Junior II Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 1-10 The Downs 2-14

Shamrocks were slow out of the traps and at the end of the first quarter trailed by 0-11 to 1-1. The Downs kicked a series of impressive points with wingback Matthew Cunningham and corner forward Tom Tuite particularly prominent. Tomas Turks scored a beauty of a goal and Ronan McHugh struck a fine point. Shamrocks were more composed in the second quarter, the defence was sounder and The Downs were outscored 0-2 to 0-1 with Andrew Shaw and Gary Corroon kicking the points. Shamrocks continued their good work after the interval and with points from Seán Óg Hynes, Tomas Turks and Emmet Walsh reduced the deficit to 0-3. A goal from Philip Martin at this stage proved to be the decisive score but two points from Matthew Maslin and another by Seán Óg Hynes kept Shamrocks within striking distance at the end of the third quarter when the scoreboard read 1-12 to 1-9. In the final quarter two great goalscoring opportunities were missed, one by each side; Adam Conneely scored a second goal for The Downs as Seán Óg Hynes completed the Shamrocks scoring with a pointed free.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Adam Smith; Peter Bane, Matthew Siode (Nathan Smith), Ciaran Looby; Tomas Turks (1-1), Niall Hardiman, Emmet Walsh (0-1); Ronan McHugh (0-1), Brian Farrell (Eamonn Bresslin); Matthew Clinton, Andrew Shaw (0-1) [John O’Reilly], Daithí Mairtín (Mark Shaw); Gary Corroon (0-1) [Matthew Maslin, 0-2], Shane Colleary and Mark Shaw (Seán Óg Hynes, 0-3).