Clarkes Bar Junior Championship Final:
St Lomans Mullingar 1-07 Kilbeggan Shamrocks 1-08
The day before our senior championship victory our juniors were also looking to claim silverware when they took on Kilbeggan Shamrocks. The weather couldn’t have been more contrasting to the day after, with heavy rain making conditions extremely difficult for both sides. Kilbeggan started the brighter and pointed early on through Niall Carey before Shane Mulderry got the blues on the board at the ten-minute mark. Shamrocks regained their lead quickly through a double from Nigel Scally. David Morgan momentarily reduced the arrears from a placed ball but two pointed frees from Shaun Pidegon saw the favourites go three up. Tadhg Kenny opened his account on the stroke of half time to leave two between the teams at the interval, which the Mullingar side would have settled for considering how much of the play was with Kilbeggan shamrocks.
The third quarter was undoubtedly the strongest for Robbie Kenny’s side who hit two points in quick succession to level proceedings, courtesy of Chris Gilbert and Seanaí Bracken. Then came a moment of individual brilliance when Bracken went on a blistering run through the heart of the Kilbeggan defence, sold the defender a beautiful dummy solo before firing high into the net via the crossbar. Cian Daly increased the gap to four points with just ten minutes to play and the saints were firmly in the driving seat.
However, the experience of Paul Fennell proved vital in the closing stages as he kicked three unanswered points for the Shamrocks to see the deficit reduced to the minimum. David Morgan responded with second free of the day to leave Lomans with a two-point lead heading into injury time. Robbie Kenny’s men would suffer the ultimate heartbreak when a goal mouth scramble in injury time saw the ball deflect into the back of the net, handing Kilbeggan the victory and leaving the blues crestfallen.
The devastation was clear amongst the players, supporters and management at the full-time whistle with many understand reduced to tears. It really felt cruel as the Blues were in the driving seat and by their own admission should have ended the game as a contest after missing a couple of chances to increase their lead in the closing stages. However, we shouldn’t focus on the negatives as this side has come a long way and has been fantastic for the development, particularly for our younger players many of whom are only into the first year of adult football.
There were many heroic performances in defeat such as the Captain Sean Kelly, Shane Mulderry and Adam Lynch. However, head and shoulders above the rest was Seanaí Bracken who was the outstanding player on the pitch, and he didn’t deserve to be on the losing side, the highlight of his performance being that stunning goal. The likes of Bracken, Mulderry and McCann are only just out of minor and have had a superb first year getting to play alongside multiple senior winners such as Paddy Dowdall, Shane Flynn and David Morgan.
We should never forget that the Junior side is where a lot of our current senior players started before, they made their breakthrough. It is also no coincidence that we won senior championships in 2020, 2021 and 2023, where our junior side reached two finals and a semi-final. The outlier being 2022 where we were eliminated at the group stage of the junior championship. The future is most certnaily bright and having two teams on county final weekend is something we should be proud of. We have several young talents who will push on next year and there is no reason why we shouldn’t be competing for a junior title in 2024.
A big thank you to all the players for their hard work this year and particularly the commitment to senior training. Huge thanks to the management team of Robbie Kenny, Adrian Charles, Adam Carroll, Richie Cleary and Derek Devine for their devotion of time and effort during the year. Massive thank you to all the supporters who turned out in Cusack Park and supported the lads this year. Finally, congratulations to Kilbeggan Shamrocks on their victory and we wish them the best of luck in next year’s intermediate championship.
Team; Dano Fitzsimons, Sean Kelly, Nathan Lally, Ethan Brown, Eoghan Kenny, Shane Flynn, Seanaí Bracken (1.01), Conor Regan, Paddy Dowdall, Shane Mulderry (0.01), Eoghan O’Keefe, Adam Lynch, Chris Gilbert (0.01), David Morgan (0.02, 0.02f), Tadhg Kenny (0.01). Subs used; Cian Daly (0.01), Cillian Plunkett, Daniel McCann, Rory Sheahan, Ciaran Smyth.
