120 Minutes of Great Football Finalists 1992

Kingsland N.S. · Northern Shield Winners and County Two Teacher Football Finalists 1992. Front L. to R. Mark Ward, Sean Cryan, Ciaran Beirne, Stephen Harrington, Padraig McDermott, Padraig Brehony, Aidan McGarry, Liam McGarry. Back&nb…

Kingsland N.S. · Northern Shield Winners and County Two Teacher Football Finalists 1992.
Front L. to R. Mark Ward, Sean Cryan, Ciaran Beirne, Stephen Harrington, Padraig McDermott, Padraig Brehony, Aidan McGarry, Liam McGarry.
Back L. to R. Marcus McDermott, Alan Ward, Noel Cunningham, Trevor Corcoran, Seamus McGowan, Eimear Casey, John Harrington, Padraig Cryan, Keith McGarry.

But Ballinameen U-12s keep their nerve and oust St. Michael's in U-12 Div. 3 Showdown

While many rural counties throughout Ireland, spared the comfort of a bulging populous, bandage up their underage structure with 11-a-side and 13-a-side competition, the Roscommon Bord Peil na nOg continues to put in operation the orthodox 15-aside format with great success. As a perfect gauge to the progress of club football in the county, fully competitive juvenile competitions have highlighted a lot of the success on the Roscommon club scene. One such instance August 1992 saw Ballinameen and St. Michael's produce an enthralling Under 12 Division three double bill. 

While clubs of equal being in many other counties search for eleven or twelve players to make up a team, clubs like Ballinameen and St. Michael's oblivious to the plight of emigration and migration struck clubs, enjoy the complete advantages of underage 15-a-side competition. 

Such perfection so early forms the soundest foundations for success and growth in later years. 

Even at Division Three level, a certain quality and flair was evident as Ballinameen and St. Michael's served up two superb encounters which were dominated by both sets of forwards, and scoring was aplenty.

The extent to which Ballinameen could stretch their scoring ability was evidenced in their facile semi-final disposing of St. Faithleach's when the small village club just south of Boyle, were 5-7 to 1-4 winners. St. Michael's on the other hand had to fight a little harder before beating Kilmore by 4-8 to 3-7. The final between these two great rivals had the markings of a classic. That it was, as St. Michael's made a miraculous comeback to snatch a draw when victory looked certain for Ballinameen. Nevertheless, this game was close throughout. By the interval, Ballinameen held a slender 1-3 to 1-2 lead. Gary Hanley looked most dangerous notching up 1-2 of the total while Mark Ward was the other scorer for the eventual winners. While the first half may have seemed bland with tit-for-tat scoring not allowing either side to excel, the second period was exciting if not dramatic. When top scorer Gary Hanley grabbed his second goal bear minutes later, the destiny of the title seemed more apparent as the Ballinameen lead was now six points. It's here that the purple patch ended as the Cootehall lads put together a positive response with two points. A second Padraig Brehony goal thereafter seemed to seal it for Ballinameen but with just five minutes remaining, St. Michael's replied with a goal and a point to snatch a 4-3 to 3-6 draw. The saviour for the Cootehall men bore a famous name. Paul Simons echoing the sounds of a famous guitarist and vocalist to "One Trick Pony" produced the magic and forced a replay.