A beautiful evening in Ellistown provided the setting for the U12 shield final but, unfortunately, the result for Ballymore wasn’t as nice as the weather.

The visitors got off to a bright start with two points in the first quarter. Some stout defending kept Ellistown scoreless until their last kick of the quarter looped over the Ballymore goalie and into the back of the net. Ballymore started quickly in the second quarter and equalised within seconds of the restart. However, Ellistown got a second goal shortly afterwards which seemed to buoy the hosts who then went on to score another three points without reply. Ballymore managed to get a goal from a free to get back in the game. The half came to a close with Ellistown registering another two points.

Ellistown came out strongly in the second half and managed to get a third goal. The Ballymore players never gave up though and went in search of the scores that would get them back in the game. They had a number of attempts on goal but the Ellistown goalie was on form and they were denied by the post and crossbar too. Nonetheless they managed to put the ball over the bar twice to keep the scoreboard ticking over. As Ballymore pushed forward Ellistown were finding lots of space at the back, however, the Ballymore defence were resolute and when Ellistown did break through the Ballymore goalie pulled off an astonishing treble save to keep them out. Just when it seemed the Ellistown scoring was being halted they managed to score a fourth goal coming to the end of the third quarter followed up by another point.

Things looked grim for Ballymore going into the fourth quarter but despite the scoreline the team kept working hard to salvage something from the game. They were rewarded for their efforts with a goal but Ellistown responded with a goal of their own followed by a couple of quick points. The Ballymore heads never dropped though and they put over three more points before Ellistown finished the scoring with another point.
Thank you to Ellistown for hosting the final and congratulations to them on their win. The Ballymore team can hold their heads up, they performed brilliantly and never gave up.

Full time score Ellistown 5.09; Ballymore 2.08

Ballymore team:
Cillian Gilroy; Harry Byrne; Nuadh Breslin; Ríoghan Kelly; Sean Molloy; Charlie Murphy (0.1); Tom Geoghan; Fionn Stewart Byrne (1.4); James Dowling (1.0); James Mooney; Cameron Cullen (0.1); Ronan McGlynn; Jamie Keogh (0.1); Abbey Grace (0.1); Liadain Conroy & Eimear Lynch

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