ACL Div. 1: Mullingar Shamrocks 1-6 Shandonagh 0-6

Mullingar Shamrocks and Shandonagh began their 2020 senior campaigns in Arctic-like conditions on a bone-dry Springfield pitch on Sunday morning.

Mullingar Shamrocks welcomed Lorcan Smyth back after some years spent with St Vincent's in Dublin during which time he added a few big medals to his collection. It was wonderful to see Lorcan back wearing the green jersey again. His contribution to the victory was significant. Simon Quinn made his own little comeback also as the man who was so important to the 2018 title winning campaign lined out in an ACL match for the first time in three years.

A strong and difficult wind blowing towards the D'Alton Park end made scoring difficult. Playing against the wind in the first half containment was the name of the game for Shamrocks and the emphasis was on defence and retention of possession. Shandonagh's Ben Treanor opened the scoring in the fifteenth minute before Ross Corroon kicked a difficult free into the wind to equalise. It was Shamrocks only score of the half.  Two points from Alan Hickey and two good long range efforts from Daragh Conway and Tom Molloy secured an interval lead of 0-5 to 0-1 for Shandonagh. Shamrocks played the last seven minutes without Alan Cashman who became the first Westmeath club player to enter the sin bin for a black card offence (remember this fact for the next Mullingar Shamrocks table quiz!).

A Darren Moore point immediately following the restart cut the deficit, a point created by a great long distance first-time delivery by Lorcan Smyth. Another fifteen  minutes of scoreless endeavour followed before Ross Corroon pointed again; this time a good long-range free from the hands. A Tom Molloy free extended Shandonagh's lead. Shamrocks showed the benefit of their early season training programme and finished strongly.

Lorcan Smyth and Dean Moore combined to create an opening for Jordan Warde and the corner forward screwed a shot between the posts (0-6 to 0-4). Micheál Curley created an opportunity  and Dean Moore pointed.  As the game entered the closing stages it seemed that Shandonagh would leave Springfield with the league points but a great combined move involving several players created a goal scoring opportunity for Ryan Blundell who was fouled. Dean Moore made no mistake from the resultant penalty and rocketed  the ball to  bottom  right hand corner of the net with a great strike. Dean completed the scoring a minute later with a pointed free to secure the league points for Mullingar Shamrocks. 

A minute's silence was observed before the start as a mark of respect for Frankie Connaughton. 

Mullingar Shamrocks: Philly Shaw; Eddie Moore, Aaron Purcell, Efe Siode; Brendan O'Reilly (Mark Butler, temporary blood sub), Micheál Curley, Ryan Blundell; Daragh Daly, Dónal O' Donoghue; Simon Quinn (Kenneth O'Reilly), Lorcan Smyth, Alan Cashman [Jordan Warde, 0-1]; David Gavin (Dillon Matthews), Dean Moore (1-2), Ross Corroon (0-2) [Trevor Keena].

The Late Great Frankie Connaughton ...

The Mullingar Shamrocks community is in mourning this weekend following the death of Frankie Connaughton in Beaumont Hospital after a long illness. Frankie was one of the key players who helped establish Mullingar Shamrocks as one of the great clubs in Westmeath.  The Shamrocks club and executive offers its deepest sympathy to Frankie's wife Marie, his son Frank junior, his daughter Rosemary, to his brothers Colm and Cyrian and to his sisters Madie and Marian.

 Frankie Connaughton was one of a number of players from St Brigid's Terrace who provided the backbone of the Mullingar Shamrocks team that made the transition from junior to senior ranks in the early 1960s. Others from the area included Frankie's brother Colm, the Nolan brothers Seán (who became one of Shamrocks' great administrators) and Davy as well as Hubert and Seán Magee. As young lads they played hurling and football morning, noon and night and became superb dual players with an uncanny understanding of each other's play. Their skills were further honed in the street leagues that were so popular at the time with the St Brigid's Terrace teams excelling.

Frankie Connaughton was one of those outstanding dual players and when Mullingar Shamrocks played their first match in Springfield against Cullion Frankie had the distinction of scoring the first goal at the venue. At seventeen-years-of-age Frankie was right half back on the Shamrocks team that won the 1962 junior football title. A year later he became the first Mullingar Shamrocks player to captain a Westmeath Leinster title winning team as the county  minor footballers won their third provincial minor title.

Frankie was Westmeath’s top scorer contributing 4-13 in the course of the 1963 campaign. Frankie  had the confidence and skill set to master the key positions and was centre-half forward in the Leinster final and scored 1-3 as Westmeath defeated Dublin by four points. Down were defeated in the semi-final before Kerry got the better of Westmeath in the All-Ireland final.

In 1964 Mullingar Shamrocks won the senior football title for the first time and Frankie held down the key centre-back position with Kevin Higgins and Davy Nolan on the wings. Two weeks later Frankie Connaughton and Kevin Higgins were members of the Westmeath senior football team that won the O'Byrne Cup defeating Carlow in the final. Kevin Higgins was goalkeeper on that occasion and Frankie was corner-forward. In 1966 when Shamrocks won the senior title for the second time Frankie, Kevin Higgins and Davy Nolan again formed the half-back line. This was in an era where it was believed that a strong halfback line formed the foundation of a great team. 

