Minor Football Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 4-5 Moate All Whites 1-8

A great game of football in Springfield, played in dreadful conditions, that began following a minutes silence as a mark of respect for the great Moate All Whites and Westmeath footballer, the late Seán Heavin.

The visitors enjoyed wind advantage in the first half and had 3 unanswered points on board courtesy of Niall Hagan, Darragh Delaney (45) and Darragh Madden in the opening minutes. Shamrocks responded with a scrambled goal finished by Donnacha Maguire after intense pressure from the Shamrocks forwards prevented a clearance. Darragh Madden pointed his second free before ace predator Alex Sheerin pounced for a second goal after a lot of good work from Donnacha Maguire, Ryan Kelly and Conor Heffernan. Both goals were of the conceded rather than created category but a lot of effort and determination produced the turnovers that led to the scores.
Donnacha Maguire gathered the restart from the second goal, ignored the mark opportunity to drive forward before parting to Gavin Pearse who pointed (2-1 to 0-4). Darragh Madden and Niall Hagan again pointed frees to reduce the gap to the minimum after 22 minutes. Alex Sheerin transitioned from goal poacher to goal creator brilliantly winning the ball and releasing Gavin Pearse on goal. Gavin swiveled pat the last Moate defender and swung the left boot to blast the ball past Peter McDonald and secure an interval lead of 3-1 to 0-6 for Mullingar Shamrocks.

Gavin Pearse and Niall Hagan exchanged points early in the second half, Alex Sheerin pointed from a turnover and after ten minutes, Ben McNamee kicked the point of the evening a superb long range effort to extend Shamrocks lead (3-4 to 0-7).

Midway through the half, Adam Buckley saved well but Seán Lappin finished the rebound to the net for what was Moate’s only score of the evening from play. In contrast, Shamrocks entire total was from play. Goals win matches and Shamrocks scored the vital fourth goal. Callum Rigney delivered to Ryan Kelly who seemed to have lost the ball before he produced a magnificent pass to send Gavin Pearse clear (All that soccer came in useful). The result was inevitable and Gavin made no mistake and crashed the ball to the net.

A jersey tug earned Peter Finch a black card but despite numerical disadvantage, the Shamrocks defence held firm. Ryan Kelly completed the Shamrocks total with a pass from Callum Rigney after Gavin Pearse and Alex Sheerin combined to create the opportunity. Moate attached and Cian Whitney skimmed the crossbar with his goal attempt from a free but there was no late escape for the visitors and at the final whistle Mullingar Shamrocks had qualified for the club’s first minor final in fifteen years.

Both teams deserve to be complimented on the quality of football played in the most difficult conditions. The days of catch and kick are well and truly in the past and possession football was the order of the evening. The sportsmanship of both sets of players was equally commendable.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Adam Buckley (Matas Puida); Adam Glynn, Ty Masterson Ben Sheerin; James Flynn, Peter Finch, Ben McNamee (0-1); Ryan Kelly (0-1), Donnacha Maguire (1-0); Paul Keating, Conor Heffernan, Callum Rigney Clyne; Gavin Pearse (2-2), Alex Sheerin (1-1), Ameen Haccini.