Junior B 'Championship': Milltownpass 2-9 Mullingar Shamrocks 0-9

After two disappointing defeats over the weekend at senior and junior level, our Junior B squad responded positively with a very spirited performance against Milltownpass on Tuesday evening. A swirling cross field breeze made conditions very difficult for football but Nathan Smith defied the elements and delivered a master class in long range place kicking, especially in the first half when he scored four superb frees from distance. Judged on this performance Nathan is ready to go on the road with Dean Rock as a tutor in the Dean Rock Free-Taking Project. These scores and two fine points from Pádraic McKenna, good defending by Matthew Siode (it won't be long until he is lining out in the senior fullback line with Efe) and a brilliant save from Sean Hynes earned Mullingar Shamrocks an interval lead of 0-6 to 1-2 with Jack Gorman securing the crucial Milltownpass score.

Wind-assisted Milltownpass added four unanswered points over the first ten minutes of the second half before Nathan Smith interrupted the trend with another excellent point. Milltownpass pointed twice but Nathan was again on target and kicked two more points. In the final minutes Mullingar Shamrocks launched several attacks, John O'Reilly went close from a great goal scoring opportunity before Milltownpass goaled with the last attack of the match. This time the Milltownpass John O'Reilly did very well to hold off Matthew Siode and scored his team's second goal with a soccer style dribble and shot that gave Seán Hynes no chance of saving.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Seán Hynes; Emmet Walsh, Matthew Siode, William Adzonga; Jack Kelly, Marc Eivers (Ryan Blundell), Niall Ouchbakou (Daniel Chukwuemeka); Nathan Smith (0-7)[Ronan McHugh], Pádraic McKenna (0-2); Cormac Hynes (John O'Reilly), Zach Aherne (Brian Farrell), David Culkin (Trevor Keena); Andrew Shaw, Ronan McHugh (Ciarán Looby), Gary Corroon.