Frankie Connaughton was a panellist when Pearse's won the senior hurling championship in 1962 and played in two losing finals with Pearse's in 1966 and 1967. Overseas work commitments interrupted Frankie's career in the late 1960s. Frankie went to Brazil in 1967 and played no football or hurling that year. He then spent some time working in Holland with his brother Colm. 'We used to fly home every three weeks to play the football and hurling. The fare was £33 at the time. We'd pay half and the club would pay the other half' Frankie told Maroon & White- Westmeath GAA Annual (2013). 

Despite the interruptions Frankie played for Shamrocks into the late 1970s and  was a regular on the Westmeath football team from 1969 to 1972 and banged in the goals with amazing regularity including two against Dublin, 2-4 against Leitrim, 2-2 against Donegal, one against Cavan, Armagh, Louth and Tyrone and three more against Donegal. The repertoire included a famous back heeled effort. This phase of Frankie's career  began  on 19 October 1969 against Armagh and began a run of twenty-three league and championship matches for the county, a sequence that ended on 29 October 1972 against Meath in the NFL. Lining out at left-corner forward Frankie failed to score on only five occasions and scored a superb 18-26 in total.

Frankie  moved to Arklow, the hometown of his wife Marie in the early 1980s. He closed his fancy goods shop in Pearse Street which was located where Specsavers/Fagan's  is today. Frankie and Marie and their family later moved to Gorey in Wexford and for the past number of years resided in Swords, County Dublin.

'Even though I've been living in Gorey for the past 30 years. I will be a Westmeath and Mullingar Shamrocks man till the day I die. I always look out for the results' Frankie told Maroon & White.

Ar dheis De go raibh a anam uasal.

Mullingar Shamrocks Coaching Conference

Mullingar Shamrocks second Coaching Conference takes place on Saturday 22 February.

This is a great opportunity for our club coaches to learn innovative coaching skills at the club’s grounds in Springfield. We are delighted to have secured the services for the morning of two renowned coaches. Castleblayney native Padraic McDonald had a distinguished playing career with the famed Faughs club and has been director of coaching at Kilmacud- Crokes since 2000 and has deservedly earned a reputation as one of the key cogs in the success story at all levels that has been Kilmacud-Crokes. Pádraic will conduct a Q and A session in the clubhouse with all our coaches from 10.15 to 10.45 before he takes our Nursery, under-7 and under-9 coaches for a training session on the Astro pitch from 10.45 to 11.45.

Liam O’ Reilly is a former Westmeath underage player who also played with distinction with Ballynacargy for many years. Liam has been a Games Development Officer with Offaly GAA for a number of years and his work with various development squads in Offaly is considered among the best in the province. Liam will take a session with our under-11, 13, 15 and 17 coaches on the Astro from 9.15 to 10.15. Last year's Coaching Conference was a huge success and the club is looking forward to the second one on the 22 February.

Senior Championship Draws ...

It's a local Derby first round senior football championship draw as Mullingar Shamrocks and St Loman's  were paired together in the draw made on Wednesday night in the Park Hotel. It's a repeat of the historic 2018 county final. Rosemount were drawn against Garrycastle and Coralstown-Kinnegad in the other first round matches in Group 1. These matches will take place on the weekend of 18/19 April.

The remaining fixtures are:

Round 2: Mullingar Shamrocks v Garrycastle, weekend of 11/12 July.

Round 3: Mullingar Shamrocks v Coralstown-Kinnegad, weekend of 1/2 August.

Round 4: Mullingar Shamrocks v The Downs, weekend of 15/16 August.

Round 5: Mullingar Shamrocks v Rosemount, weekend of 22/23 August.

No one said it was going to be easy!

The scheduled weekends come with a slight health warning.

Junior II Championship Draws ...

The Junior II Championship is a full championship with the winner promoted to Junior I in 2021. The top team from the league stage qualifies directly for the final and the second and third teams meet in the semi-final.

Round 1:Mullingar Shamrocks v Killucan, weekend of 18/19 April

Round 2: Mullingar Shamrocks v Caulry, weekend of 11/12 July.

Round 3: Mullingar Shamrocks v Multyfarnham, weekend of 1/2 August.

Round 4: Mullingar Shamrocks v Shandonagh, weekend of 15/16 August.

Round 5: Coralstown-Kinnegad v Rosemount, weekend of 22/23 August.

The scheduled weekends come with a slight health warning.

Congrats to Peter Burke ...

Last week we acknowledged the achievements of Darren Moore in his chosen profession in New York.

This week we congratulate our club member Peter Burke on  his re-election to Dáil Éireann  in the Longford-Westmeath constituency. The hard work was rewarded, Peter defied the national trend of his party and increased his first preference total from 5681 in 2016 to 6617 last Saturday. Well done Peter.

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