U-16s follow Seniors footsteps

Unfortunately our U-16s aped our Seniors by losing out on a county title following a replay. The replay which was held in Rochfortbridge on Saturday last saw Athlone, with the wind and sun at their backs, very slow to settle. When at last they began to dominate possession they spurned chance after chance with poor shooting. At half time Athlone held only a narrow one goal lead and had to face the elements for the second period. Lomans opened the second half virtually camped in Athlone's half but they too had their problems with shooting. It took a penalty goal to put them ahead for the first time. Athlone did not roll over and proceeded to respond with a well taken Ian Lacey point to tie up the scores. Further points were exchanged and the game appeared to be balanced on a knife edge until a quickly taken Athlone free kick on Loman's 45m line was adjudged by the referee to have been taken from the incorrect spot. The ensuing hop ball was won by St. Lomans who proceeded downfield to add a second goal. This score had the dual effect of galvanising Lomans while demoralising Athlone. The remainder of the game was essentially one way traffic with Lomans running out easy victors by an eleven point margin., The victors would be the first to say that the margin was flattering, as all through the year there had been little or nothing between the sides. Hard luck lads it was not to be your day. You will have to be content with your League and Premier Club titles along with your Newsfare Tournament title, not a bad year for one year.

Our thanks from the club to all the lads who worked so hard all year, to Declan O'Flaherty who was their guiding light, to Liam Byrne who was ever present and to Danny O'Neill and Rory Byrne for their background help.

County Challenge

Following the official opening of our new floodlights on Friday last, Pairc Chiarain staged an attractive challenge game between Westmeath and Roscommon on Saturday night, to christen the lights, so to speak. All was set with a good crowd in attendance when the unthinkable happened. Just 90 seconds of play had elapsed when the pitch was thrown into darkness. Organised panic ensued as red faced Club members scurried hither and thither. To our relief, somewhat, it transpired that the fault lay elsewhere namely a blown fuse on an external ESB pole. To exacerbate the problem the fault had also taken out the internal sockets and with them the Public Address System. Nobody could militate for such an event and Athlone GAA would like to apologise, most sincerely, to all who attended the game, for the inconvenience caused. We would also like to express our gratitude to both Team Managers and their squads for their patience in waiting while the problem was resolved. The fact that both teams were able to restart, albeit over an hour later, was certainly a redeeming factor. The four or five hundred spectators who persevered with their wait on an extremely cold night got some reward in at least getting to see a game.

For the record, after an evenly contested first half, Westmeath. playing some fine flowing football gradually eased away from the westerners during the second period to win by an eight point margin; 0-15 to 0-07. It was a good night for the Athlone clubmen on the team, what with Tom Stuart Trainor captaining the side, Rory O'Connell being the pick of the midfielders on view, Joe Fallon top-scoring with five points and Seamus Mitchell entering the game late on and scoring "the" point of the game following a good delivery from Rory.

Hopefully this game may help Páidí with his selection headaches and we take this opportunity to wish him and his squad all the very best for the season ahead.

Again our apologies to all who were in attendance on Saturday night for whatcan only be described as "one of those things".

Family Affair

Our seniors brought the curtain down on their season with their final league match against Ballymore on Sunday last in Páirc Chíaráin. In a game, which had absolutely nothing at stake for either side, the younger (or not so young) squad members made up the backbone of the home side. Both sides gave an entertaining display of football while sharing the points on the scoreline of: 1-10 apiece. Mark Samuels was the Athlone goalscorer and others to catch the eye were Benjy Bannon, "Slipper" Kilroy, Ollie Keating and Fergal Murray(even though he was playing under an obvious handicap).

A perhaps unique aspect of this match was that the Athlone side featured no less than four Bannon brothers, Paddy, Benjy, Paul and Dermot. Was this a first for the club? I for one can remember the three Finnegan brothers and the three Dolan brothers lining out together in blue and white. But four brothers on the one side is a rarity indeed. It is possible that the four Dolan brothers could have played together on the one team but I cannot be certain. If anyone out there can throw any light on the subject of brothers lining out on past Athlone teams please contact the PRO at Áras Chíaráin.