Westmeath Under-19 Football Semi-final: Mullingar Shamrocks 1-14 Killucan 0-13.

In a fiercely contested encounter, Mullingar Shamrocks edged Killucan by 0-5 to qualify for the County Final against Cill Óige who also carved out a hard-earned extra-time victory in their semi-final.

It was a victory for hard work in difficult conditions in Springfield, in other words a great team victory. Shamrocks began well and opened with four points but Killucan responded with seven unanswered points. Thanks to a converted Ryan Kelly penalty awarded for a foul on Adam Boyle just before the break Shamrocks held an interval lead of 1-8 to 0-9.

Shamrocks increased the gap by the minimum margin during the closest of second halves. Gavin Pierce was in inspired form and kicked six points over the hour including four in the second half; Luke McCabe added 0-2, and Ryan Kelly 1-3 to complete an impressive tally of 1-11 from the full-forward line if full-forward lines exist anymore in the modern game; the outstanding play of substitute William O’Reilly was also a standout feature of the game. And a fine save in the final minutes from Mikey Curley was also crucial in securing the victory.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Mikey Curley; Nathan Cornally (William O’Reilly), Ben Egan (Ruairí Hickey), Adam Glynn; Dylan Franzoni (Jordan Awundah), Dylan Carey, Callum Rigney Clyne; Shane Ormsby, Ciaran Kiernan; Adam Boyle (0-1) [Tom Hickey], Conor Heffernan (0-1), Donnacha Maguire (0-1); Gavin Pierce (0-6), Luke McCabe (0-2), Ryan Kelly (1-3).

The County Final will take place on Sunday morning at 11.30 in Ballinagore v Cill Oige with Ken Gunning in charge of the whistle.