Remember the Team (5) ...

Mullingar Shamrocks: Gary Noonan; Keith Moore, Enda Monaghan, Mark McLoughlin; Paddy O'Donnell, Simon Cashman, Micheál Curley; Daragh Ryan, Seán Maguire (0-1); Peter Collins (1-2), Cian O'Leary (0-5), Fiachra Spellman; Keith Noonan (1-0), Colin Connolly (1-2), Gavin Moore. Panellists: Darren Moore, Dermot Smith, Stephen Bolger, David Connolly, Brendan Kerrigan, Pierce Price, James O'Donnell.

The Occasion: The 1999 Under-14 football county final played in Cusack Park on Wednesday 29 September.

The Context: This was the final in which Mullingar Shamrocks were the no-hopers and total outsiders. This view was encouraged and carefully cultivated whilst behind the scenes Ned Moore and Des Maguire worked their motivational magic and carefully prepared an ambush for the neighbours (a bit like what happened ourselves this year in the same grade!).

The Result: Mullingar Shamrocks 3-10 St Loman's 1-9.

The Match: St Loman's confirmed their favourite tag in the first minute when Trevor McDonnell goaled but the Shamrocks response was immediate and a Peter Collins pass sent Colin Connolly through for an equalising goal. Two great goals that ignited a great game of football. Scores flowed freely and the best of the first half came when Peter Collins pointed from the sideline. Colin Connolly also pointed from long range close to the sideline, Peter Collins created another goal chance for Keith Noonan who made no mistake and shot past Stephen Gallagher. At the interval, Shamrocks were ahead 2-7 to 1-3. It was one way traffic for the first fifteen minutes of the second half as St Loman's attacked relentlessly and scored five points to reduce the deficit to two points. The Shamrocks ship was steadied when Cian O'Leary pointed twice for Shamrocks in the twentieth minute. Two minutes later the goal maker became the goal scorer when Peter Collins shot to the net to increase the Shamrocks lead to seven points. It was close to game over and in the final minutes Conor Clinton and Cian O'Leary exchanged points before a brilliant Stephen Gallagher save deprived Peter Collins of his second goal.

The Captain: Enda Monaghan was the one climbing the steps of Cusack Park to collect the cup from Michael McHugh. Enda was of course part of Ned Moore's management team in 2018 and 2019 and had just become the club's Coaching Officer before the Corona virus shutdown. The pre-final pen picture noted that Enda 'was the most improved player over the last year. Very strong and dedicated'. Peter Collins was described as 'one of the best under-14 left footers in the game. Very skillful on the ball. Has a good eye for a score, good passer of the ball'. Peter's performance in the final confirmed much that was in the profile.

And Micheál Curley is still a half-back warrior after all these years.