A favourable group draw, no major injuries at the business end of the season, avoiding the favourites until the final, key players in good form; add to that a good record in key underage games versus Neptune and, in sporting terms, everything pointed to it being “Moycullen’s year”. However, on Saturday, this all meant nothing as Moycullen came up against a quality side who were just too good. In fairness to the team, they gave it everything and, for a brief moment with three minutes to go, after a superb fourth quarter effort, they had closed to within 5 and dared to dream. Neptune quickly slammed the door in their faces though and closed out the game in impressive fashion in a way Moycullen had done in their previous three games. Deserving champions, the level of their ability was further highlighted on Sunday, when 4 of the same players logged big minutes in their U20 victory over Moycullen’s U20 conquerors, St Vincents, with Sean Jenkins clinching his 2nd MVP award of the weekend. Indeed, one wonders how much star U16’s, Cian Heaphy and David Murray would have played, were they not ineligible due to their age!

Moycullen face Tolka Rovers in the U18 National Cup semi final next Saturday. The teams have crossed paths many times over the years and indeed have already faced each other three times this season, twice in friendlies and once in the Cork County Board tournament. Tolka edged the Cork County Board clash in overtime and the teams split the other two friendlies.