Tang intermediate footballers may well be going through one their leanest periods in the club's history as they narrowly avoided the drop to junior last year. However, at underage level the South Westmeath side have been making great strides and success alongside neighbours Maryland in the Under-14 Premier and B championships as well as the league bodes well for the future. Underage selector Sean Burke tells Maroon and White how this was achieved. The Maryland/Tang amalgamation is one of the oldest at underage level in the county. In a time when more and more rural clubs have been forced to amalgamate due to the population problems, Maryland/Tang have given great hope to others by achieving success in the Premier grade. A championship win over the mighty St Loman's in the Under-14 Premier championship was a momentous occasion for the clubs as it was billed as a David versus Goliath confrontation. Having suffered a heavy defeat to St Loman's in the Feile na nOg final a few months earlier, Maryland/Tang were not given much hope against the Mullingar club in the championship decider, although games like these are what dreams are made of. Indeed such was the gulf in class during the Feile na nOg final that many believed the teams should not be in the same grade, but a point was there to be proven and so it was. "Yeah, we got a fair hammering against St Loman's in the Feile na nOg final," admitted Sean. "But to be fair a number of our bigger players did not perform on the day. The final was played in Cusack Park and the occasion seemed to get to them. We knew if they lads played to their true potential that there wouldn't be much between the sides. They are a great bunch of lads who deserve a huge amount of credit." The under-14 premier championship saw Maryland/Tang play four games before making it through to the final. In the first round they signalled their intentions for the year by defeating a strong Athlone side. Another amalgamation side were accounted for in the next round when Tubberclair/Moate were knocked out. Kilbeggan/St Joseph's/Rosemount, who have become a strong force at underage level were accounted for in the quarterfinals, while the semi final saw Maryland/Tang defeat Garrycastle after extra time. "The championship games definitely brought the lads on from the defeat in the Feile na nOg final. In every game you could see they were getting that bit stronger and were gelling more as a team. The semi final win over Garrycastle was a huge boost as they were a big strong physical side and the win was made all the more special as it came after extra time," added Sean. In the under 14 Division 2 final, Maryland/Tang secured their first trophy of the year when defeating Coralstown/Kinnegad in the final. A win on the semi final over St Joseph's/Kilbeggan Shamrocks gave M/T the confidence going into the decider and a comfortable eight point win was recorded over the town team. The premier championship final was fixed for Shandonagh last November and anyone who attended expecting a one sided affair were mistaken as an excellent game of football was produced by two top quality sides. The lead changed hands on four occasions during the match and the sides were level on no fewer than five times. Both teams had excellent performers on the day but the Maryland/Tang duo of Kieran Martin and Kieran Egan were the amalgamation outfit's scorers in chief with 1-3 a piece. The rural outfit opened the scoring when Kieran Egan pointed in the seventh minute. Moments later and M/T were dealt a blow when St Loman's scored a goal after a long ball deceived goalkeeper Trevor English. Maryland/Tang's response was swift as a well worked move involving Martin and Egan saw the latter race through their opponent's defence and his low shot ended up in the net. Full forward Sean Egan then created good space to find his namesake Kieran, who in turn slotted the ball over the bar. The Town team then hit two points to level matters after 20 minutes of the first half. The sides then traded points as Martin increased his tally for the afternoon. A feature of the match was the combination play of the two Kierans', who were a constant thorn in the Loman's defence. M/T then had a let off when Loman's had a shot rebound off the crossbar, although the rebound did finish up being converted into a point to give the favourites a one-point lead at half time, 1-4 to 1-3. Loman's hit the crossbar for the second time in the match just after half time, before a pointed free put the Mullingar side two in front. M/T goalkeeper Trevor English made amends for his first half error by making an excellent save as Loman's increased the pressure. M/T weathered the storm and came back strongly when an Egan point was followed by a goal from Martin. It was the combination between the two players that created the goal but Martin looked to have lost control of the ball before clinically slotting the ball past the advancing goalkeeper. The sides exchanged points in the final ten minutes as the tension grew and they were level at the end of normal time. However, there was a few minutes of injury time to be played and it looked as if Loman's had done enough when they went a point ahead following a 25 metre free. M/T made one last throw of the dice and a long ball delivered into the danger area was gathered by talented midfielder Aidan Burke after good work by Egan and Kenneth Kincaid and the M/T player did well to make room for himself to fire an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net. The referee blew the final whistle shortly afterwards amid scenes of jubilation among the amalgamation side's supporters. "It was an exciting way to win the final. We definitely deserved it in the finish. The football played by both sides was outstanding at times but we had some excellent performances on the day. Winning that final was a great boost for the club and it was a great reward for the effort that this side put in throughout the year," added Sean. "This year, however we will be missing seven of that team and there are not enough of the younger lads coming through yet. We are very strong at under 8 and 10 but it will be a few years before those lads develop. For the record the victorious Under 14 side was: Trevor English, Chris O'Connor, Trevor Farrell, Joseph Reilly, Darren Malynn, Ronan Farrell, Dean Reddin, Aidan Burke, Kenneth Kincaid, Kieran Martin, Kieran Egan, Christy Grimes, Calum McCormack, Sean Egan, Enda Kincaid. Sub: Eanna Hermbusche Looking after underage teams is not an easy task by any means but Sean admits that he enjoys his role and will once again be involved with the underage scene, overseeing the fortunes of the under 12's. "It is something that I definitely enjoy and having two sons (Aidan and Darragh) involved in the teams means that I would be going to the games anyway. We have a good crop of lads coming through the ranks and hopefully football in the area will be boosted in the next few years," said Sean. Tang intermediates secured their status in the grade for another year by virtue of a narrow win over Ballinagore in a play off. The group stages of the intermediate championship did not go too well for the maroons as they finished in the bottom regions of the table, forcing them into a play off against Ballinagore. They won the match without their best known player Westmeath star Paul Conway who was suffering from a shoulder injury. The absence of Conway seemed to spur on his team mates who were determined to preserve their status. In the 2005 championship, Tang will be hoping to make more of an impact on the campaign and a return to the senior ranks will be quietly mentioned among their players. But the future still looks bright for the club as their underage structure goes from strength to strength. Tweet

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