor mentors and parents to run the Molly O’Toole Memorial Tournament
• DLGFA have run a strategic planning workshop, info has been fed back to the LF Committee.
• Thanks to TY Students who help out at the nursery
• Reminder re sideline discipline during matches, we have no issues and we want to keep it that way!

Spectators need to remember the following at our games:

• Welcome the opposing team’s supporters, mentors and players
• Cheer for your team and not against your opponent
• Respect all officials, players and mentors
• Applaud all good plays
• Never use foul language or ridicule participants
• Respect the facilities
• Keep games fun and enjoyable
• Remember it is not an All-Ireland Final

U15 to Minor Health and Wellbeing
The Club Health and Wellbeing Committee and Colette Condon, Children’s Officer, arranged for Ken Robinson to give a presentation to players in all four codes outlining some practical advice to maintain a healthy, balanced lifestyle. The talk which took place on Monday 26 March, was well attended and more importantly, well received. Many thanks to Ken, Jenny, Colette and all who helped set this up. Hopefully we will have more of this in the future.

Level 2 Coaching Program 
The first Level 2 LGFA Coaching programmes of the year will take place in the coming weeks over two weekends in NUI Maynooth, Kildare. The Level 2 coaching programme brings the focus back onto the sport itself and helping to equip coaches with the tools to allow them to develop the game of Ladies Gaelic football. There are only 16 places available on this course, please see this webpage for more information.

Dublin LGFA will be hosting two further FUNdamentals coaching courses on the 7th April in Fingallians GAA club, Swords, and on 28th of April, we are just awaiting confirmation of venue. Please log on to the DLGFA website to enrol.

Referees
A request for referees from Castleknock GAA on Sat 24^th meant our go games referees were on duty for the  weekend of 24/25 March refereeing for the Castleknock v St Brigids u10 games in Somerton and Lucan Sarsfields v Erins Isle U11 on AWP  Sunday 25th, Congratulations to Laura Lakes and Clóda Ní Chonghaile, who made their Refereeing Debuts in Somerton on Saturday 24^th March.

Results and Match Reports

Scores are not published for games below U13, as the emphasis is on participation.

Links to Fixtures and Results

Under 8 South, 3 Teams

Mar 25, St Judes v Lucan Sarsfields

Under 9 South, 3 Teams

25 Mar, Ballyboden St Endas v Lucan Sarsfields

The first U9 game of the season had a squad of 33 girls who togged out in their new Jersey’s.
The girls played really well especially in defence by not conceiving frees and some great team play which resulted in good scores.

Under 10 South, 3 Teams

24 Mar, Ballyboden v Lucan Sarsfields

The U10’s had a great start to the the Go games, 3 Lucan teams travelled to Ballyboden on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

The girls played skillfully, putting their training over the past few months into play. There was great point taking; tackling and passing on display today. Well done to the girls, I have a feeling tthat this will be a great Football season for the U10’s.

Under 11 All County, 3 teams,

4 Mar, Lucan Sarsfields v Naomh Olaf,

24 Mar, Erins Isle v Lucan Sarsfields

Under 12 Group A, 2 Teams

3 Mar, Ballyboden St Endas v Lucan Sarsfields

24 Mar, Lucan Sarsfields V St Vincents,

U13 Div1,

24 Feb, Lucan Sarsfields 2-03, 3-03 Ballyboden St Endas

24 Mar, Lucan Sarsfields 4-09, 4-08 St Brigids
This game was nip and tuck all the way but the 15 girls worked hard and never gave up, and with no subs, there were no easy options. It was a physical game which is to be expected, but was a great game of football played to the highest level. The girls gave their new jerseys a good run out. Many thanks to Mike Kelly at Silvertung for the sponsorship.

U13 Div6, 

24 Feb, St James Gaels 5-12, 3-0 Lucan Sarsfields

24 Mar, Ballinteer St John 2-02, 1-07 Lucan Sarsfields

This match was run at the last minute: as lot of players were away for the Easter holidays, however with help from u12 and great team work from the players and coaches who turned around at the last minute and went to Ballinteer, they not only turned up, but they won! Big thank you to Donal Colfer for managing the team, and great credit to the girls who had also played camogie earlier in the day.

U14 Div1

25 Feb, Fingallians 2-1, 11-14 Lucan Sarsfields

25 Mar, Lucan Sarsfields 3-11, 1-5 St Oliver Plunketts

U14 Div4,

25 Feb, Lucan Sarsfields, 4-08, 3-04 Ballymun Kickhams

11 Mar, Lucan Sarsfields 4-06, 1-06 Skerries Harps

25 Mar, St Judes 2-05, 5-05 Lucan Sarsfields

U15 Div1, 

24 Feb, Lucan Sarsfields 7-10, 5-11 Kilmacud Crokes

24 Mar, St Judes 7-01, 6-18 Lucan Sarsfields

We got off to a great start when Emma O'Brien was dragged down in the large parallelagram following a powerful run from the half back line. Ellen Lyons stepped up to take the spot kick and cooly slotted home. This set the tone for the rest of the half as the Sars girls worked hard and kept Judes mostly in their own end of the pitch. Because of the way the Lucan girls were pushing up, Judes broke through a few times and although Katie Maguire in goal made some great saves, she could do nothing to prevent Judes from scoring. Stopping the opposition breakthrough will be something for the backs to work on in training. Some excellent tackling and driving play forward by the Half backs and midfielders, notably Erris Smith, Mia Dunne and Emma O'Brien, allowed Lucan to tack on some great scores from play, and Sadhbh Murray found herself in great positions to find the net four times from close range. All in all a solid performance by Sarsfields. 

