The weekend past saw the annual Patrick Higgins Memorial Shield take place for the forth year running. As with the previous 3 years there were 8 clubs involved and as always the competition was highly contested from all clubs.
Group A saw Swatragh, Moneymore, Ballinascreen and Desertmartin paired together for the opening league section.
Group B saw Lavey, Greenlough, Ballymaguigan and Slaughtneil together for their opening league section.
The six games in both league sections saw Slaughtneil and Desertmartin top their sections with second placed Swatragh and Greenlough joining them in the semi-finals.
With the sun shinning strong, all four teams put in a tremendous effort in the semi-finals but early league form showed through and saw Slaughtneil along with the hosts Desertmartin progress to the Final.
With the home support cheering on their local hero’s the anticipation of the hosts fist win in the tournament looked more and more like reality. However Slaughtneil had other ideas and shot into a half time lead of 0.03 to 0.00. The second half saw Desertmartin put on all the pressure but a strong defence from Slaughtneil saw them close the door on Desertmartin and run out winners on a score line of 0.04 to no score.
Like the 3 years before, this turned out to be a great days football for all the young lads and we look forward to seeing their clubs back again in the years to come.
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