Junior II Football Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 1-9 Loughnavalley 2-6

There was as much excitement packed in to the last 10 minutes of this Junior II championship match between Mullingar Shamrocks  and Loughnavalley GFC as there was in several more prestigious games over the weekend. And the football wasn't too bad either with some fine scores kicked. Played in the neutral venue of Ballymore on a superbly manicured pitch on a night that was difficult for football the draw was probably satisfactory for both clubs. 

Loughnavalley dominated the first half and were fully deserving of their 2-5 to 1-3 interval lead.  The club that has refused to die began with a goal scored after a long series of handpasses and possession play, Stevie Ronan took off and galloped through the Shamrocks defence and crashed the ball to the net. Gary Corroon responded with a point for Shamrocks created by a typical Micheál Curley run through several tackles. A great save by Ryan O’Heir deprived Gary of a goal but ShaneColleary reacted quickest to the rebound and  rattled the net. Appropriately, the two veterans Gary and Shane were instrumental in the score as they were Shamrocks outstanding players on the night. Jack Dalton responded immediately with a point for the Valley. Another great O’Heir save prevented an Andrew Shaw goal. Cathal Elliffe pointed and Jack Dalton goaled as Loughnavalley’s dominance was reflected on the scoreboard. Luke McCabe shot a fine point off his left boot before Stevie Ronan (the best player on the pitch) added another point to the Loughnavalley total. Cathal Elliffe and  Gary exchanged pointed frees before the referee called for half-time. 

Assisted by the hill, Shamrocks dominated the second half but scores were difficult to manufacture against the Loughnavalley defence that included Brian Buckley, the dad of our minor goalkeeper Adam.  Michael Curley retired injured at the interval and was replaced by Adam Boyle. Two Gary Corroon points and one from Luke McCabe reduced the deficit before Kenneth Rigney scored a beauty for Loughnavalley, their only point of the half (2-6 to 1-6). Part of the reason for this was due to the superb defending of William O’Reilly and good work by Tadhg Sheridan when he switched to centre-back was also important.  Nathan Cornally, was lively all evening, and got his name on the scoresheet with a brilliant solo-run point with a liberal use of steps along the way.  A foul on Gary Corroon secured a black card for Stevie Ronan and Gary made no mistake from the resultant free to reduce the deficit to the minimum. A fine point from Andrew Shaw levelled the match as veteran substitute Seán Ruane was a powerful presence for Loughnavalley. In the final 10 minutes or so, both teams had chances to win the game but at the final whistle it was all square at 1-9 to 2-6. 

Mullingar Shamrocks: Liam English; Daniel Chukwuemeka, Ben Egan (Aaron Russell), William O’Reilly; Ruairí Hickey, Micheál Curley (Adam Boyle), Tadhg Sheridan; Tom Hickey, Andrew Shaw (0-1); Nathan Cornally (0-1), Gary Corroon (0-5) Andrew Connaughton; Shane Colleary (1-0), Luke McCabe (0-2), Seán Hynes.