A long season that began last February for our Under-14 footballers concluded in The Downs this morning with a trophy on offer – The Under-14 Division 1 Shield - against the home boys.  After the bad weather of the weekend, The Downs pitch was in immaculate condition and both teams played some very good football. It’s not often a team scores 13 points and end on the losing side but this was one such occasion and there is no way to avoid stating the obvious, cliché and all – goals win matches and the seven scored by Mullingar Shamrocks were the ones that mattered on this occasion. 

Carl Keane scored the first goal in the opening minutes when his shot dipped under the crossbar to give Shamrocks a lead that was never subsequently lost. Ben Loughlin responded with a pointed free before Carl Keane was taken down and Scott Farrelly goaled from the resultant penalty. Shay Leavy scored the third goal with Darragh Daly  a distracting presence for the goalkeeper. Darragh with a neat free scored Shamrocks first point. At the other end, Ethan Joyce smashed a shot off the crossbar and gathered the rebound to point, Adam Hughes also pointed as did Ben Louhglin.  A ball plucked from under the cross bar by Tom McCaul showed the goalkeeping class and promise of Tom and his long and accurate restarts were also worthy of note. Colm Clinton scored the first of his four goals before the interval after some great work by Eoin Reddan. The interval score read 4-1 to 0-5. 

A great run by Scott Farrelly and some combined play from Eoin Reddan and Theo Kelly sent Colm Clinton in for his second goal; a great save by Dylan Crowley deprived Carl Keane of a second goal and the resultant well struck 45 from Colm Clinton travelled straight to the back of The Downs net. Theo Kelly added a point before Ben Loughlin pointed a free. Carl Keane neutralized this with a point for Shamrocks (6-3 to 0-6) before Callum Cleary and Ben Loughlin added points and Aidan Tuite goaled for The Downs (6-3 to 1-8). Shamrocks attacked from the restart and Colm Clinton completed the team total with his fourth goal. In the final minutes, The Downs added 0-5 to their total (four scored by the excellent Ben Loughlin) before the very competent referee Eoin Gorman blew the final whistle. 

So, it’s always good to finish the season with a trophy and these lads have shown brilliant improvement over the past three seasons and it has been great to see the progress. It doesn’t happen without a lot of hard work and the management team of Anthony Clinton, Emerson Farrelly, Tom Keane and Óisin Masterson are to be complimented on their work with the panel. In his post-match address, Westmeath Underage Committee Chairperson Barry Kelly thanked the parents for their support and help with all the tasks involved. 

Mullingar Shamrocks: Tom McCaul; Killian Hand (Conor Matthews), Manus Kelly, Cian Traynor; MJ Burke, Shay Leavy, Scott Farrelly (1-0); Marius Buividavicius, Oliver Keane; Theo Kelly (0-1), Colm Clinton (4-0), Eoin Reddan (Conan Kelly); Darragh Daly (0-1) [Sam Phillips], Carl Keane (1-1), Fionn Ledwith (Eddie Leavy).  

Other panelists: Seán Dooley, John Cleary, Pau Dooley, Cian McNamee, Rory Thornton, Dylan Hanly,  Harry McLoughlin, Kian Newcombe, Evan Nohilly, Mayus Virketis.