Under-19 Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 6-14 Cill Óige 3-9

An excellent performance by our Under-19 team in Rosemount ended with a comprehensive victory against the young Castledaly-Rosemount combination. Despite the fourteen point margin, it was a hard earned victory and at times a win seemed unlikely.

Cill Óige pointed from the throw-in when George Kearney, a player who troubled Shamrocks on the night, shot over and in the next attack was through on goal but a brilliant Mikey Curley save prevented a certain goal. Mikey was superb on the night with excellent restarts such an important part of the goalkeepers skill set. Callum Rigney Clyne equalized after a great interception by Dylan Carey followed by a goal from Adam Boyle created by a great defence splitting pass from Conor Heffernan. Jamie Daly saved brilliantly from a Ryan Kelly rocket before Gavin Pierce pointed from a move that began with a brilliant Dylan Franzoni interception (1-2 to 0-1). Cill Óige responded with a goal by Adam Keane that began with a needless turnover as Shamrocks attacked. Luke McCabe pointed from a free but Evan Daly added a second Cill Óige goal with George Kearney and Andrew Geoghegan combining to create the defence splitting opportunity. Shamrocks replied with a superbly created goal that began deep in defence with a back pass to Mikey Curley and the ball was moved up-field with Callum Rigney Clyne providing the final pass to Gavin Pierce who rocketed the ball to the net. A Dylan Franzoni point was followed by two for Cill Óige from George Kearney and Andrew Geoghegan. Shamrocks added two points courtesy of a Tom Hickey free and a Conor Heffernan effort that began with another great Dylan Carey interception deep in defence. The final minutes of the half belonged to Cill Óige and a point by Adam Keane and a goal by George Kearney (another needless turnover) gave the combination team an interval lead of 3-4 to 2-6.

Shamrocks benefited from wind and hill assistance in the second half and outscored Cill Óige 3-9 to 0-5 playing some great unselfish football along the way. The play restarted with an Evan Daly point which was neutralized by a superb left footed effort from Gavin Pierce. Ryan Kelly and Gavin then combined to send Callum Rigney Clyne through on goal and Callum made no mistake by smashing home Shamrocks’ third goal. Points by George Kearney and Sean Conlon (0-2) restored the Cill Óige lead. It was short lived as a superb long range effort by Ryan Kelly brought the sides level (3-8 each). Jordan Awunah, a newcomer to the joys of Gaelic football) and a half-time substitute then went on a bit of a scoring spree that began when he collected the Cill Óige restart and pointed followed by a goal that was the product of Ryan Kelly’s hard work. Matthew Ryan added another goal with Luke McCabe’s delayed and extra pass crucial in creating the opportunity. A great tackle by the outstanding player on the field Dylan Franzoni set up Gavin Pierce who pointed in style; Jordan Awunah added another point with a long range effort; Dylan Franzoni found the energy to join the attack and scored Shamrocks sixth goal; Mikey Curley had time for one more great save and points by Donnacha Maguire and John Ryan (0-2) completed the Shamrocks 6-14 tally.

A great win and a great team performance.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Mikey Curley; Aaron Russell (Jordan Awunah, 1-2), Dylan Carey, Rory Hickey; Dylan Franzoni (1-1), Ben Egan, Callum Rigney Clyne (1-1); Matthew Ryan (1-0), Ciaran Kiernan; Adam Boyle (1-0), Tom Hickey (0-1) [Donnacha Maguire, 0-1], Conor Heffernan (0-1) [John Ryan, 0-2]; Gavin Pierce (1-3)[Alex Sheerin], Luke McCabe (0-1) [Caoilin Walshe], Ryan Kelly