Mullingar Athletic’s Cup dreams ended by Clara Town

Clara Town 2, Mullingar 1

Mullingar Athletic were unlucky to miss out on a Paddy Cotter Cup Semi-Final place on a cold and dry Saturday evening under the Gainstown floodlights, in an eventful and controversial match.

Clara Town held a two goal advantage at half-time, thanks to two early strikes from Rob Bracken and Josh Fleming. Despite heavy pressure from the hosts and a well taken Neilas Vitkauskas penalty in the 65th minute, the visitors held on to their advantage.

Despite the scoreline, one could argue that it was a pretty even opening half of football. Luke Dignam had an early fifth minute strike for Clara blocked, and the offside flag was raised once Robbie Archbold had played in Nathan McCullagh for Mullingar. Adam Kelly also had a cross go too close to the opposing keeper for his liking, but the first goal was soon to arrive.

In the 10th minute, Kelly’s lovely delivery found Alex Rooney in space and he toe-poked the ball past an out-rushing John McCormack. This presented a chance for Rob Bracken who was on hand to slide the ball into an empty net. Mullingar had a great opportunity to strike right back moments later, when Nathan McCullagh’s through lobbed cross had Neilas Vitkauskas through on goal, though he couldn’t get the ball over Gavin Fleming in the Clara goal. Two minutes after that, McCullagh slid Robbie Archbold through the Clara defence. One-on-one with the goalkeeper, Gavin Fleming denied Archbold, and pulling off a double save before Andrew Evans had his attempt blocked.

In the 17th minute, Clara Town would extend their lead out to two when Rob Bracken’s corner found the head of Josh Fleming who made the net bulge with his effort. From here, the visitors had the bulk of the chances. Rob Bracken, Alex Rooney, Luke Dignam, David Minnock all had great efforts in an eight minute spell to get the third, while for Mullingar, Stephen Cleary’s volley from range was their sole opportunity during this time. Both teams would end the half with further opportunities; Luke Dignam couldn’t keep his header under the crossbar twice in three minutes for Clara, while Nathan McCullagh and Neilas Vitkauskas couldn’t convert for Mullingar, McCullagh’s chance had to be foiled by Gavin Fleming, to ensure the visitors had a grip of their 2-0 half-time lead.

Mullingar revival

There was little doubt as to who controlled the second-half. The only chance the visitors had on goal was Rob Bracken’s opportunity with ten minutes to go, which John McCormack managed to sniff out and rush to collect the ball at the perfect moment.

As for Mullingar, chances came aplenty; Nathan McCullagh found Neilas Vitkauskas in the 56th minute with a beautiful ball, and Vitkauskas did everything right, toe-poking the ball over the goalkeeper, though the ball bounced agonisingly wide. Eight minutes later, and Vitkauskas was in again from Jordan Scally’s pass, only to be fouled and awarded the penalty. The man who was fouled stepped up to slot home his own penalty with conviction and into the bottom right-hand corner to give Mullingar a lifeline, and the reward they craved from the early domination.

Multiple crosses were attempted into the box for the hosts, but none could find their target. This was before things boiled over. Tensions had been rising during the match, so much so that the game was nearly called-off after a lengthy stoppage. There were multiple factors to this: unsportsmanlike behaviour on the side-line, especially in the early stages; some contentious decisions by the referee and the vocal passion of the crowd nearest the dugouts.

There were two red cards shown to John McCormack (Mullingar Athletic) and Josh Fleming (Clara Town). For the remainder of the match the fans at the dugout side were asked to leave by the referee and tensions neared breaking point on the pitch. After a delay of six minutes, another eight minutes was played, before the referee brought the game to a close. In the end, the cup dreams of Mullingar Athletic were dashed.

Scorers - Clara Town Goals: Rob Bracken and Josh Fleming 1 each. Assists: Alex Rooney and Rob Bracken 1 each.

Mullingar Athletic Goal: Neilas Vitkauskas (1 penalty).

Clara Town: Gavin Fleming; Adam Kelly, Tomas Devine, Pa Smith, Ciaran McGuinness; David Minnock, Lee Tierney, Luke Dignam; Josh Fleming, Alex Rooney, Rob Bracken.

Substitutes: Stephen Deehan for Tomas Devine (58), Neil Robbins for Alex Rooney (67), Victor Sonzaltz for Rob Bracken (83).

Mullingar Athletic: John McCormack; Hayden Nolan, Andrew Evans, George Ayibiowa, Ben Treanor; Ryan Bitu, Robbie Archbold, Jordan Scally; Nathan McCullagh, Stephen Cleary, Neilas Vitkauskas.

Substitutes: Ben Shaw for Robbie Archbold and Tito Oluwaurmedad for Hayden Nolan (57), Mohammed Mohammed for Stephen Cleary (69) Simon Jorgenson for Nathan McCullagh (81), Eoin Darby for Andrew Evans (95).

Referee: Des McEnery.