Squad: K. Maguire(U14), M. Furmaniak, A.K. Clyne-Farrelly, C. Dowling, E. O’ Brien, E. Smith, B. Kelleher, K. Jones, M. Dunne, I. Quinn, A. Seery, E. Lyons, S. Murray, S. Smith, C. Beirne, R. O’Reilly(U14), E. Lacey(U14)

Scores: S. Murray 4-03, E. Lyons 1-08(1-1 from penalties), A. Seery 1-02, M. Dunne 0-3, S. Smith 0-1, C. Beirne 0-1

Subs: R. O'Reilly for B. Kelleher, A. Lacey for K. Jones, B. Kelleher for E. O'Brien

U15 Div6

24 Feb, Ballinteer St John 3-11, 1-05 Lucan Sarsfields

24 Mar, Lucan Sarsfields 2-05, 6-08 Ballyboden St Endas A

U16 Div1,

25 Feb, Lucan Sarsfields 8-12, 1-06 Clontarf

11 Mar, Ballyboden St Endas 2-15, 5-08 Lucan Sarsfields

U16 Div5,

25 Feb, Fingal Ravens 6-13, 1-03 Lucan Sarsfields

11 Mar, Clontarf 1-03, 4-06 Lucan Sarsfields

25 Mar, Lucan Sarsfields 6-12, 4-07 Cuala

Adult League Division 2

28 Mar, Garda/Westmanstown Gaels 0-10, 5-13 Lucan Sarsfields

Adult League Division 8

28 Mar, Lucan Sarsfields 11-12, 3-06 Na Gael Oga

Gaelic for Mothers & Others (G4MO),

The MamaMias played last Monday night, 26 March, against Ballymun Kickhams in a very tough away game and won 2:6 to 1:3. Goals scored by Yvonne and Miriam and good overall performance by the team in our first outing. Next game against Sylvester's on the 21st April at home.

The Gr8 Quiz

Ciara Trant is the current Dublin Senior Ladies Football goalkeeper, although she didn’t always play in goals, up to minor level she played outfield! She plays her club football with St Brigids and has Leinster Senior (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), and All Ireland winners medals at Minor (2012), U21 (2014,2015), and Senior (2017). Ciara says “I've been playing for Dublin since I was twelve. I'm a secondary school teacher in Finglas. Most of my time is taken up by football but any free time I get I like to cycle or go for lunch with friends.”  Thanks Ciara, and Best of Luck for the 2018 campaigns Q1, Current favorite music? Khalid Q2. On a scale of 1 to 10, how good are you with technology, e.g 1 - I can send a text! to 10 - Nerdiest person in the world!!  A respectable 8 Q3. Do you have a favourite quote? Train like you're number two. Play like you're number one Q4. What is your most memorable sporting moment and why? Seeing my family after winning the All Ireland Final in 2017. They spend so much of their time supporting me and they dreamed of that moment as much I did so it was great to spend the immediate moments after the match with them Q5. What was the most important piece of advice given to you by a parent/mentor/teacher/advisor?  The last thing Mick Bohan says to us before a match at the end of a big training session is 'go out and play'. I think the idea of playing deserves more respect especially as we get older. We chose to play football because we enjoy. To enjoy it we just have to play.  Q6. Where were you when Katie Taylor won Gold in London? At Home.  Q7. Who would you most like to sit down with for a cup of tea and a chat? This person can be alive or dead, real or fictional.  Zinedine Zidane. He was a hero of mine growing up.  Q8. Describe yourself in just one word.  Focused

John O’Leary (O’Dwyers) has appeared for Dublin on 70 consecutive occasions between 1980 and 1997. John is a regional sales manager for Permanent TSB for the North East Region and he captained the county to All Ireland Glory in 1985. His honours include 2 All Ireland Senior, 5 All Stars, 3 National Football League and 8 Leinster Football titles. John currently coaches Fingal Ravens U10 football team and helps out with the Wild Geese U10 Hurling team. “My son Jack plays on both these teams I also play cricket in a Taverners league in the summer, our home matches are in Phoenix Park. A great way to spend a summers evening. I’m a board member of The Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation. They are a great Charity that helped us greatly when our son Tom was born, and I do a lot of fundraising for them.” Q1, Current favorite music? Hozier Q2. On a scale of 1 to 10, how good are you with technology? About a 6 Q3. Do you have a favourite quote? Currently its ‘ The way you choose to see the world, creates the world you see’ Q4. What is your most memorable sporting moment and why? Hard to pick one. Winning All Ireland as captain in ’95, presenting medals at the Special Olympics 2003, Sergio Aguero scoring against QPR in the last minute of the last game to win the Premier League for Man City on goal difference from Man Utd Q5. What was the most important piece of advice given to you by a parent/mentor/teacher/advisor?  Practice, practice, practice and never give up.. Q6. Where were you when Katie Taylor won Gold in London? At home watching Q7. Who would you most like to sit down with for a cup of tea and a chat? This person can be alive or dead, real or fictional.  Tom Crean, Antarctic explorer.  Q8. Describe yourself in just one word.  Tenacious.