Clare's lady footballers travelled to Mullingar on Saturday 13th to compete in the All Ireland U - 14 Blitz competition and for thesecond week running the Clare Ladies footballers returned home with an AllIreland trophy.  Thus ended surely one of the finest weeks ever for thegame in the county following on the more senior ladie's win in the Suzuki Leaguea mere six days previously.   Clare 4 - 7    Wexford 0 -1   Clare's opening game was against Wexford ladiesand in a fairly one sided game the Banner girls dominated affairs right fromthe throw in.  Clubmates Niamh O'Dea and Megan Hough, from the Bannerladies Club in Ennis, were in blistering form for Clare and betweenthem accounted for 3 - 3 of Clare's first half total of 3 - 5. Wexford failed to register a score in this half in which Sarah Bohannon andSinéad Sexton were Clare's other scorers.   Clare fielded a weakened team for twh second half but were still too good for thegirls of Wexford outscoring them 1 - 2 to 0 - 1 in this period.  Secondhalf scorers for Clare were Megan Hough and Katie O'Brien a point each and agoal from Laura Meaney.  This result was the ideal start for theteam.   Clare 2 - 8     Westmeath3 - 3   Incontrast to Clare's opener this game was a much stiffer contest with the issuein doubt right up to the final whistle.  Westmeath were a big strongphysical side and neither asked or gave no quarter in this toughgame. Clare were dominant in the early exchanges but failed to score andWestmeath had theopening point after three minutes of play.  NiamhO'Dea restored patity in the fourth minute and kicked Clare into the lead with afine point a minute later.  O'Dea's Banner Ladies clubmates Laurie Ryan andAoife Davoren further extended Clares lead with points in the seventh and eightminutes before Niamh herself banged home the only goal of the half.  Juston half time both teams exchanged points with the irreppressible O'Dea again theClare scorer.  The half time score thus read Clare 1 - 6 to Westmeath's 0 -2.   Windassisted in the second half the Westmeath girls piled on the early pressure andwere rewarded with goals in the third and fifth minute of the half.  Clarelooked in big trouble at this stage and although Megan Hough scored a good pointto extend their now narrow lead to two points, Westmeath replied with a goal anda point of their own to give them a two point advantage with as many minutesremaining.  However Clare refused to lie down and a great goal fromMiltown's Katie Curtin followed by a Hough point ensured a dramatic win for theBanner county.   Clare 9 - 9    Louth 1 -1   Clarewere taking no chances with this game and fielded their strongest team from thestart.  Clare laid siege on hapless Louth from the throw in and Megan Houghbagged a goal and two points in the opening minutes to leave the girls from theWee County shell shocked.  When Hough's scores were quickly followedby goals from Katie Curtin, Niamh O'Connell and Niamh O'Dea and the gamewas effectively over as a contest. Louth tagged on a goal (penalty) and apoint before the end of the half but even the these scores were answered bypoints from Hough and Sinéad Sexton for Clare.  Half time Clare 4 - 7 Louth1 - 1.   Clare's second string continued to dominate in thesecond half against a now deflated Louth.  Further goals from Aoife Murphy,Katie O'Brien(2) & Niamh Pender(2) and points from Pender and Shauna Keanecompleted the scoring.     All Ireland Division 2 Final     Clare    4 - 8        Westmeath     2 - 2   Like their earlier encounter this final was another tough affair with both teamsgiving their all for their counties.  After a tempestuous opening the gamesettled into a thrilling contest.  Clare opened well and had points fromO'Dea and Hough in the first two minutes.  Westmeath rapidly struck backwith two rapid fire goals that would have ratteled many a side especially asthey added a further point shothly after the second goal.  However anythingWestmeath could do so could Clare and the 'terrible twins' of The Banner LadiesClub Ennis, O'Dea and Hough, soon had the Westmeath girls reeling with twofantastic goals.  Hough added two further points to give Clare an intervaladvantage of 2 - 4 to Westmeath's 2 - 1.   O'Deaand Hough continued in the second half as they ended the first and scored anearly goal each to stifle any ambitions the midlanders harboured about acomeback.  It was now plain sailing for the Clare girls who finished withpoints from Sally Glynn, Sinéad Sexton and a point apiece to Hough andO'Dea.   Tremendous celebrations ensued following the final whistle.  WhileHough and O'Dea were the players of the tournament and certainly were the mostoutstanding forwards on view other girls had fine game for Clare throughout thetournament.  Catherine Danagher was always commanding at centre back andSally Glynn did tremendous work at midfield where she worked tirelessly toensure a good supply of ball to her forward line.  Up front Sinéad Sextonand Katie Curtin did well. Others to impress during the tournament were AoifeDavoren, Sarah Bohannon, Aoife Murphy and Siobhán Talty.  It was a fullsquad effort though and credit to all the panel for bringing home this AllIreland victory to Clare.   ClarePanel: Megan Hough, Niamh O'Dea, Laurie Ryan, Aoife Davoren,Marion Conway, Laura Brennan (The Banner), Siobhán Talty, Sinéad Sexton, SiobhánGarrihy, Katie Curtin, Niamh Pender (Miltown), Aoife Murphy, Sarah O'Keeffe(Doora-Barefield), Rachel Ryan (Doonbeg), Catherine Danagher, KerrieQuinn (Wolfe Tones), Deirdre Waters (Kilmihil), Sally Glynn (Cooraclare),Shauna Keane (Éire Óg), Sarah Bohannon, Sharon Meaney (Shannon Gaels),Laura Meaney (Fergus Rovers), Katie O'Brien, Tiana Flanagan (BurrenGaels), Niamh O'Connell(Coolmeen).   Ní táinte gosláinte, Dr.Pól MacGinneá Dr. Paul McKenna, MB,MPH,  PRO Clare Ladies Football Tweet

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