Fr . Murphy ’ s Camogie and Ladies
Reading , at half time of the British / Irish Cup Rugby game between London Irish and Connacht .
It was a very exciting game , with the local side St Anthony ’ s , which kept the large crowd on the toes throughout . Afterwards all were entertained to some wonderful hospitality by London Irish , before visiting our old friend and St Anthony ’ s sponsor Martin O ’ Sullivan , landlord of the Gateway Pub in Reading .
Also in October , we were honoured with a visit , of Martin Skelly , a former Leinster Council G . A . A . and a potential candidate for President of The Gaelic Athletic Association . Martin joined us at a training session , showing his support for grass roots Gaelic games here ; this event was also filmed by Irish TV .
In November , members of our football team travelled down to Hazelwood for a mixed training session with London Irish ladies Rugby . This was a great night with superb facilities and several of the Murphy ’ s girls proved more than capable with the oval ball .
March 2017 was a very busy month when , on St Patrick ’ s day , we welcomed Laois County Camogie champions O ’ Moore ’ s . The following day we played them in an exhibition game at Wasps , then our footballers followed with a match against St . Mary ’ s University , for the Monica Dee Cup . This was part of The mayor of London ’ s St Patrick ’ s festival , with the cup being put up by Con Dee , in memory of his wife Monica , who sadly passed away a few years ago . Con also provided medals for all four teams and a meal in the Wasps Clubhouse afterwards , it was a memorable day .
The following day , the club was honoured to be invited to lead the City of London ’ s St Patrick ’ s Parade , when over thirty girls turned out in their striking jerseys , courtesy of our main sponsor Clonakilty Black Pudding and with Grand Marshall Daire O Brian they proudly carried the Council of Irish County Associations county and provincial flags . Pictures of this were beamed around the world and in several newspapers , the celebration afterwards reached into the early hours in Trafalgar Square and the local hostelries . The club has for the last few years supported the Darkness into Light , run at dawn to create suicide awareness and the Run in the Dark , to find a cure for spinal injuries .
Our teams will soon be on the summer break and will recommence serious competition in early September . Our Camogie team have been very busy this year , reaching the final of the Tara seven ’ s in April , before losing out by the narrowest of margins to a fine European team , but they were determined to retain the All Britain league trophy , which they won the previous year , after successfully negotiating the group stages they comfortably beat Tomas McCurtains in the semi-final and went on to play John Mitchel ’ s of Birmingham in the final . The team lost out on a coin toss for venue so the final was played at Pairc na hEireann Birmingham and after a very tough match the girls in Purple and gold pulled through on a scoreline of 3.09 to John Mitchel ’ s 0.07 , with Laura O Hagan ( 2 ) and Emma McShane , coming up with the goals .
Afterwards the trophy was presented to captain Mel Hogan , from Portumna County Galway , whilst Caroline Hanley from Killdollery , was award the “ Clonakilty ” player of the match . The Intermediate Championship is now on and the Fr . Murphy ’ s girls are looking good for a semi-final place .
Our footballers too have been busy , a team that is slowly building , with so many newcomers , there are players from all over , from Spain , France and Nicaragua , as well as the Irish and locally born girls . They started off this year playing a series of challenge games in Richmond against St Mary ’ s University , who were looking for games prior
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