Under-16 Championship, Quarter-final: Mullingar Shamrocks 4-8 Maryland-Tang 4-12.
Mullingar Shamrocks under-16s championship campaign ended on Monday night with a four point loss to Maryland-Tang who just about deserved the victory. After a tightly fought opening half Shamrocks trailed by the minimum margin (3-4 to 2-8) thanks to two brilliant saves by Shamrocks goalkeeper Marc Watters and goals scored by Dylan Murphy and Trevor Keena who netted twice including a well-struck penalty goal. A good Matthew Maslin pointed free immediately after the interval levelled matters but this was neutralised by a great Shane Coughlan Maurice Fitzgerald-type outside of the boot effort from close to the sideline. Great defending by the full-back line of Cian Fox, Conor Fitzpatrick and Brandon Heffernan and good work by Cormac Darby kept Shamrocks interest in the game alive. A Maryland-Tang goal was matched by a scrambled effort set up by a brilliant Matthew Maslin run through the Maryland-Tang defence; the finish was scrappy but the ball ended in the net which was all that mattered. A penalty goal by the visitors proved to be the crucial score and although Matthew Maslin (0-2) and Trevor Keena added points Shamrocks were unable to land the much needed goal and bowed out of the championship. The final scores came from the boot of Shane Coughlan; this was appropriate as on the night the lively forward was the outstanding player and scored 1-12 in what was a superb individual performance.
This team has many promising footballers who have the potential to play adult football for Shamrocks should they wish to do so. Kevin McCormack, Brendan Kerrigan and Alan Cashman did a fine job of management and are to be complimented for their commitment to the young players.
Mullingar Shamrocks: Marc Watters; Cian Fox, Conor Fitzpatrick, Brandon Heffernan; Cormac Darby, Mark Eivers, Eoin Kilduff; Dillon Matthews and Luke Carton; Cormac Hynes, Trevor Keena (2-1), Dylan Murphy (1-1); Matthew Maslin (0-5), James Mahedy (1-1), John O’Reilly.
