Clones/Currin U14 Div 1 Shield Winners 2013

Victorious weekend for our juveniles who won the Under 14 Division 1 Shield final

Three in a row, following final successes in the previous two weeks with or U16’s and Div5 U14’s pride of place again goes to our juveniles, in particular our Clones/Currin U14 team who won the Division 1 shield against Magheracloone by the narrowest of margins of one point. Final score Clones/Currin 7:14 Magheracloone 6:16. This was a highly entertaining, tense and close game throughout with the game swinging either way. Clones/Currin had the better start leading 2:04 to 0:04 after the first quarter, but Magheracloone came back strong and the teams were level at half time with 3:08 a piece. Clones/Currin started to take a grip and held a 3pt lead into the final quarter. A quick goal and a point put the team 7 points up but Magheracloone never gave up and took the game by the scuff of the neck to get level. The final few minutes were anxious as Magheracloone took the lead heading into the last few minutes but the team rallied and scored a deserved equaliser. As the game seemed to be heading for extra time a free in with the last play from Cameron Dowds sailed over to give the team a dramatic victory. There were some happy scenes at the end when Dec Og lifted the cup on behalf of the team and all enjoyed the customary ‘Round the town’ parade This ends a great year for the U14 panel as today’s victory marked a great double as the division 5 team won the shield as well two weeks ago. A great year for all concerned and congratulations to the management team, players and parents.  Team and scorers: Cian Mc Carney, Cillain Martin, Nathan Daly, Caomhain O Neill-McDermott, Kevin Murphy (0-1), Conor reilly, Ollie Clerkin (2-5), Jack Lynch (1-0), Cameron Dowds (2-5), Daniel Connolly (0-1), Matthew Reihill, Dec Og Mc Kernan (1-2), Tiernain Monaghan (1-0), Oisin McPhillips, Simon O Connell,James Cleary, Rian Kierans, Henry Hipwell,Kevin Coogan, Conor Murphy, Jamie McQuillain.

Best of Luck to the Monaghan Ladies who take on Cork in the TG4 All Ireland Senior final on Sunday.  Tickets are very reasonably priced and I’d encourage as many of you to take the bus to HQ and cheer on our ladies.

“Memories of match days” there was a great attendance for this event held last Thursday night in the Creighton Hotel, hosted by Frank McNally of the Irish Times.  There were fantastic anecdotes and analysis from the panel and the audience of days gone by and the big games in Clones.  The Ulster Council may have their decision made to move the Ulster Final to the newly developed Casement, there still remains however a spirit, strength of mind and history associated with St.Tiarnachs Pk. which needs to be looked into again.  We hope that tradition prevails and we continue to host the final for many years to come.

Seniors:  Disappointment on Saturday evening for our seriously under strength seniors who put in a fantastic first half performance to be level at half time against a classy Truagh team.  Truagh kicked on in the second half and despite the battling quality displayed by Clones, Truagh came out on top in the end.  With Intermediate status all but secured for next season and a wee run in the championship the players and management can feel satisfied with this achievement and we look forward to next season with great hope, excitement and anticipation.

Minors: Sunday the 6^th of October sees the highly anticipated clash of Doohamlet and St.Tiarnachs in the Division 3 Championship Final, the lads have worked exceptionally hard all year and we’re hopeful of a big performance.  Date and venue have yet to be decided for the Div3 league final as we await the outcome of the postponed Castleblaney Doohamlet semi –final.  I would encourage all of you to support this minor team, some of our current and future county stars are on this team.