Penalty save crucial as Mullingar Athletic denied
Mullingar Athletic 0, St James Gate 2
ST James Gate went into double digits in victories last Friday evening, as they travelled to a wet and mild Gainstown under floodlights and battled past Mullingar Athletic to secure top spot in the Leinster Senior League Major 1 Sunday.
Derek Lawlor’s goal in the 25th minute pushed the visitors ahead, as they reaped the rewards of their high press. Mullingar were denied a passage back into the game despite a penalty kick in 71st minute, which was superbly saved by David Roe, and eventually were killed off thanks to a late outstanding free kick from substitute Barry Slattery of St. James Gate.
Both sides had their respective purple patches within the opening 25 minutes.
After early chances for Siode Eferhoghene of Mullingar Athletic and Derek Lawlor of St James Gate went astray, the visitors enjoyed a spell of opportunities in the space of five minutes.
From the 11th until the 16th minute, Dean Coleman and R Shields failed to convert for their team, the former especially with some golden opportunities that couldn’t be taken.
Then it was the hosts time to suffer in front of goal: Tadhg Nolan and Siode Eferhoghene were the ones who couldn’t convert for Mullingar Athletic despite decent opportunities.
Interval lead for saints
St James Gate opened their account in the 25th minute, when Jack McCarren slid Derek Lawlor through on goal. Lawlor slotted the ball into the corner of Trevor Martins net, and the goal stood despite the offside cries of the home team’s players, dugout and several fans too.
Ten minutes after that, Derek Lawlor’s low ball to R Shields was pulled on first time, though the shot was saved by the goalkeeper. R Shields of St James Gate and Siode Eferhoghene of Mullingar Athletic had great chances to convert similarly, but the last opportunity of the first-half fell to N Vitkauskas who, after a throw in caused all sorts of confusion in the opposing defence, put more power on the shot than he had intended as the ball dropped over.
That all meant St James Gate were holding onto their 1-0 lead heading into the break.
Roe to the rescue
Mullingar Athletic made a bright start to their second-half rescue mission.
Blake Ryan got a shot off as early as the first minute, while Bobbie Archbold couldn’t get on the end of E Bowman’s pass in time six minutes later. St James Gate finally got going in the 61st minute; Derek Lawlor saw Trevor Martin off his goal line and went for the shot, only for the ball to come crashing off the crossbar.
Jack McCarren was beaten to the ball by the goalkeeper, while J Pierce’s dangerous ball cause great confusion in the Mullingar back line.
Then, the moment arrived. The referee deemed that a St James Gate player handled the ball in the box and awarded a penalty to the hosts in the 71st minute.
N Vitkauskas stepped up to take the shot and struck it well, but to his dismay, goalkeeper David Roe guessed correctly and dived low to his left hand side and pulled off a super save.
It not only kept his clean sheet intact, but a potential game changer that Mullingar Athletic desperately needed evaporated into the Gainstown night sky.
Slattery’s stunner seals it
From the penalty until the 85th minute, St James Gate swung control back in their grasp.
Derek Lawlor’s pass was too far to reach for R Shields in the 73rd minute, but eight minutes later, substitute Barry Slattery, assisted by Derek Lawlor, would convert a superb free kick from around 20 metres out.
The ball nestled into the top corner of the net, and you could tell from his celebration how much it meant to him and his teammates.
Evan Connor failed to guide his header on target with five minutes remaining for the visitors, and Blake Ryan had a final chance which flew over for the hosts with three to go. Victory tilted towards the capital men on this occasion but Mullingar Athletic pushed them very hard.
St. James Gate Goals: Derek Lawlor 25, Barry Slattery 81.
Assists: Jack McCarren 25, Derek Lawlor 81.
Mullingar Athletic: Trevor Martin; E Bowman, Dorian McDonald, Liam Brennan, R Weston; N Vitkauskas, Bobbie Archbold, Siode Eferhoghene; Blake Ryan, Jack O’Donnell, Tadhg Nolan.
Substitutes: Jordan Scally for R Weston (half-time), Nathan McCullagh for Bobbie Archbold (59).
St. James Gate: David Roe; J Pierce, Joaquin Collazo, Robert Slattery, Marin Cernenchi; Mark Hayden, Dean Coleman, Evan O’Callaghan; Derek Lawlor, Jack McCarren, R Shields.
Substitutes: Barry Slattery for Dean Coleman (56), Craig Smithers for Evan O’Callaghan (73), Evan Connor for Martin Cernenchi (75), D Lawless for Joaquin Collazo and Cian Verlin Osborne for R Shields (85).
Referee: Sean Boyd.
Man of the Match
Derek Lawlor (St. James Gate).