ACL Div.1 Mullingar Shamrocks 0-16 Rosemount 1-14

Rosemount collected the league points in this preliminary to what will be a massive game for both clubs in five weeks’ time when the championship comes around. Both sides were short several likely championship starters; for Shamrocks there was a lot of positives to be extracted from this outing as much of the rustiness that was evident against Milltown has been filed away in the two weeks since that outing. Billy Flynn returned to action after a long spell out through injury; his work rate and commitment were as healthy as ever and he added two points from play from his wing forward position. The reverse was the case for Jordan Warde who was at his best on the night, but Jordan was forced to leave the field during the second half with a knee injury. Jordan has had more than enough of knee injuries over the past few years and we wish him a speedy recovery from this latest one. Aaron Purcell too was forced to retire mid-way through the first half.
Ollie MacNamara made his senior competitive debut and marked the occasion by scoring the final point of the evening, a fine effort from play. So too did Sean Hynes, Zach Aherne, Mark Flynn and Brian Farrell and all four can be well pleased with their night’s work. It’s a while since we had so many young debutants. There was some fine free taking from both sides and our men Dean Moore (from the hand) and Ross Corroon (from the ground) kicked superbly from placed balls. The purity of Ross’s striking from from long range would gladden the heart of the most difficult traditionalist. The long-serving boys were not bad either with Eddie Moore providing the inspiration and example to the older generation of players.
Dean Moore and Ben Cox exchanged points in the opening minutes before Cox added a second point for Rosemount. A superb Ross Corroon point from play levelled matters; a Dean Moore pointed free secured the lead for Shamrocks. The next five minutes were crucial to the result as Rosemount added 1-3 without reply from Shamrocks. A turnover created the goal scoring opportunity for Ben Cox who accepted the chance with style and almost immediately Cox added a point to bring his and Rosemount’s total to 1-3 after twelve minutes. David (Dude) McCormack kicked two long range points to bring the score to 1-5 to 0-3 at the end of the first quarter. Cox added another point shortly after the restart before points from frees by Dean (0-2), Ross (0-1) and a great combined effort initiated by Pearse Corroon and finished by Billy Flynn narrowed the gap to two points (1-6 to 0-7). Ben Cox and Ross swopped points before Declan Mullen had the final point before the interval to bring the score to the score to 1-8 to 0-8.

Ben Cox again pointed on the restart. Another spell of play crucial to the final result then followed as Shamrocks created two great goal scoring chances but came away without any addition to the scoreboard. The first was defended by a combination of good defending and goalkeeping, the woodwork came to the rescue on the second occasion as Efe’s great effort rebounded from the post after some great combination play cracked the Rosemount defence. Instead of two goals, Ben Cox punished Shamrocks by adding two more points from frees. A great strike from Ross Corroon and a point from play by Billy Flynn reduced the deficit; Rosemount added two from Dude McCormack and Liam Maxwell before Ross pointed once again before the second water break (1-13 to 0-11).

Shamrocks outscored Rosemount 0-5 to 0-1 over the final quarter with Ross kicking three great points, Dean pointed a difficult free before Ollie MacNamara announced his arrival on the main stage with a fine point. In between all this action, Ben Cox scored the vital point that secured victory and the league points for Rosemount on a scoreline of 1-14 to 0-16.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Seán Hynes; Aaron Purcell (Mark Flynn), Padraic McKenna, Eddie Moore; Brendan O’Reilly, Pearse Corroon, Efe Siode (Ollie MacNamara, 0-1); Daragh Daly, Dillon Matthews; Billy Flynn (0-2), Ross Corroon [0-8] (Gary Corroon), Zach Aherne; Jordan Warde (Brian Farrell), Ciarán Curley, Dean Moore (0-5)