ACL. Div.5 Castledaly 2-12 Mullingar Shamrocks 2-10

Mullingar Shamrocks winning sequence was ended in Castledaly on Thursday night as the home team emerged victorious by a two-point margin having led from start to finish. On most nights a score of 2-10 would be sufficient to bring home the league points but not on this occasion. The match featured the return of Mark Irwin to the Shamrocks colours for his first match for the club in five years. It’s not every-day a man who has starred on the big stages of London’s West End lines out for the club but Mark’s commitment to Shamrocks  has never  been in doubt. Castledaly, aided by a stiff breeze, dominated the early exchanges and opened with a goal and after fifteen minutes led by 1-5 to 0-1, Shamrocks only point coming from Niall Hannigan who excelled on the night. Shamrocks reacted positively and outscored Castledaly in the second-quarter with points from Gary Corroon, Hannigan again, and two from Pearse Corroon reduced the deficit. A pass from Gary from a mark by Gary Corroon, released Pearse who raced through the centre and found John Ganly who crashed a great shot to the net to leave the interval score 1-7 to 1-5 and with wind advantage to come the omens looked good for Shamrocks.

Unfortunately, the half-time interval killed the Shamrocks momentum and Castledaly dominated the early second half scoring and extended their lead to 7 points (2-11 to 1-7). Some wayward shooting by Shamrocks was costly at this stage as Shane Colleary who looked dangerous throughout was left redundant at the edge of the square as the ball floated wide. Pearse Corroon (0-1), Gary Corroon (0-2), Cian Roe (0-1) had points before the uncle-nephew combination of Stephen Hassett and Paul Aherne combined for the latter to add another point. The difference between the numbers on their jerseys provided an approximate evaluation of the age gap between the pair someone suggested. Finally, Shamrocks worked a good goal: John Ganley’s clever 45 was delivered to the edge of the square by Pearse Corroon where it was fielded cleanly by Shane Colleary who turned and blasted to the net. Unfortunately, time denied Shamrocks and a Castledaly point from a free proved to be the final act of the night’s play.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Robbie Boyle; Dylan Ledwith, Eamonn Breslin, Mark Irwin (Ritchie Daly); Stephen Hassett, Robbie Ryland, Niall Hannigan (0-2); Gary (0-3) and Pearse Corroon (0-3); Michael McKnight (Matthew Willoughby), Brian Melody (Cian Roe 0-1), Matthew Kelly (Paul Aherne 0-1); Ciarán O’Meara, Shane Colleary (1-0), John Ganley (1-0).   

Under-12 Girls League: Mullingar Shamrocks 2-7 Killucan 2-3

Our under-12 girls had their second successive win in Springfield on Thursday night with a 0-4 victory over Killucan. Shamrocks played against the stiff breeze in the first-half and trailed by a goal at half-time. The girls began the second half in determined fashion and began immediately to reduce the deficit. Ellie Sullivan and Katie Starr swapped positions and Shamrocks began to register scores as the backs defended with great determination. Katie Starr stole the show at mid-field and scored a superb 1-6 and was the Subway Player of the Match.

Mullingar Shamrocks:  Sinead Sweeny; Eve Byrne, Jodi Aherne, Phoebe Cadwalader; Benedict Lolengola, Katie Starr (1-6), Alishia McLoughlin; Emily Moore, Ellie Sullivan; Natalia Bak, Sophie Russell (0-1), Emily Clarke; Emily Flynn, Erin Murray, Ciara Moore(1-0). Megan Scally, Jasmine McFarland Ginnell, Rosin Lafferty, Linda Raeside.