Gerry’s Prepared Veg U13 Div. 3 Shield Final
Cremartin 4-7 Doohamlet 4-16
After a tumultuous weekend of Adult championship football in Monaghan with numerous heavy weight clubs slugging it out in typically dour games plagued with nauseating back passing and an abundance of cagey short kickouts, it took a thrilling game by both these young teams to restore my faith in Monaghan football.
The game began at a furious pace and only continued to speed up as the play progressed. Doohamlet sported a notable height advantage which Cremartin combated with use of quick and accurate kick passing which would not have looked out of place in Croke park this weekend. Both goalkeepers Shane Carragher and Jamie Marron Casey were called into action early to make crucial saves. The deadlock was eventually broken by Doohamlet full back Mattie Duffy who proved once again that ‘laying the ball off to a forward’ is nothing more than a conspiracy propagated by forwards to ease their workload. Whilst Mattie was galavanting and threatening the opposition goal his partner in the full back line Oran Mc Cormack was locked in a thrilling battle with Cremartin Full forward Jamie Mooney. The scores began to come thick and fast with impeccable shooting from both teams who had the statisticians dumbfounded by registering fewer than 5 wides in the entire game. It was a very industrious Brennan duo of Ben and Shea who along with Jamie Mooney kept the scoreboard ticking for Cremartin. However, while Cremartin chipped at points their counterparts were more clinical with their scoring opportunities with Tommie Duffy, Donnachadh McMahon and Eoin Coleman all finishing goal opportunities before the interval. A flurry of points from Eoin Coleman and Conor Quinn left the scoreboard 3-09 to 1-03 in favour of Doohamlet at half time.
Whilst this may seem an intimidating halftime scoreline I don’t think anyone told the young men of Cremartin who came out and continued to play in an extravagant swashbuckling manner. Credit must be given to the defence of both teams who gave an exhibiton in tackling, high fielding and marking from the front with Daniel Coleman and Fionan Markey marshalling the defence for Doohamlet and Callum Madden, Tiernan Buckley and Paul McGuigan doing likewise for Cremartin. Cremartin began to reap the rewards of their hard work and the hard running duo of Darragh McMahon and Darragh Kerr. Cormac Boyd continued the theme of total football and chipped in with a point from corner back. Then Cremartin went on a goal scoring spree of their own with Jamie Mooney nailing one from a free and Shea Brennan and Ryan O’Neill getting a goal each. This did not phase the seasoned u13’s of Doohamlet however who have survived scares like this many times before. Haden O’Neill, Mackensey O’Connor and Padraig Duffy got the insurance points halting the Cremartin comeback. At this stage the entire Doohamlet team retreated back to their own goal line assembling the second best wall I’ve ever witnessed only trumped by Pink Floyd’s 1982 album the wall. This concluded a thrilling game played in the most spirited of fashion.
Walking away from that game and had me thinking that the cure for Joe Brolly and Pat Spillane’s eternal pessimism that we will undoubtedly witness on the Sunday game this weekend might not lie in a change of the rules of the game. But perhaps they just need to be prescribed a good dose of u13’s Gaelic Football.
Cremartin: Shane Carragher, Cormac Boyd (0-1), Callum Madden, Tiernan Buckley, Ryan O’Neil (1-1), Darragh McMahon, Paul McGuigan, Ben Brennan (0-1), Darrah Kerr, Jamie Mooney (2-2), Shea Brennan (1-2), Corman McNally, Conor McEneaney, Paddy Carroll, Gerard Markey, Oisin McKieran, Thomas Donaldson, Calum Donaldson, James Shortt, Josh Farnan, Conor McEneaney & Jack Cunningham.
Doohamlet: Jamie Marron Casey, Oran McCormack, Daniel Coleman, Mattie Duffy (0-1), Fionan Markey, Eoin Coleman (1-6), Tommie Duffy (2-4), Cian McKenna, Mackensey O’Connor, Donnachadh McMahon (1-4), Haden O’Neill, Donnachadh Smyth, Conor Quinn, Padraig Duffy (0-1), Darragh McBride, Vincent McManus & Ben Treanor
