No stopping St. Mel's in North Leinster U-14 title triumph

05.02.10 | St. Mel's College 3-12 St. Mary's Mullingar 1-8 | By Padraic O'Brien

Despite having a couple of penalties saved, there was still no stopping the talented St. Mel's U-14 footballers who scored a comprehensive win over St. Mary's, Mullingar in the North Leinster Colleges Juvenile 'A' Championship Final at Keenan Park, Ardagh on Friday last.

The wide margin of nine points separated the sides at the final whistle and St. Mel's can now look forward with considerable confidence to the overall Leinster U-14 Final against Good Counsel, New Ross (Wexford) or Castleknock Community College (Dublin) at the end of February.

Daryl Carrigy was a constant threat in the role of the target man at full-forward in ending up with 2-5 to his credit and while the St. James Ardagh/Moydow player was particularly outstanding on home ground, Niall Kelly also excelled in leading the slick St. Mel's attack with great authority.

Sean Farrell provided the driving force at centrefield alongside the also prominent Kryspin Pliszdynski (a native of Poland) and this duo gave the Longford College a decisive edge throughout this entertaining encounter.

Fergal Keenan, Ronan Sweeney, Adrian Duffy and Rory Sullivan were much to the fore in a competent defence while corner-forward Larry Moran came a lot more into the game in the second half as St. Mel's consolidated their tight grip on the North Leinster Juvenile title.

It was a fine team effort by the well drilled St. Mel's team (coached by Fr. Joe McGrath) who improved significantly on their victory over St. Pat's of Navan in the previous round and with 19 minutes gone in the first half the boys in blue had established a commanding 2-4 to 0-1 advantage.

Costly mistakes by the Mullingar defence were punished by Daryl Carrigy and Sean Clarke, who fired home the crucial goals in the 15th and 18th minutes respectively, while the points came from Carrigy, a brace from Sean Farrell (the first a wonderful solo effort) and wing back Ronan Sweeney.

However, St. Mel's managed just one more score during the remainder of the first half and that came from a well struck Niall Kelly penalty in the 25th minute that was brilliantly deflected over the bar by the excellent St. Mary's keeper Ben McCabe who produced a number of other quality saves during the course of the contest.

The visitors thus trailed by 2-5 to 0-6 at the break with midfielder Darragh Lyons landing four of the points (three frees) while Darren Keena (free) and Ciaran Shanley were also on target. While St. Mel's made a flying start to the second half when Larry Moran shot over the bar after just 30 seconds, St. Mary's hit back immediately with a cracking goal from Conor O'Brien.

That made it very interesting indeed with the Mullingar College now only 2-6 to 1-6 in arrears but St. Mel's refused to panic and quickly regained the upper hand. Another penalty was awarded after Larry Moran broke through on a penetrating run, only to be fouled in the square, but again Niall Kelly was denied by the opposing keeper as the spot kick was saved and the centre-half-forward drove the rebound wide with four minutes gone on the changeover.

But St. Mel's proceeded to fire over three points in quick succession through Daryl Carrigy, Sean Clarke and Ronan Sweeney and whatever hopes St. Mary's had of keeping their title hopes alive were dashed when Dean Scally had a penalty saved in terrific fashion by the opposing keeper Alan Sorohan in the 43rd minute.

St. Mel's went on to add another 1-3 to their tally with Niall Kelly setting up Daryl Carrigy for a soccer style goal in the 50th minute and the same player also accounted for the three points. In fact, Carrigy was unlucky not to find the back of the net again in the 57th minute when the St. Mary's keeper produced a tremendous point-blank save.

The other scores for the gallant losers came from Dylan Cannon, substitute Ryan Maher and a late consolation point from a free converted by Dean Scally.

ST. MEL'S: Alan Sorohan (Clonguish); Rory Sullivan (St. James, Ardagh/Moydow), Adrian Duffy (Longford Slashers), Shane Kelly (Longford Slashers); Brian Rooney (Longford Slashers), Fergal Keenan (St. James), Ronan Sweeney (Clonguish, 0-2); Sean Farrell (St. James, 0-2, one free), Kryspin Pliszdynski (St. James); Shane McCormack (Kilglass Gaels), Niall Kelly (Longford Slashers, 0-1), Liam Hughes (Killoe); Larry Moran (Killoe, 0-1), Daryl Carrigy (St. James, 2-5, two points from frees), Sean Clarke (Longford Slashers, 1-1).

SUB USEDS:- James Heffernan (Kilglass Gaels) for L Hughes (42 mins).

ST. MARY'S: Ben McCabe; Daniel Loughrey, Sean Lee, Conor Coughlan; Dean Scally (0-1, free), Jack Quinn, Wayne Kelly; Darragh Lyons (0-4, three frees), Conor O'Brien (1-0); Darren Keena (0-1, free), Padraig Moran, Ciaran Shanley (0-1); Luke Tynan, Dylan Cannon (0-1), Eoin Lynam.

SUBS USED:- Ryan Maher (0-1) for L Tynan (40 mins); Ryan Blundell for C Shanley (46 mins).

REFEREE: Tom Killian (Roscommon).

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