Wednesday August 12th 2026 was quite a monumental day for Ireland and Western Europe in general then there was a near 90% solar eclipse taking place, where The Moon goes between the Sun and the Earth, resulting in spectacular results and photographs.

For the St Brendan’s Ladies Football 1st XV, sponsored by McGowans of Phibsborough, their warm up ahead of the final PTSB LGFA Division 4 fixture against Ballyboughal, was distracted by the eclipse, which was at its peak by 7pm, ahead of the 7.30pm throw in.

And the Female Dark Force will go into next weeks PTSB Junior B Championship opener against St Finians Swords on a positive note by eclipsing Ballyboughal on a 4-13 to 2-6 scoreline to end the League with a record of 6 wins and 5 losses.

The Scorers: Heather Cullen 2-5, Christine Dilworth 1-0, Holly Reddington 1-1, Alison McGearty 0-3, Katie Conlon 0-2, Niamh Byrne 0-1, Olivia Barrett 0-1.

48 hours earlier, the St Brendan’s Ladies Football 2nd  XV, sponsored by Bartra Healthcare faced St Kevins Killians in the final group game of PTSB LGFA Junior J Championship.

Here’s a summery by Eugene Cunningham.

Missing 11 players including goalkeeper Noeleen Gibson and Ryanair delay effected Caoimhe Ryan, St Brendan’s took to the very short field in Killinarden, home to the unbeaten in championship St Kevin Killians. St Brendan’s conceded 4 first-half goals, despite the efforts of Rois Ni Domhnaill (who is not quite 100% from injury). This left St. Brendan’s 9 points down at half time. Áine Cleary was motoring well at midfield, and Shauna Carey was excelling at centre back. So much so, that the ball was often kicked long by the opposition to avoid them. With the bone dry pitch, some of these balls broke kindly to be poked to the St Brendan’s net.  

With the start of the second half, Rios moved out of goals and got on a lot of ball before having to leave the pitch with 10 minutes of the half on the clock. 

A couple more shots from distance ended in the St Brendan’s net and made the task harder for St Brendan’s, but as tiredness was setting in, St Brendan’s manager Joe Murphy used his 6 subs and they worked hard, but St Kevin Killians are well seasoned campaigners and robustly fought for every ball. Best of luck to St Kevin Killians in their Semifinal. 

Congratulations to Monica Amaya and her beau on their engagement. 

St Brendan’s will therefore go into the shield competition. Erin go Bragh conceded the Shield Semi Final and St Brendan’s will now play Shankill or Garda Westmanstown in the final on Monday 24 Aug. Location to be selected by coin toss.