Shannon Town U12 girls secured the CSSL Shield after an enthralling battle with St. Pats of Kilmihil. The Shannonsiders were quick off the mark with a flurry of shots throughout the first half and one goal line clearance from Ciara Quirke but St. Pats held firm. The opportunities that did fall to St. Pats were dealt with in convincing style by Rhiann Murphy and her rock solid trio of Lucy Watson, Laura Connolly & Courtney Behan. The midfielders put in a superb shift and it took Ciara Quirke, Aoibheann Adelu & Kate Lee to take the game to St. Pats and the introduction of Amy McGee and Sadhbh Cunningham maintained a relentless work rate and link up play. Abbie Keane & Rubi Murphy teamed up really well in the first half but could not break St. Pats resolve, even the introduction of Brianna McGrath to partner Rubi in the second half could not find that crucial opening goal despite all their creativity. A tactical change ended up with midfielder Kate Lee moving up front to partner Rubi whose positioning and touches caused trouble all day long for St. Pats defenders. With minutes left on the clock and the management were already considering penalties, Vice Captain, Laura Connolly split the midfield with a superb pass to Rubi Murphy whose deft flick moved the ball in behind the defenders to an on rushing Captain, Kate Lee, who had a lot to do before racing through to slot a beautiful left footed finish 1-0. Que a roar of relief from the sizeable crowd from Shannon gripped by a highly entertaining game. Shannon Town ran the clock down really well to be crowned the U12 Clare Shield Champions 2021.