By Paul O’Donovan
St Etchen’s NS Kinnegad produced a fine display of football as they were crowned Cumann na mBunscol Boys Football Division 1 champions for the first time since 2017.
The Kinnegad school, inspired by wonderful performances by Eric Leonard and Killian Dardis, proved too strong for a gallant Coosan NS team, in this final played in TEG Cusack Park, Mullingar, on Thursday afternoon last, 23 May.
This game brought an end to the four-day festival of Cumann na mBunscol games and this was a fitting finale for what was a memorable week of GAA finals at the Westmeath headquarters.
Inspired by an outstanding display by Leonard, St Etchen’s led by nine points at half time, 0-10 to 0-1. In the second half, Coosan NS battled back bravely and cut the deficit to four points midway through the second half. But just when the Athlone-based side were fighting back the excellent Killian Dardis fired home a great goal to seal victory for St Etchen’s.
