2006 Westmeath Under 12 Premier County Final

Joy for mighty Caulry Men in Under 12 Premier Final

Caulry 3-10

St. Malachy’s/Ballinagore 0-9

Caulry’s U12s finished off a remarkable season after beating a strong St. Malachy’s/Ballinagore side in the Under 12 Premier Championship Football Final In Garrycastle last Friday night. Played under lights, and in front of a very big crowd, conditions were almost perfect for this eagerly awaited game. The Caulry lads would have being slight favourites after getting the better of St. Malachy’s/Ballinagore already in the Championship, and they got off to a great start, with a point from Andrew O’Sullivan. St. Malachy’s/Ballinagore quickly levelled before another point from O’Sullivan put Caulry back in the lead.

St. Malachy’s/Ballinagore then found their range and they started to dominate proceedings and four unanswered points gave them a three point lead. Caulry were struggling to find first gear and were living off scraps. Some good individual work from Harry Hughes on the wing resulted in a point from Caulry before another pointed free for St. Malachy’s/Ballinagore put them three in front again. However, the defining moment of the first half arrived with the first half almost up. A great blocked clearance from Grace Coughlan, broke to Andrew O’Sullivan, and O'Sullivan let fly from twenty yards and the ball ended up in the net to level matters. And just before the break, the ever lively Ben Kenny landed a point to give Caulry the minimum advantage at the break.

Caulry started brightly in the second half and Ben Kenny finished with a point after a great move upfield involving Grace Coughlan and David Brookes. Kenny stretched his side’s lead with another point before St. Malachy’s/Ballinagore responded with a point to leave just two points between the sides. Harry Hughes then added another point from an acute angle before a Darren O'Connor free found Caulry captain, Grace Coughlan in front of goals and she made no mistake with her effort to stretch her side’s lead to five points.

However, St. Malachy’s/Ballinagore displayed a "never say die attitude" and they started to put fierce pressure on the Caulry defence. Marshalled by Michael McMahon and Evan Roarke, the defence of Shane Parker, Conor Dolan, Evin Byrne, with help from Paddy Muldoon and Niall Killane, defended as if their lives depended on it and were literally impregnable. And with the help of the outstanding Conor Tumulty in goals, St. Malachy’s/Ballinagore were never going to get easy scores and indeed could only manage three points in the second half.

With less than ten minutes remaining, the result was still in the balance. But another cracking long range pass from David Brookes, found the unmarked Andrew O’Sullivan who sealed the issue with Caulry's final goal. And another couple of points from Harry Hughes and Steven Woods put a gloss on the scoreline and left the final score, Caulry 3-10, St. Malachy’s/Ballinagore 0-9.

Overall, this was a fitting end to a great year for the Caulry lads. This was their tenth win in a row in all competitions with wins over Tubberclair, Tyrrellspass, Moate All Whites, Athlone, Kilbeggan/St. Josephs, Ballynacargy, Mullingar Shamrocks, St. Malachys/Ballinagore and Coralstown/Kinnegad.

All credit must be given to the players and finally the team mentors of Tommy Woods, Alan Hughes and John O’Connor

Panel: Conor Tumulty, Shane Parker, Michael McMahon, James Pettit, Evan Roarke, Evan Byrne, Darren O’Connor, Grace Coughlan, Patrick Muldoon, Andrew O’Sullivan, Ben Kenny, Niall Killane, David Brookes, Stephen Woods, Harry Hughes, Sean Doyle, Robert Hickey, Gavin Shortall, Niamh Hanevy, Niall Donohoe, Eoin Donohoe, Jamie Roarke, Tom Doyle, Simon Geoghegan, Ger Carroll, Conor Dolan, Conor Ledwith, Alan Nugent, Adrian Claffey and Alan Daly.