MJS Building and Development Minor Football Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 2-9 Tubberclair 2-9.

“It ain’t over till the fat lady sings” it is said but in Cusack Park today the faint sounds of the legendary lady could be heard warming up the vocal chords for the final encore as Mullingar Shamrocks trailed Tubberclair by seven points as the contest entered lost time (2-9 to 0-8). There was unanimity of agreement that the best team had won and that Shamrocks could have little cause for complaint. Fortunatley, this analysis discounted the fighting spirit and never say die attitude of this Mullingar Shamrocks team and as we know “It aint over till it’s over”. The comeback was magnificent and all involved can be proud of what was achieved in Cusack Park. But we have to do it all again and do it better in the replay to get the better of a Tubberclaire team who have become our great rivals in underage football in the last three or four years.

It didn’t look great at half-time either from the Shamrocks perspective as the teams entered the dressing room tied at 0-5 each despite the fact that we had wind advantage for the opening 30 minutes. Statistics that read 11 turnovers, eight wides, four missed frees and a single point from play told their own story. We survived lethal Tubberclaire attacks in the opening and closing minutes of the half that kept us in the game. In the early attack, Daire O’Connor won possession from a Tubberclaire restart and carried the ball the length of the pitch before sending Thomas Farrell through on goal. A wonder save from Adam Buckley turned the ball out for a fruitless 45. Thirty minutes later, Taylor Slevin blasted over when a goal seemed certain. Even the umpires were confused with this let off.

Daire O’Connor opened the scoring for Tubberclaire with a pointed free in the fourth minute, three minutes later Conor Heffernan kicked a fine free to level matters. A pointed Ryan Kelly free edged Shamrocks ahead before Taylor Slevin from play equalised after 14 minutes. A minute later Thomas Farrell pointed before a MAGNIFICENT Ryan Kelly pointed free from out beside the sideline at the Kinnegad Plaza hoarding sent Shamrocks into the lead. This was unquestionably the Cusack Park point of the day. Ryan’s next pointed free was in the same category, just not quite as good as the previous effort, but it secured a single point lead for Shamrocks. Kealen Connell equalised; good work by Ryan Kelly and Donnacha Maguire was completed by Gavin Pierce for a point that was Shamrocks’ first score from play. Taylor Slevin’s blasted effort in the 33rd minute described earlier ended the half.

Tubberclaire moved into the lead in the opening minute with a Paul Keegan pointed 45.Three minutes later, a good combined move ended with a Callum Rigney Clyne point. Tubberclaire worked a fine point that was finished by wing-back Sean Keegan breaking up-field, a score that proved very costly for Shamrocks as Tubberclaire won possession from the next two restarts and made maximum use of the opportunities with goals from Taylor Slevin and Paul Keegan. In the space of three minutes, Tubberclaire had moved into a seven-point lead (2-7 to 0-6) as the quartet of Tom Burke, Kealan Connell, Taylor Slevin and Paul Keegan dominated the middle third exchanges. A Ryan Kelly pointed free kept our hopes alive but a great Daire O’Connor effort from play restored the Tubberclaire seven-point advantage. Ryan Kelly and Ruairi Dolan exchanged points as the 30-minute mark approached with the scoreboard reading 2-9 to 0-8.

And then, it all changed! A brilliant Conor Heffernan goal inspired one of the great comebacks in our club history – fittingly in our 70th Anniversary year. The goal was a Ryan Kelly creation as he supplied the sublime pass that finally unlocked the Tubberclaire defence. Heffernan' finish was top class. On our next attack, Ryan Kelly wisely opted to pop the ball over and we entered the-single-score-for-a draw-territory as the scoreboard clock read 33 minutes 36 seconds. A Tubberclaire attack broke down deep into the Shamrocks half and ended with a free out to Shamrocks. Our players patiently moved the ball forward with Ty Masterson and Adam Glynn centrally involved. Adam's attempted delivery was blocked and Gavin Pierce gained possession. Sometimes the old ways are best and Gavin launched the perfect delivery into the Tubberclaire goalmouth where the presence of Criostóir Ormsby was a distracting influence. In the scramble for possession, Ryan Kelly (who else?) took control and finished the ball to the net for the incredible equalizing goal (2-9 each) after 34 minutes and 59 seconds of play.

There was still time for one more attack and for a few seconds we believed that Ryan Kelly had completed the miracle and kicked a spectacular winning point. Unfortunately, Alfie Devine had blown his whistle for a foul on Ryan and with the last kick of the game Ryan’s free just drifted wide of the upright and both teams had survived to fight another day.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Adam Buckley; Adam Glynn, Ty Masterson Ben Sheerin; James Flynn, Peter Finch, Ben McNamee; Ameen Hacini, Donnacha Maguire; Paul Keating (Padraig Casey), Conor Heffernan (1-1), Callum Rigney Clyne (0-1); Alex Sheerin (Criostóir Ormsby), Ryan Kelly (1-6), Gavin Pierce (0-1)