Under-13 Shield (Div.1) Final: Coralstown-Kinnegad 4-8 Mullingar Shamrocks 1-9

There was no joy in the result in Kinnegad for our Under-13 (Greens) boys in the final against the home team but there was plenty of good football played by both teams which all the players involved should be very happy about.

Coralstown-Kinnegad went into an early lead when Sean McCann goaled but Shamrocks recovered and two points from James Ryan and another by Dillon Burke brough the score to 1-1 to 0-3 at the first water break. Two pointed frees by Ted Aherne after the restart sent Shamrocks ahead. Ted showed his versatility by kicking one from the hand and the more difficult one from the ground. Kinnegad added two points from play before Dillon Burke kicked his second point of the evening to level the match one more time. Kinnegad had the final score of the half and at the interval led by the minimum (1-4 to 0-6).

Shamrocks dominated the third quarter, but poor finishing proved to be costly. Ted Aherne pointed from play but a breakaway goal superbly finished by Jack Duignan was a killer blow. Ted Aherne pointed two frees and the quarter ended with a wonderful save by Kinnegad goalkeeper Sachin Govender from a Dillon Burke shot. This was Sachin’s second super save of the evening; his restarts were also top class. A player to watch out for in the future. Coralstown-Kinnegad had extended their half-time lead by one point as the score in the excellent referee’s notebook now read 2-5 to 0-9.

Tommy Malone’s goal early in the final quarter virtually secured the Shield title. The Shamrocks boys battled back and Dillon Burke scored the goal he threatened to get all evening there was a chance of a recovery. It wasn’t to be however and when Paddy Geraghty’s long range free dipped under the crossbar there was time for no more.

The Mullingar Shamrocks lads played some great skilful football on the evening with lots of good combination play displayed. There was also some great tackling and one by Zak Coyne could feature in any coaching manual on how to dispossess a player by tackling the ball.

These elements of good play don’t happen by accident: it is a result of the long h ours of dedicated coaching delivered by Oisín Masterson, Seán Corroon, Greg Gavin, Derek Sheeran and Adrian Regan. Well done to all involved.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Isaac Haughey, Seán Hickey, Liam Heffernan, James Davitt, Zak Coyne, Oisín Gavin, Ted Aherne (0-5), James Ryan (0-2), Aodhán Sandison, Hugo Corroon, Declan Newman, Conor McDonnell, Dillon Burke (1-2), Ruairi Kilmartin, Dylan Byrne, Paddy Colleary, Harry Maguire, Gareth Sweeney, Jack Conlon, John Gilbride, Luke Kelly, Padraig Regan, Zak Masterson, Ryan McNamee, Ben Murtagh, Charlie Murtagh, Nathan O’Reilly, Darragh Ryan, Rian Sheeran, Harry Tilson, Conor Walsh.