U16 captain Darren Clarke accepts the league trophy
the end it was goals that made the difference for Bailieborough as they in clinching the title. The Shamrocks had dominated early proceedings as a trademark goal from Michael Argue and some fine shooting from Niall Kelly put them 1-4 to 0-1 in front after 15 minutes. Ballymachugh hit back with three unanswered points of their own, which trimmed the down difference by half-time. In the second-half, Ballymachugh nudged themselves in front but, to their credit, the Shamrocks never threw in the towel and they showed great composure in the latter stages when Niall Comey set-up Owen O’Sullivan for the vital goal which proved a huge blow to their opponents. Bailieborough would go on to increase their lead late on with a fine score from team captain Declan O’Reilly, who went on to collect the cup on the club’s behalf as they saw out a 2-9 to 012 victory.
U16S TAKE DIV 1 TITLE
Sean Cooney
David Carolan
In May, Bailieborough’s Under 16 footballers clinched the club’s first piece of silverware for 2012 when they overcame Crosserlough’s challenge in the Division One league final at Ramor United Park in Virginia. Having won the Christy Shiels annual 7-a-side tournament earlier in the year, a talented Bailieborough side headed into their league campaign with some strong form which helped them move into the semi-finals, where they edged past Ramor United by 0-9 to 0-8. Nonetheless they would still be heading into the Division One decider against Crosserlough on May 25th as underdogs. Played in glorious summer conditions, the opening exchanges had been even up until the first quarter when the young Shamrocks began to pull away with a well-finished goal from Rhys Clarke. From there, the east Cavan side began to dominate their opponents with three unanswered points and a
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goal from corner-forward Ciaran Keegan ushering them towards a 2-5 to 1-3 lead against the favourites. Crosserlough did their best to cut the deficit immediately into the resumption, but they could find no way past a stern Bailieborough defence for whom Darren Brady, Colin Larkin and Darren Clarke were best. The Reds would land their third goal of the match from the secondhalf throw-in which saw a long ball being pumped into Keegan, who gathered a fired to the corner of Ian Telford’s net. More points followed for the Shamrocks before the superb Harry O’Neill fired in goal number four from full-forward to all but kill off the game as a contest. To their credit, Crosserlough rallied and pulled back two goals but there was no halting Bailieborough’s momentum as they would go on to secure a 4-12 to 3-7 win which saw team captain Darren Clarke going up to receive the Cup on his team’s behalf. The Bailieborough team that lined out that day was as follows: Ciaran Monaghan; Eric Shekleton, Darren Brady, Nathan Ellis; Colin Comey, Darren Clarke, Colin Larkin; Tommy Rogers, Christopher Dunne; Jack Renihan, Brendan Argue, Ben Hannigan; Ciaran Keegan, Harry O’Neill, Rhys Clarke. Subs: Jacques Tierney, Niall Smith, Daniel Kenny, Killian Byrne, Christopher Hall, Killian McCabe, Peter Carolan, Eoghan O’Reilly.
LADIES GOING STRONG 2012 saw the Bailieborough Shamrocks ladies competing in the intermediate championship, where the biggest crowd of the year at St Anne’s Park turned up to watch an intriguing contest between Knockbride and the hosts, which saw the Canningstown women coming away with the spoils and going on to claim the title. Many of the same Bailieborough players would line-out for the club’s camogie team this past season, whilst the Shamrocks were also major contributors to the East Cavan Gaels hurling side in 2012, which saw an eastern amalgamation of Knockbride, Shercock, Kingscourt and Bailieborough competing in the small ball game.