Westmeath Senior Football Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 0-13 Garrycastle 0-10.

Shamrocks assured themselves of a place in the knock-out stages of the championship with this merited but hard-earned 0-13 to 0-10 victory over Garrycastle played in Rosemount on Sunday evening.

Ciarán Curley and Conor Cosgrove exchanged pointed frees in the opening minutes; eight minutes of scoreless play followed before Dylan McDermott added to Shamrocks tally. Ciarán Curley and Seanie Daly added a point each to put Shamrocks into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead after fifteen minutes. A brilliant Philly Shaw save at this stage proved to be one of the key moments of the match and from the resultant 45 Conor Cosgrove pointed. Ciarán O'Neill added another Garrycastle point (again from a free) to reduce the deficit to the minimum in the eighteenth minute (0-4 to 0-3). Curley and O'Neill again traded frees before Donal O'Donoghue and Patrick Fagan kicked a point each from play, Shamrocks two best scores of the half. The final score belonged to Garrycastle: another pointed free, this one from the man who rarely misses such opportunities, Conor Cosgrove. After playing with wind and hill advantage, Shamrocks interval lead of 0-7 to 0-5 looked decidedly fragile.

Shamrocks responded to the challenge and increased the intensity in the second-half. Daragh Daly began the trend, winning possession from the throw-in he soloed through the Garrycastle defence and when his scoring attempt was deflected by a Garrycastle defender, Seanie Daly pointed the resultant 45. Daragh Daly was next on the score sheet: his scoring task was made easy by a superb pass from Kieran Gavin. A Cosgrove point kept Garrycastle in touch but this effort was balanced when Paddy Joyce marked his introduction by pointing with his first touch-Ciarán Curley supplied the final pass on this occasion. Curley himself then added what might well have been the Shamrocks score of the night to establish a five point lead for the Springfield men (0-11 to 0-6). It looked like game over but Garrycastle did not see things that way. The club didn't win several senior football titles in the 2000s by accepting the inevitable and two Conor Cosgrove frees added new energy to their play. The first of these was a super 45 (and a hotly disputed one) from close to the sideline. Garrycastle waited almost an hour to register their only score from play and when they did, it was a bit special: a spectacular effort from Justin Barrett. Seanie Daly (Kieran Gavin fouled after a run from mid-field) and Conor Cosgrove pointed frees before Denis Corroon secured the championship points for Shamrocks with a pointed free on the stroke of full-time.

This was essentially a team victory for Shamrocks with all involved contributing to an important victory. However on the night Kieran Gavin was THE MAN. It is roughly fifteen months since Kieran ruptured his Achilles tendon in Cusack Park and this display was the finest by some distance that Kieran has produced since then. His leadership and all-round performance sent many Shamrocks supporters back to Mullingar with renewed optimism.

The final group game against Killucan will now determine who tops the group and takes the semi-final place.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Philly Shaw; David Coyne, Effie Siode, Aaron Purcell; Micheál Curley, Kieran Gavin, Tye Adamson; Killian Daly and Daragh Daly (0-1); Brian Melody (Paddy Joyce 0-1) Seanie Daly (0-3), Patrick Fagan(0-1)[Denis Corroon 0-1]; Donal O'Donoghue (0-1) [Eddie Moore], Dylan McDermott (0-1), Ciarán Curley (0-4).

Ladies Senior Football Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 1-9 Tyrrellspass 0-12.

Mullingar Shamrocks senior ladies produced their best display of the season in this key-match in the division. Trailing by a point at the interval Shamrocks recovered to draw level and then went a goal ahead but Tyrrellspass battled back and a the final whistle the sides were level. Shamrocks now meet either Moate or Kilbeggan with retention of senior status the ultimate price to play for.

 

Under-12 Mullingar Town Tournament

The good men and women who devote their time to looking after the young footballers in their care were blessed with good weather for the Mullingar Town Trophy under-12 blitz hosted jointly by Shamrocks and St Loman's. The under-age officers and committees of both clubs deserved great credit for organising an excellent tournament and for the catering and hospitality that ran smoothly from start to finish. Pat Collins, Seán Hynes and Robbie Boyle were the Shamrocks ringmasters. Organising a competition such as this is a serious logistical exercise and requires referees, umpires, scoreboard operators, team-lunch box packers and compilers, catering personnel, pitch organisers, team mentors and coordinators etc. A big CONGRATS to all who contributed their several hours of time and effort. Teams from Dublin, Kildare, Offaly, Cavan, Meath, Roscommon and Westmeath took part. Salthill were the overall winners of the competition; they defeated Moate All-Whites in the final and made the long journey from Galway worthwhile. In Group 1, Shamrocks defeated Kilbeggan-St Joseph' (2-5 to 2-1), Cavan Gaels (3-5 to 3-1) but were then defeated by the champions-to-be Salthill (3-5 to 1-2). In the semi-final of the Tier 2 competition Shamrocks defeated Tubber-Ballycumber (3-4 to 0-3) and were then defeated in the final by their co-hosts St Loman's (2-3 top 0-4). The Tier 3 section was won by Cavan Gaels and the Tier 4 title went to Celbridge.

Junior Football Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 0-10 St Loman's 0-12.

