Conway stars as St Pat’s clinch national U-19 crown

Athlone native Kyle Conway produced a man-of-the-match display to help St Patrick’s Athletic win the U-19 League of Ireland title recently.

St Pat’s defeated Dublin rivals Bohemians 2-1 with Northern Ireland youth international Darragh Burns scoring the winner from an extra-time penalty at the UCD Bowl on December 22.

The victory means Conway - along with St Pat’s team-mates Ben McCormack, Kian Corbally and Josh Keeley - has completed a unique treble. The four players have been on the winning side of an underage national title decider in each of the last three seasons: U-15 (2018), U-17 (2019) and U-19 (2020).

Kyle Robinson’s 33rd-minute goal had the Saints in front at the break before Colin Kelly levelled for Bohemians shortly after the restart.

A penalty shoot-out looked likely until Gavin Molloy was adjudged by referee Kevin O’Sullivan to have brought down Ben McCormack in the box. Burns coolly did the needful from the spot to clinch victory for the Inchicore outfit.

Afterwards, talented midfielder Conway was chosen as man of the match by virtue of his excellent performance.

From Monksland, Conway played with Athlone club St Joseph’s before joining a number of Dublin based schoolboy clubs. In 2018, Conway was named as the U-15 SSE Airtricity League Player of the Year, having captained St Pat’s to a league and cup double.