ACL Div. 1: Mullingar Shamrocks 2-15 Tyrrellspass 2-11

Despite the difficult conditions, Mullingar Shamrocks and Tyrrellspass served up a fine game of football and provided another tiny piece of evidence that football may be going through another evolutionary phase. The emphasis was on retaining possession but attacking at pace was prioritized and the apparently aimless lateral and backward passing was at a minimum.

Shamrocks began in flying fashion with the SKY bound Dean Moore flying highest of all as he scored 0-10 on a night that was not made for that type of individual haul. After 12 minutes, we had raced to a 1-4 to 0-0 lead; Dean scored 0-3 and supplied the final pass to Conn O’ Hanlon for the opening goal. Jordan Warde also pointed before Val Sizychas pointed for Tyrrellspass. Paddy Fagan and Evan Connell exchanged points before David Hanlon was gifted a Tyrrellspass goal. A Denis Corroon pointed free was followed by another Dean Moore point from play as Shamrocks won possession from the restart. Evan Connell added another point from a free as Shamrocks were reduced to 14 players as Dillon Matthews accumulated cards of all three colours – yellow, black and red. We lost Davy Coyne at this stage too, to a knee injury, we can only hope that it is not another cruciate and we wish Davy a quick recovery. Shamrocks responded well to the setbacks and a great Shane Ormsby goal from a Jordan Ward pass and a Dean Moore point extended the lead to double scores (2-8 to1-4). It didn’t survive for long as Tommy Ryan was gifted another goal scoring opportunity which he accepted by crashing the ball past Eoin Doran. Ryan also added a point and Shamrocks retired to the half-time dressing room after a dominant first-half leading by just 2-8 to 2-5.

Tyrrellspass opened with two points to reduce the deficit to the minimum before Dean pointed again; in the tenth minute a great move split the Tyrrellspass defence and Jordan Warde was taken down for a penalty. Dean Moore’s shot flew over the crossbar (2-10 to 2-7). Shamrocks outscored Tyrrellspass 0-5 to 0-4 over the final twenty minutes despite losing Marc Eivers to a black card half way through. Dean Moore (0-3), Jordan Warde and Paddy Fagan were the final scorers in what was a fine game in difficult conditions.
Our minors made the journey to Garrycastle and emerged with the two league points after a 5-15 to 1-10 victory whilst our Under-14s interest in the Feile ended with an 0-10 to 0-1 defeat.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Eoin Doran; Marc Eivers, Davy Coyne (Davy Gavin), Dillon Matthews; Brendan O'Reilly, Matt O’Shea, Conn O’Hanlon (1-0) [Pearse Corroon]; Paddy Fagan (0-2), Shane Ormsby (1-0); John O'Reilly (Alan Cashman), Denis Corroon (0-1), Brian Guerin; Trevor Keena (Lorcan Smyth), Dean Moore (0-10), Jordan Warde (0-2).