Mochtas win Paddy Sheelan Shield in style

St Mochtas secured the Paddy Sheelan Shield title thanks to a comfortable win over Roche Emmets on Saturday evening in Pairc de Roiste. Victory ensures that the Louth Village men will have a trophy in the cabinet for the second successive year as they continued their winning habit after capturing the Cardinal O’Donnell Cup last season.

Although this may not be their number one priority for the year, the taste of success is certain to whet the appetite ahead of more important challenges ahead as the Division 1 leaders seek to defend their title, while also looking ahead to a serious tilt at the Senior Championship.

The visitors once again underlined their position as one of the leading contenders for honours this year as they ran out convincing winners with the help of goals from Conor Garland, Ben Goss Kieran and Cathal McArdle.

However, they didn’t have it all their own way and it wasn’t until the second half that they managed to assert their authority on the game. When the half time whistle sounded, the Mochs led by just a single point as Conor Garland and Shane Byrne exchanged goals to see the visitors ahead by 1-3 to 1-2.

It was a different story in the second half as the Louth Village men upped the tempo and took a firm grip on proceedings. As Roche managed just three more points, the Mochtas were in fine scoring form with Goss Kieran and McArdle hitting the net. Cormac Smyth, Shane Lennon and David Lennon were in good scoring form as they added to the points tally to see their side comfortably home.

ST MOCHTAS: Daire O’Shea; Ryan Cash, Ben Goss Kieran 1-3, Davy Lennon 0-2; Daniel Craven 0-1, Oisín Callan, Conor Garland 1-0; Darren McMahon, Gerry Garland; Dylan Farrell, Cormac Smyth 0-4, Liam O’Flaherty; Jamie Farrell, Phily Englishby 0-1, Shane Lennon 0-3.

Subs: Owen Lennon for A English, Eamonn O’Neill for P Englishby, Rian Colgan for O Callan, Cathal McArdle 1-0 for S Lennon.

ROCHE EMMETS: Evin Quigley; Marc Murphy, Sean Connolly, Joshua McGuinness; Fionn Connolly, Liam Carthy, Gerry Browne 0-1; Glen Stewart, Dan O’Connell 0-1; David O’Connell, Conor Carthy, Jack McKay; Mark Byrne 0-1, Shane Byrne 1-1, James McDonnell.

Subs: Kevin Quigley for G Stewart, Sean Conlon 0-1 for L Carthy, Conor Callan for L Carthy, Jamie O’Hare for E Quigley, Tom Quigley for G Browne, James Tiffany for M Byrne, Oisin Nash for F Connolly, Niall Treanor for S Connolly.