Jack Lester and Finny Mansbridge were commanding at the back and they snuffed out any attacks that got past the half back line of Cathal Moloney and Michael Sheahan.  Dylan Walls made his now customary excellent stops, especially from high dropping balls.  Jamie O Sullivan, Josh Clarke and Mark Coughlan more that broke even in the middle with Mark doing some great covering back when one of the others went forward.  Shamrocks came back strongly after the break and came back to within a point of Passage with some fine play of their own.  This drove Passage on and Jack Lester stormed out from the back with the ball a couple of times when the pressure was on which allowed Passage to break back upfield.  Cathal Moloney drove some excellent clearances down the field too and this helped our lads to take control again to run out winners on a score of 4-3 to 2-4 thanks to more goals from Shane Brosnan,  who buried a real rocket, and Adam Hallissey.  Jamie and Adam weighed in with a couple of lovely points too. The half forward line of Cathal Taaffe, Adam Hallissey and Jack Murphy won some tough ball and laid off some superb passes to link the play between the midfield and attack, with Jack M fielding some excellent high balls. Conor Lester really defended from the front and left no easy ball out of the Shamrocks full back line which was just as important as Shane's finishing - which probably earned him the Man of the Match award.  This was probably the best football performance to date from the lads and they really played as a team.
 
Our second match was against Cobh and this was even more competitive than the first game.  This was 11 v 11 as Cobh only had 11 players which left a bit more space so it was real end to end stuff.  Passage took early control in the middle and went 1-1 to no score ahead before a breakaway goal for Cobh that even Dylan couldn't stop in a one on one brought them back into it. Jack L and Finny were immense at the back again and another goal before half time had Passage in control again at 2-1 to 1-0. Cobh started to dominate possession in the second half and scored some good points.  Jamie, Mark, Michael and Josh had to put in more defensive work in the middle and half back line to wrest control back from Cobh and they all got stuck in and worked hard.  Dylan Walls made one diving save that any inter county keeper would have been proud of that brought applause from all spectators. Cathal T, Shane, Jack M and Conor Lester all continued to pressure the Cobh backs in their stints in the full and half forward lines and a goal put Passage back in control which was needed as Cobh pressed on looking for a goal to win it. More heroics from Dylan, Jack L, Michael, Cathal M and Finny kept them at bay, along with the goalpost, as Passage ran out deserved winners on a score of 3-1 to 1-5, with probably Dylan as Man of the Match.  Everyone played outstandingly well in both games and it was great to win both by playing some lovely football, especially as we were beaten by both of these teams in the football blitz on our own pitch earlier in the year.
 
This was the final football event of the year until September and the progress made this year was clear for all to see from the sidelines. Everyone played at least 3 of the 4 halves and it was noticeable that no one complained about being taken off which shows how the lads are maturing and learning about being a team.  Damien, Ian, Brian and Robbie couldn't have been happier with the effort and committment shown by every one of the lads tonight as well as those missing tonight but who contributed just as much throughout the season.
Thanks to Shamrocks for a great competitive event and the much needed refreshments afterwards.
 
Team v Shamrocks and Cobh:
Dylan Walls, Jack Lester, Finbarr Mansbridge, Cathal Moloney, Michael Sheahan, Mark Coughlan, Josh Clarke, Jamie O Sullivan, Jack Murphy, Cathal Taaffe, Conor Lester, Adam Hallissey and Shane Brosnan