The final of the Inaugural SSE Airtricity Under 15 league took place on Saturday evening as the hosts Athlone Town secured a dramatic victory over Dublin rivals St Patrick’s Athletic.
St Pats had taken a deserved lead in the first half with a fine strike from Kyle Conway, after Cian Kavanagh messed up his effort. Pats had chances to add to the scoreline but they went into the break with only a 1-0 lead.
It looked like St Pats were going to hold out to take the tile only for a foul by Darragh Reilly on Adam Lennon allowed Dylan Gavin to score from the spot, albeit at the second attempt, after Pats keeper Aaron Davis saved the initial penalty, but Gavin knocked in the rebound.
Gavin (pictured above) then became the Athlone hero with the last kick of the game when he burst clear of the visitors defence to slip the ball past Davis and send the home supporters home happy.
It’s been some year for Athlone, with so many off-field problems which have been well documented, but Saturday’s triumph has brought back so many smiles to the faces of both club members and supporters.
Athlone Town manager Dermot Lennon was a very happy man after his side lifted the trophy, “Its brilliant, I’m absolutely thrilled for the boys. By no means was it our best performance but the lads stuck at it and that's what these boys are all about.”
“St Pats were excellent, they are a very talented bunch of lads and they play a great brand of football.”
We were a goal down at half-time and probably should have been more!
We had nothing to lose then so we decided to have a go and that's what they did.”
On 2-goal hero Dylan Gavin Lennon said, “did what he does best and that's score goals. It was a massive team effort and I’m very proud of these boys.”
“It was great for the club, and there was huge crowd in attendance. We won the league, but no matter who won the inaugural Under 15 has been a great success.”
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