News Detail

You could have heard a pin drop. I wondered was I in the St. Lomans u14 dressing room. I have never heard so much silence in this dressing room before. Ever. The eyes were fixated on whichever coach spoke. The hands in gloves were on the knees and the knees were hopping up and down and twitching with nervous energy. They soaked up every instruction they were given. It paid off. We kept our best performance of the year for the ultimate game of the year : the Division 1 Shield Final of 2018. We finished up with 9 different scorers and ran in 9 subs in a 10 out of 10 performance. Thomas 2-2 Tadgh 0-2 Riley 1-0 Eoghan 1-0 Mark 0-1 Harry 1-2 Ross 0-1 Nedas 0-1 Cillian 0-1.

From the throw-in Nedas and Tadgh set the tempo, dominating the vital area of midfield. Our half back line of Ciaran, Riley and Ross, 3 truly outstanding players, broke up attacks from the opposition and launched our attacks on the opposition and when that line was breached Seanaí and Byron two 13 year olds and Tom, the current holder of our FIFA World Cup Sweepstake and senior member of the full back line were impenetrable. Where does that leave our keeper? I'll tell you where. There is a simple but effective story behind it. One month ago we went to play a tournament in Roscommon. We were not going to go as we still had lads out with injuries and holidays.

That day Byron, our regular keeper was unavailable so Daniel stepped up waving his goalkeeper gloves to volunteer for service between the sticks. He kept so many clean sheets that day his mother has him doing the laundry ever since. But it turned our team around. We could release Byron back into his favourite position of full back, we could push Riley to centre back and Ciaran, an astute reader of the game out to wing back. It revolutionized our team. Last Saturday Daniel pulled off a save towards the end of the game that I can only describe as spectacular, getting down to the butt of the post to tip around the corner. It shows why challenge games and tournaments are of benefit. 

If you told any of the coaches before the game we would score 5-10 and Harry would score "only"1-2. I would have told you, "you know nothing about football". Off the ball he was brilliant on the ball he was brilliant and his selflessness led to all our other scorers. The only part of Cusack Park Cillian and Tadgh didn't cover was the Kilbeggan dressingroom. Eoghan done what he does best. Takes wallops every game but he's strong in the air against opponents kick outs and links up play well. Gooch done what he does best, tips around elusively getting on the ball and picking a pass. If you stood at the Dunnes Stores end of Cusack Park you wouldn't see our number 13 at the scoreboard end. He's small. Really small. He's in the development phase of packing muscle but for his size he packs a punch. Mark Tunney is probably 4 foot but he has a sweet left foot that the experts usually describe as cultured. He also hates anyone getting the better of him and no one did on Saturday. Finally Thomas. He takes his football serious, his training though is less serious. Always messing. We have given up asking him to stop messing and it seems to have worked. He racked up 2-2 and top scorer on the day. He has the bragging rights on this for ever.

As stated above we got to run in all our subs probably the most satisfying stat of the day. Adam got a run and boy can run. All day. All week. When he grows he's going to be one to watch. Nathan could pop up anywhere and play anywhere. His versatility is priceless. David was unlucky not to start, an excellent footballer and as good a boxer I believe. He ran from box to box for the 25 minutes he played in the second half. Finian, arrived to us this year on a free transfer. He has been well worth the money we didn't spend. A steal. He slotted in at half back and used his physicality to great effect, turning over ball to launch yet another attack. Shane another man unlucky not to start.

I think "knacky" is the word used for corner forwards like him. He knows where the posts are and when the protein shakes pay off he'll be a contender. Louis came on with 10 minutes left and done what you want from a substitute. Just contribute something. Get your hands on a ball and pass it to a team mate 5 yards or 55 yards it doesn't matter. He's been a sub most of the year but we could always depend on him to be there. When he's come on he has contributed every time. We got Jamie back in time for the final. He's part of this squad since u8 and he has been unavailable to us all summer it would have been a shame for him to miss out. Our last two changes were Ben and Danny. Ben came into defence at the weekend. He didn't have much to do but all year has mostly been deployed in attack where he has notched up a few scores. Danny, the hero of last year's final. We didn't get to see a lot of him this year due to soccer commitments. Finally our 2 injured men Daragh and Lucas. Daragh the quiet man of this Noisy Gang and goes about his football business just as silently. Lucas adds a Mediterranean flavour to the team and unfortunately has a knee injury that has kept him on the sideline for the last while.

The one overriding factor that this team will benefit from in years to come is that we don't have one or two or three dominant figures that dictate our team. They are all equally as good as each other. With the exception of Nedas they are on the "small" side but they have to adapt. They have to use their skills, their bravery and their intelligence. They can't just give it to one man to rampage down the middle of the pitch and stick it in the back of the net. But they WILL grow and amalgamate that with their skills and their football future is bright.

So that's our season wrapped for 2018. It ended on a high. For some they'll never play u14 again but for 75 minutes after the final whistle they and St. Lomans GAA club were the reigning u14 Westmeath Division 1 championship and shield holders. For the first year u14's they have one more crack at winning a championship. #AllezLesBleus

Team; Daniel Mc Cann, Sean Bracken, Byron Graham, Tom Dorr, Ciaran Smith, Riley Sheehan, Ross Killalea, Nedas Bielcas, Tadgh Kenny, Thomas Meehan, Cillian Plunkett, Eoghan Kenny, Mark Tunney, Harry Mannering, Ciaran Egerton. Subs Used; David Geoghegan, Nathan Sleator, Shane Mulderry, Adam Brady, Louis Mc Grath, Finian Brindley, Danny Ojo, Ben Mc Grath, Jamie Ronan.