Derby delight for determined Mullingar Shamrocks
Mullingar Shamrocks 1-14, St Loman's Mullingar 2-7
The two Mullingar sides went head to head in Springfield on Sunday morning last in what was a thoroughly entertaining and hard fought battle.
This was a game played in the best of sportsmanship on and off the field and the usual bluster and bravado was side-lined as football was the important matter. Both teams deserve great credit for a very enjoyable hour excellently refereed by Brendan Keena.
Loman's will rue some excellent goal opportunities wasted, while Shamrocks can reflect on 15 wides which almost derailed their bid for two in a row at minor level.
Overall, the Green side of Mullingar were well deserving of their victory in the end which sets up a replay of last year’s final with Tubberclair.
A third quarter blitz from Shamrocks was the telling factor in this game but Loman's to their credit fought to the bitter end.
Loman's played with a slight wind advantage in the opening half and raced into a three point lead with Eoin Meehan kicking a free, a mark and then a marvelous point from play to get the Blues off to the perfect start.
Amazingly, they would not score again for 22 minutes as Shamrocks restructured and set about their task, with Ryan Kelly converting a free followed by a superb solo effort from Conor Heffernan and they drew level when the former added another free. Gavin Pierce kicked Shamrocks into the lead just before the half time whistle and they led by 0-4 to 0-3 after a poor first half dominated by defences and far too many wides
Shamrocks started the second period in much more pacy terms and Kelly, Heffernan and Kelly again supplied by the latter saw Shamrocks edge four clear. However, they can thank goalie Adam Buckley for a superb save that kept Loman's at bay.
Loman's did get the goal they badly needed when some poor Shamrocks defending allowed Oisin O’Hara to kick an excellent goal.
Gavin Pierce pointed when Alex Sheerin had almost broken the crossbar, but Meehan replied immediately for the blues to keep them in touch.
Shamrocks upped the ante, however. Kelly, Pierce and Heffernan added three wonderful points in succession and when Pierce added a fourth without reply Loman's were in serious trouble.
That task became even greater when from the resultant kick out Shamrocks turned the ball over and Alex Sheerin soccered an opportunist goal putting eight between the sides with just 14 minutes to play.
Shamrocks wasted several scoring chances thereafter though and points from Sean Plunkett and John Casey and another brilliant save by Buckley from the former saw the game swing again. When Sean Hayes added a third for Loman's in a row a comeback looked on.
Sheerin then had a penalty saved at the other end, but Pierce and sub Killian Mooney added late scores for Shamrocks to put the result beyond doubt. Despite a late goal from the impressive Meehan it was to be Shamrocks' day and they now go on to the county final after an exciting and watchable second half.
Scorers - Mullingar Shamrocks: Gavin Pierce and Ryan Kelly (2 frees) 0-5 each, Conor Heffernan 0-3, Alex Sheerin 1-0, Killian Mooney 0-1.
St Loman's: Eoin Meehan 1-4 (2 frees, 1 mark), Oisin O’Hara 1-0, John Casey, Sean Hayes and Sean Plunkett 0-1 each.
Shamrocks: Adam Buckley; Ben Sheerin, Adam Glynn, Peter Finch; James Flynn, Tye Masterson, Ben McNamee; Criostoir Ormsby, Donnacha Maguire; Paul Keating, Conor Heffernan, Callum Rigney; Gavin Pierce, Ryan Kelly, Alex Sheerin. Subs used: Killian Mooney for Finch 20 mins, Padraig Casey for Maguire 47 mins, Matthew Shaw for Keating 54 mins, Andrew Gavigan and Ronan Byrne for McNamee and Heffernan 59 mins.
St Loman's: Callum Butler; Mark Lancaster, Cillian Traynor, Sean Daly; Sean Brennan, John Casey, Conor Casey; Mikee Weir, Sean Hayes; Conor Gaffney, Sean Plunkett, Beau Greene; Oisin O’Hara, Eoin Meehan, Sean Byrne. Subs used: Will Gouldsbury for Greene 43 mins, Aaron Smith for O’Hara 50 mins, Ruari Doonan for Daly 52 mins, Jack McCann for Gaffney 58 mins.
Referee - Brendan Keena (Ballynacargy).