St Vincents 7-10, Shamrocks 4-5
The strong favourites St Vincents made no mistake over a gallant Shamrocks team in Passage on Sunday afternoon in the championship final. Shamrocks just cant seem to get the better of Vincents in 2016, this was their 4th out of 4 wins in a row over this Shamrocks team, two in football and wo in hurling. This was by far teh biggest clsh of teh two and looking at teh scoreline, one might be forgiven for thinking that it was one way traffic but it wasnt – the Shamrocks team were outstanding to a man and battled all day long in the muck, rain and wind and made Vincents battle for every inch of ground all day.
Drama before the game as the small goal posts were blown over by the very strong wind blowing right down the pitch. Luckily, nobody was on the field at the time but after much debate between the management of both teams, it was decied to go ahead with the game but to remove the small goals, play the full pitch and go from twelve a side to thirteen a side. It was the right thing to do and it had no effect on the outcome.
Shamrocks played with the wind early on and needed a big lead. They were straight into action on the scoreboard. The forwards were clicking nicely and started to score. Harry Andrews was on fire inside and he had 1-3 from play inside the first 10 minutes. Vincents broke away for a goal which was to keep them in it somewhat but Shamrocks controlled it there after and delivered some great scores, none more so than the 3rd goal which was a full pitch lenght move where the ball was worked through many pairs of hands before the ball was fed to the onrushing Sean Andrews who buried it high into the Vincents net. A superb team goal and Vincents were in trouble. This was 10 minutes before HT and Shamrocks led 3-5 to 1-0 with the big wind. However, the next 10 minutes proved to be the key part of the match as Vincents attacked, scored and proceded to win every Shamrocks kickout against the wind, setting up their inside forwards who bagged a priceless 2-4 in the lead up to haltime. All the hard work Shamrocks had done was blown away in the wind. HT they led by only a point, 3-5 to 3-4 with a mountain to climb.
Shamrocks held out and fought hard for the first 10 minutes against the wind and hill but the inevitable happened 10 minutes in. Vincents had gone ahead 3-7 to 3-5 at this point but the first goal was always going to be teh defining moment and once it came, the heads dropped a bit. Another soon followed and such was the struggle against the wind, that really was it with 15 minutes to go. Shamrocks emptied the bench and brought on all their subs, who all performed well for such a young age, Rebert Barrett scored the only Shamrocks goal in the second half. St Vincents used the wind advantage to tag on more points and goals while the Shamrocks lads on duty never threw in the towel.
Overall, a fully deserved win for strong favourits St Vincents but Shamrocks gave them plenty to think about along the way. The Shamrocks players had a great run in the East championship with a very young team and things are certainly better at this end of the year than say seven months ago. This was the u14s 23rd match of the year. Well done to all the players on a great year so far and to the mentors Pa Andrews, Jed O’Flaherty, John Jordan and Catherine Sisk on communication. Thanks also to the parents and supporters who braved the elements to roar on the lads. The season is not over with at least 2 more games to go.
Panel: D. O’Brien, D. Gregson, T. Sheehan, P. Dorney, A. McSweeney, C. O’Flaherty, M. Sisk, S. Darcy, A. Maye, S. Andrews, D. Howard, H. Andrews, E. O’Flynn, F. Herlihy, A. Brady, M. Foy, J. Coleman, R. Barrett.
East U14 CFC Final V St Vincents, in Passage, 11/9/16. Back row, l to r: Michael Foy, Shane Darcy, Cian O’Flaherty, Seán Andrews, Philip Dorney, Dylan Gregson, Harry Andrews, Mark Sisk, John Coleman, Adam McSweeney. Front: Aiden Brady, Eoin O’Flynn, Tim Sheehan, Adam Maye, Daniel O’Brien, Fionn Herlihy, Robert Barrett, Derry Howard.
