Midleton 5 

St Mary's 0 

MIDLETON went head-to-head with St Mary’s in the CSL Blackwater Motors U12 local cup final and it was the magpies who won the silverware on offer at Turner’s Cross after an impressive team display.

St Mary’s lined up with Cathal Geaney in goal behind a back three of Jamie Dalton, Scott Twomey and Calvin Blake. 

Jake Coveney, Jamie O’Driscoll and Rocky O’Callaghan linked up in midfield with Eoin Hogan and Ciaran McCarthy creative on the attack.

Caleb Murray lined out in goal for Midleton with William Henry, Tomas O’Sé and Harry Daly playing in defence. 

Sam Morris, Conor McSharry and Brayan Wiecek made up the Midleton midfield with Cian Rooney and Alex Wilson combining on the attack.

The early stages of the match were dominated by first-rate link up play between the lively attacking pairing of Alex Wilson and Cian Rooney. Both players displayed excellent awareness and the first chance of the game fell to Rooney after Wilson’s accurate cross, the centre forward shot narrowly wide. 

Then, on six minutes Wilson shot over the bar after Rooney’s clever lay off.

The opening goal of the game came just after the quarter of the hour mark when Wilson struck from long range to the back of the net giving Mary’s shot-stopper Geaney no chance.

Undeterred, Mary’s hit back with a number of attacks culminating in their best chance of the first half on 25 minutes. 

Coveney tracked a ball from deep in the centre and outpaced his marker before forcing an agile stop from Midleton keeper Caleb Murray.

Daly almost doubled Midleton’s lead but Geaney saved the youngster’s 25-yard free kick after it had previously crashed against the underside of the crossbar.

Wiecek made it 2-0 shortly after the half time interval by coolly slotting home from the edge of the area following an in-swinging corner kick from Morris.

Jamie O’Driscoll almost got Mary’s back into the contest via a magnificent solo run on 40 minutes. 

The youngster beat two Midleton defenders before shooting to the bottom corner but Murray got down to save well.

Wiecek was on hand to score his second of the day and his teams third with a quarter of an hour remaining in the game. 

The youngster again kept his composure in front of goal to slot home to the bottom corner for 3-0.

Mary’s still refused to throw in the towel and McCarthy almost got one back with ten minutes remaining when he side-stepped his marker before striking inches over the bar from 20 yards out.

Wilson ended the tie as a contest and scored a brace in the process. 

The youngster converted on the rebound following an impressive solo run and shot from Wiecek. 

Wiecek was on hand to complete his hat-trick seconds before full time.

A deserved victory overall for the boys in blue.

Midleton: Caleb Murray, William Henry, Cathal O’Neill, Rohan Panda, Tomas O’Sé, Harry Daly, Alex Wilson, Sam Morris, Cian Rooney, Brayan Wiecek, Daniel Kent, Conor McSharry, Pablo Sanz, Ryan Barry, Christopher McCarthy, Cathal Lynch.

St Mary’s: Cathal Geaney, Jamie Dalton, Scott Twomey, Calvin Blake, Eoin Hogan, Jake Coveney, Jamie O’Driscoll, Rocky O’Callaghan, Ciaran McCarthy, Tadhg Harden, Jack Burke, Jamie Maher.

Echo Man of the Match: Alex Wilson 

Referee & assistants: Fionn McCarthy, Dave O’Donoughue, Razvan Neidoni, Pat Cambridge.