Snugboro face an old foe in crunch Connacht clash

Last autumn, when the first round draws for the Connacht Youth Cups were made, Snugboro United’s under-16 boys were handed an away fixture against St John’s FC, the Sligo/Leitrim League’s champions from the previous two seasons. Snugboro were themselves coming off the back of a strong finish in Division 2 of the Mayo Schoolboys League and were also on a good run in the Mayo U16 Trophy, so morale was high on the bus to Sligo that September day – even if the expectations of getting a result against St John’s were still pretty low. In fact, as the Champions League theme tune rang out from the speaker, maybe there was even some trepidation that they might suffer a hammering.

Talk like ‘Sure we'll be better off playing in the Shield anyhow' was bandied about as their journey into the unknown was about to begin, and sure enough, when the game kicked off, St John’s quickly showed their quality and created a number of chances that Snugboro United just about managed to hold out.

But the Snugboro lads started to settle into the game and finding their own rhythm, were the first to score. St John’s hit back before the break but the feeling at half-time from a Snugboro point of view was that this was definitely game on – and let’s go for it. They did just that and long story short, they advanced to the next round on a 4-2 scoreline.

Morale was certainly high on the bus journey back and by the time Round 2 of the Connacht Cup came around, Snugboro had lifted the Mayo U16 Trophy in Milebush and so were in good form for the short journey away to Mayo U16 league champions Manulla. In a very tight game, Snugboro bowed out of the Connacht Cup but only after extra-time and the lottery of a penalty shoot-out, and so entered into the Shield competition instead.

‘Boro went on a run over the winter months that saw them secure hard-earned victories over Abbey Rovers of Leitrim in the first round, Ballina Town in the last 16, Ballyboro FC of Longford in the quarter-finals and Colmanstown United of Galway in the semi-final to book a place in the Connacht Shield Final against guess who – St John’s! They now have three successive Sligo/Leitrim league titles, have added the cup to their cabinet and are now aiming for a treble.

There's no doubt that St John’s will be overwhelming favourites, however, the vast majority of the Snugboro United lads have been together since tying shoelaces was one of the main duties of the coaches, so there's an amazing team spirit in the group. If they can produce a top performance in the decider at the home of Moyne Villa in Headford next weekend, who knows what could happen.

Win or lose for Snugboro it's been a fantastic journey that will be remembered long after the final.