Not all matches played under the modern rules are classics. Jim Gavin and his band of disciples that formed the FRC weren’t capable of miracles but they went close. This game in Rochfortbridge failed to ignite and was dominated from start to finish by the blue and white stripped Mullingar Shamrocks – a link back to the time of the Pearse’s Hurling Club and all that hurling tradition. 

Shamrocks led by 2-8 to 0-2 at the break with the goals coming from Hugo Corroon and Rory McCaul. The former goal began with a short restart from Adam Buckley to Ben McNamee who began a move that was finished by Hugo, one of the stars of the evening. The second goal came just before the break and extinguished any hopes of a Rochfortbridge recovery.  Killian Mooney scored the third goal midway through the second half. 

Shamrocks shot numerous wides, dropped several shots short and into a grateful goalkeeper’s hands and incredibly were penalized on three occasions for breeches of the three-men up rule. It was that kind of a match! 

Mullingar Shamrocks: Adam Buckley (0-1); Ben McNamee (James Flynn), Ben Sheerin, Peter Finch; Callum Rigney, Ronan Byrne, Matthew Shaw (0-1); Paul Keating (Padraig Casey),  Elmugtaba Mohammed; Killian Mooney (1-2), Conor Heffernan, Rory McCaul (1-1); Ryan Kelly (Ameen Hacini),  Alex Sheerin (0-4)[Ted Aherne, 0-2], Hugo Corroon (0-2)[Gavin Pierce].