Shamrocks interest in the 2016 junior football championship was terminated on Friday night at Springfield after St Loman's gained a hard-earned and deserved 0-2 victory in a match that was played in typical local derby intensity. Billy O'Loughlin and John Ganly exchanged points in the opening minutes; Davy Morgan added another point to the Loman's tally which was neutralised by a beauty of a point from a free taken from the hands by Ross Corroon. Another point from the Laois-native O'Loughlin edged Lomans ahead but this score proved to be their last score of the half as Shamrocks inspired by the high fielding of Anthony Clinton at mid-field and the fierce commitment of Keith Moore at centre-half back dominated the remainder of the half. Pearse Corroon pointed twice, Fiachra Spellman did the same (swinging the left foot in manner that reminded supporters of days past) and Ross Corroon added another to send Shamrocks to the half-time dressing room leading by 0-7 to 0-3. St Loman's via two points from Billy O'Loughlin cut the deficit immediately after the interval but a pointed free from Ross Corroon steadied the Shamrock's ship but not for long. The loss of John Ganly through injury at this stage was severe. Another Loman's point reduced the deficit to the minimum but a battling Pearse Corroon point (our only second half point from play) again extended Shamrocks lead to two points. St Loman's dominated the final quarter as the Shamrocks team with its liberal quota of veterans began to run out of steam and four unanswered points (three from the boot of James Cox) established an 0-2 point lead for St Loman's; Ross Corroon again reduced the deficit to the minimum but Kyle McGurrin kicked an insurance point and secured a play-off place v Garrycastle for St Loman's which based on their second-half dominance was deserved.

The various refereeing interpretations as to what constitutes a red, yellow or black card has been one of the main topics of conversation in the world of GAA punditry this season and featured strongly in the post-match conversations in Springfield on Friday night amongst both sets of supporters. Fortunately, Tommy Carr wasn't delegated to do a co-commentary job for this game; had he been required to do so there is no doubt that he would have abandoned all hope of ever understanding what constitutes a black/yellow card infraction. He might well have been dragged kicking and screaming from the studio demented with confusion. Had poor Robbie Kiely, the Tipperary footballer who was black-carded early in Croke Park v Mayo last Sunday wandered into Springfield he might well have concluded that this was a different sport with different rules to the one that he was playing in Croke Park, especially if he saw the pull-down foul on John Ganly. On this occasion Ganly was the one departing the scene of battle with an accidental ankle injury.

Shamrocks: Daragh Ryan; Ryan Blundell, Paul Christie, Dylan Ledwith; Dermot Curley, Keith Moore, Nathan Smith; Pearse Corroon (0-3) and Anthony Clinton; Darren Keena (Eric Smith), John Ganly (0-1) [David Culkin], Ross Corroon (0-4); Fiachra Spellman (0-2), Shane Colleary and Gary Corroon.

Under-16 Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 8-12 Shandonagh 2-2.

After a heavy defeat to Athlone (5-14 to 1-8) earlier in the week, Mullingar Shamrocks under-16 team bounced back with a convincing victory over Shandonagh to qualify for top division in the knock-out stages of the championship. This team, winners of the under-14 championship two years ago, has improved as the season progressed and is capable of playing really good football when on form and has a number of potential senior players in its ranks should they so wish.

Shamrocks established a half-time lead of 2-8 to 1-1 with Dylan Murphy (1-2) and Matthew Maslin (1-4) leading the scoring; a great individual point by Marc Eivers was the score of the half. Early in the second half some great combined play from Cormac Hynes and Matthew Maslin put James Mahedy through for a third Shamrocks goal; Dylan Murphy added a fourth shortly afterwards. A great Cormac Hynes shot also found the net before Shandonagh responded with 1-1 and only a superb penalty save by Marc Watters prevented another Shandonagh goal. Before the final whistle Dillon Matthews and Dylan Roe added goals before Matthews closed the scoring with another goal following a brilliant solo run from midfield. Apart from those doing the scoring and saving penalties the performances of defenders Conor Fitzpatrick and Marc Eivers were also worthy of note.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Marc Watters; Peter Bane (Josh Haugh), Conor Fitzpatrick, Cian Fox (Jack Kelly); Cormac Darby, Mark Eivers (0-1), Eoin Kilduff (Peter Bane); Dillon Matthews (2-0) and Luke Carton; Dylan Murphy (2-3), Cormac Hynes (1-1), Adam McCormack (Aidan Duggan 0-1); Matthew Maslin (1-5) [Dylan Roe], James Mahedy (1-1) [Dylan Roe 1-0]; John O'Reilly (Peter Hynes).

Girls' Under-10 Blitz

On Saturday, 27 August, our Girls Under-10 with coaches Kieran McCormack and Martin Gilligan took part in a Blitz in St Loman's. With a young team that hasn't played many games together we were in a strong group with St Loman's, Killucan, Rochfortbridge and Clann Gaels. However, we got stronger as the tournament went on. We lost our first 2 games, drew our next one and then won our final game with a very good team performance. The emphasis on the day was taking part as a team and enjoying the game and not on results. 

Mullingar Shamrocks: Áine Creagh, Alessia Hassett, Benedict Lolengola, Emma McEntee, Jasmine McFarlane-Ginnell, Ella Moore, Emily Pierce, Linda Reaside, Sophie Russell, Megan Scally, Maggie Dinnegan.

Fixtures

Minor Football Championship, Division 2, Quarter-final: Mullingar Shamrocks v Multyfarnham, Springfield, Wednesday, 31 August, 6.30.

ACL Div.1: Mullingar Shamrocks v St Loman's, Springfield, 6 September, 7.00.

 

 

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