ACL Division 6 League Final: Mullingar Shamrocks 1-8 The Downs 1-7

Our 2015 season finally ended on Saturday last in The Downs when we beat the home side by a single point in the Division 6 final. In truth we were a bit fortunate to win as The Downs were generous with the shooting and had more than the normal quota of bad wides. In addition the Shamrocks crossbar was twice on the receiving end of a battering. However Shamrocks struck bravely to their task, never gave-up and the spirit was rewarded with the Division 6 title brought back to Springfield. The Downs held an interval lead of 1-2 to 0-3 but a Paddy Joyce goal ten minutes from the end proved to be the crucial score.

From the Shamrocks perspective there was little doubt about the Man of the Match on this occasion.  The return of Stewie Flynn from the rugby fields and from injury was most welcome and his 0-7 from both play and frees was a remarkable tally in the conditions.  It was good also to see Dermot Curly back in the green jersey and for Ross Brady, a great Shamrock s servant, the match was of special significance as he picked up a Div. 6 league medal on the weekend, he celebrated his birthday.

Shamrocks: Daragh Ryan, Sam Gilmartin, Ryan Blundell, Sean Raeside; Stephen Hassett, James Grogan, Ross Corroon; Brian Melody and Paddy Joyce (1-0); Dermot Curly, Stewie Flynn (0-7), Neil Hannigan; Oisín Dolan, Gary Corroon (0-1), Ross Brady (Alan Kevin).  

Minor League: Caulry 3-12 Mullingar Shamrocks 0-4.

In the minor league game played at Caulry on Sunday morning the home side proved superior and with the aid of a gale-force wind in the first-half piled on the scores and led by 3-8 to 0-0 at the interval. This was a game where winning the toss was critical but unfortunately this wasn’t to be. However the team turned in a good second-half performance and battled to the bitterly cold end and that in itself is important.

Shamrocks:  Dylan Matthews; Mark Eivers, Cormac Murphy, Conor McKenna; Cormac Darby, Christy Fox, Andrew Connaughton (Brandon Heffernan);  Sam Gilmartin and DJ Fedoras;  Cathal Crowley, Ross Corroon, Cian Roe (Sean Wylie); Cormac Hynes, Matthew Willoughby (Matthew Maslin),  Kenneth O’Reilly. 

ACL Div. 2: Mullingar Shamrocks 0-11 Shandonagh 2-17.

Playing in the ACL Div. 2 is going to be a tough ask for our second team but playing in the higher grade is also likely to provide a great learning experience for ambitious footballers. However there was little evidence of anyone too keen to experience the latter at Springfield on Easter Monday. There wasn’t a hint of rebellion as Shandonagh inspired by a brilliant Kieran Shanley secured a comfortable and full-merited 2-17 to 0-11 victory over what was on paper at least a strong Shamrocks team. Shandonagh benefited from a first-half wind advantage and led at the interval 2-10 to 0-6; the second Shandonagh goal in the twenty-fifth minute practically ended the game as a contest. Stewie Flynn (0-3), Dylan McDermott (0-2) and Darren Keena (0-1) shared the six points.  Despite the wind advantage we were unable to narrow the gap; two good goal scoring chances were missed, only two points were scored from play in what was a disappointing second half in which Dylan McDermott (0-2), Gary Corroon, Conor Twomey and Stewie Flynn added the points.

Shamrocks: Daragh Ryan; Ryan Blundell, Paddy Joyce, Eddie Moore; Brian Melody (Ross Corroon), Aaron Purcell, Kyle Maguire (Davy Coyne); Donal O’Donoghue and Conor Twomey (0-1); Brendan O’Reilly, Stewie Flynn (0-4), Tye Adamson (Mickey McKnight); Darren Keena (0-1), Dylan McDermott (0-4), Mickey McKnight (Gary Corroon, 0-1).

Fixtures

Monday, 4 April, Under-16 Football League, Div. 1:  Mullingar Shamrocks v The Downs, at Springfield at 6.30.