Under-17 Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 1-9 The Downs 0-8

Our Under-17 team carved out a good win over The Downs on Saturday afternoon in this knock-out championship. Shamrocks enjoyed an interval lead of 1-4 to 0-2. Zach Aherne opened the scoring and Oliver McNamara pointed twice to give Shamrocks an 0-3 to 0-2 lead after fifteen minutes. William Adzonga finished a great team move for Shamrocks fourth point with Wesley Imafidou threading the final pass to create the opportunity and Mark Flynn also involved on a number of occasions. Niall Ouchbakou experienced his Jack McCaffrey moment before the interval when he collected the ball in his right wingback position and galloped up-field to plant the ball in The Downs net. The Downs pointed on resumption before Zach Aherne finished off a great team move that began in the Shamrocks fullback line with some great cornerback play by Daniel Chukwuemeka, surely a man born to play in the position with his tackling ability and tenacity. Some well struck frees by Ben Harte and Óisin Murphy kept The Downs in touch, Sean Óg Hynes had one crucial save before Wesley Imafidou struck two important points to maintain the five point lead after fifteen minutes. In the final quarter Oliver McNamara pointed two frees from either side of the pitch and Harte and Murphy kicked two points for The Downs before the final whistle. The final score of 1-9 to 0-8 secured a rare enough victory for Mullingar Shamrocks over The Downs in under-age football in recent years.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Sean Óg Hynes; Ciarán Looby Matthew Siode, Daniel Chukwuemeka; Niall Ouchbakou (1-0), Emmet Walsh, Tomass Turks (Ciarán Looby]; Mark Flynn, Rory O'Sullivan Sexton; Rian Adamson, Zach Aherne (0-2), William Adzonga (0-1); Oliver McNamara (0-4) [Lee Ryan], Wesley Imafidou, (0-2), Daithí Ó Mairtín.