Our U16’s have finished their league campaign unbeaten and top of Division 2 after a super performance against the Shels in Pairc Charman on Thursday evening.
We were largely on top for the first quarter and started brightly with two pointed frees from Seán O’Brien inside the first five minutes. Andrew Gethings, Seán Hennessy and Seán O’Brien all added to the scoreboard before Andrew Gethings goaled to give us a 1.5 to 0.2 lead at the quarter mark.
Disaster nearly struck when Shels were awarded a penalty……but A.J. Walsh stuck out a leg having dived the “wrong” way and tipped the ball over the bar for a point. Quick thinking from A.J. and the first of 4 super saves which he made during the game.
Shels hit a bit of a purple patch then but we defended resolutely and tacked on another couple of points from Will O’Rourke and Ruairí O’Connor to give us a half-time lead of 1.7 to 1.5.
The second half was one of the most exciting 30 minutes of football which you could wish for at any grade or age. I know it’s a cliché, but with the lead changing 5 times and there never being much more than a couple of scores in it perhaps a draw was a fair result.
Shels went ahead for the first time early in the second half with a well-worked goal. Seán O’Brien picked up a couple of points before finishing a great team move to the back of the net to maintain our two point lead with 15 minutes to go (2.9 to 2.7).
The last quarter was end-to-end stuff with both teams playing some excellent football. Scores from Seán O’Brien (0-2) and Andrew Gethings had us a point in front when Darragh Scallan goaled with the score of the game, firing an unstoppable shot to the net after a lung-bursting run.
We were winning 3.12 to 3.8 at this stage and looking good heading down the closing stretch, but to their credit Shels kicked 1.2 without reply to lead by a point as we entered injury time. Our lads kept their cool though and worked the ball back up the field, drawing a foul about 40 yards out on the left wing. Up stepped Seán O’Brien for the pressure kick and with the last kick of the game he split the posts to level things up at 3.13 to 4.10.
Having already beaten Castletown, Ferns and St. Martin’s the point on the night was enough to see us top the Division 2 league table. A good start to the year for this talented bunch of young men. Na hÓglaigh abú!
