Feis Cup, first round: Mullingar Shamrocks 4-15 Castledaly 4-6

Midway through the first-half the final score of 4-15 t0 4-6 in favour of Mullingar Shamrocks was unlikely. At this stage, the visitors to Castledaly trailed by 3-2 to 0-3 as the Shamrocks defence was dismantled by the brilliant promptings of Lorcan Dolan who controlled the play in a manner reminiscent of a quarter-back in American football. As a result, Kevin Stone, Daniel Heavin and Davy Stone netted in response to Shamrocks opening points from Denis Corroon and Donal O’Donoghue. A brilliant goal from Darren Keena reversed the trend and 0-3 from a majestic Denis Corroon and a point from Kieran Gavin reduced the deficit to manageable proportions at the interval (3-2 to 1-6) as Castledaly failed to add to their mid-half tally.

A bad knock failed to damage Kenneth O’Reilly’s commitment and five minutes into the second-half the corner-forward collected a Paddy Joyce pass and crashed the ball to the net to establish a Shamrocks lead that was never subsequently relinquished. Tye Adamson marked his return from injury with a significant second-half impact and goaled following good approach play form Efi Siode and Paddy Joyce. He also added a point that extended the lead to 3-9 to 3-2. Kieran Gavin and Lorcan Dolan exchanged goals, Denis Corroon kicked two spectacular points, David Gavin and Donal O’Donoghue added 0-2 each; Darren Keena and Kenneth O’Reilly pointed as Shamrocks secured a victory that seemed unlikely mid-way through the opening half.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Seanie Daly; David Coyne, Eddie Moore (Efi Siode), Aaron Purcell; Micheál Curley (Eamonn Breslin) (Tye Adamson 1-1), Efi Siode (Cormac Murphy), Niall Hannigan; Donal O’Donoghue (0-3) and Kieran Gavin (1-0); Pearse Corroon, Denis Corroon (0-6), Paddy Joyce (Eamonn Breslin); Darren Keena (1-2), David Gavin (0-2), Kenneth O’Reilly (1-1).