Athletic Under 15s complete the treble

Athletic"s Under 15s captured their third trophy of the season with an emphatic win over Celbridge side, Ballyoulster, in the Paddy Fenlon Cup. Title challengers until beaten narrowly by Mullingar on St Patrick"s day, Ballyoulster provided sterner opposition than the scoreline suggests.In an early skirmish, keeper Gary Caffrey punched away a dangerous cross, but thereafter, comfortably handled anything that came his way. Midfielders, Aaron McLoughlin and Darragh Keena, grabbed control from early on, whilst the defensive line of Brendan Flynn, Conor O"Keeffe, Kevin Boucher, and Dean McNicholas was rock solid for most of the game, the last mentioned having his best game of the season.At the other end, Connor Smith wriggled through the defence but shot wide. Thomas Doyle broke through similarly and saw his chip come back off the bar. Keith Hope raced onto a defence splitting pass only to see his toe poke past the keeper also strike the woodwork, and Aaron McLoughlin, reacting more quickly than the Celbridge keeper to a bouncing ball, struck the post from a tight angle. When Connor Smith did hit the net he was ruled offside, but, as half time approached, Athletic got reward for their dominance. Thomas Doyle pounced on a defensive slip and, from the edge of the box, curled a shot into the bottom right hand corner. Within a minute the lead was doubled when a Thomas Doyle dummy allowed Connor Smith to go clear and fire into the bottom left corner.As might be expected, Ballyoulster raised their game from the start of the second period, but found the Mullingar outfit in equally combative mood. The result looked safe when Conor O"Keeffe curled a cross in behind the outrushing Ballyoulster defence for the alert Connor Smith to race in and coolly lob in.To their credit, the opposition never gave up and took advantage of a little complacency in defence to snatch a goal. Mullingar looked nervous for a short while and had the hard working Kane Lawrence to thank for a clearance after a goalmouth scramble. However normal service was resumed soon afterwards, and when Kevin Boucher headed a Conor O"Keeffe corner in half way through the second period, the game was safe. The fresh legs of Shane Dempsey and James McGovern helped maintain the momentum and the latter crossed low for Gary Caffrey to fire in the fifth. The same player burst through soon afterwards and forced the goalie into a fine save, and, as Ballyoulster lost heart, Dami Opeseyitan poked in a cross only to be harshly ruled offside.Luke Peppard and "keeper, John Sheridan had hoped to contribute but unfortunately failed late fitness tests. With five games left in the league Athletic need just one point to clinch yet another trophy!Squad: Gary Caffrey, Brendan Flynn, Conor O"Keeffe, Dean McNicholas, Kevin Boucher, Darragh Keena, Aaron McLoughlin, Keith Hope, Kane Lawrence, Thomas Doyle, Connor Smith, Shane Dempsey, JamesMcGovern, Dami Opeseyitan, John Sheridan, Luke Peppard.