Westmeath Senior Football Championship: Garrycastle 1-13 Mullingar Shamrocks 2-8

Our unbeaten streak came to an end with this defeat to our old rivals Garrycastle and despite the result there were lots of positives and lessons to be drawn from last Saturday night's outing in Rosemount.  Overall, it was a good performance and one that can be built-on going forward with a little bit of fine tuning and the return of injured and travelling players.  This much we know. We need to win our last three matches to guarantee progress to the knock-out stages of the championship. Our destiny remains in our own hands.

            Garrycastle established an early lead with two points from Gerard Heneghan before Micheál Curley, Alan Cashman and Simon Quinn combined to send Jordan Warde thorough for Shamrocks opening point before a telegraphed block-down at one end produced an Alex Gardiner point for Garrycastle at the other. A great individual run and point  by Dean Moore reduced the deficit before Simon Quinn equalised in the eighteenth minute.

            History does repeat itself and on this occasion it was the recent history of the Castledaly match that resurfaced in the eighteenth minute. A high ball into the Shamrocks goal area was finished to the net by James Sheerin in what was a carbon copy of Castledaly's two goals in our opening championship encounter. Michael Monaghan added a point to establish a four-point lead for Garrycastle but not for long. Jordan Warde, in his first senior championship start, started and finished a move by blasting a terrific shot past Shane Moran for the goal of the night but unfortunately there are no extra points for brilliance. Garrycastle steadied their ship with a Cathal Mannion point and then James Sheerin added another ... this one so high that it almost cleared the trees at the end of the Rosemount pitch. The big man from Wicklow was leaving his mark on the game and for his next act he gathered a high ball back on his own goal line and began a movement that ended with another Alex Gardiner point. In an age where the emphasis is on defence and retreat three Mullingar Shamrocks forwards were still inside the Garrycastle  20-metre line as Gardiner's shot sailed over the bar at the other end of the field (1-7 to 1-3). Shamrocks added two points before the interval - Denis Corroon, who was again superb, pointed a free and from the resultant restart (better not say kick-out!) Paddy Joyce marked and Micheál Curley burst forward like he has been doing for the last decade at least, with ferocious intent, collected from Paddy and kicked the last point of the opening half (1-7 to 1-5). Curley and his wing-back partner Brendan O'Reilly were outstanding throughout.

            Gerard Heneghan added to the lead with a pointed free on resumption before Shamrocks played their best passages of football. Killian Daly, Donal O'Donoghue, Denis Corroon and Dean Moore combined to create a goal chance for Jordan Warde who again finished with a rocket to the net. Simon Quinn and Denis Corroon pointed and after 10 minutes Shamrocks were  leading by two points (2-7 to 1-8). Unfortunately, Shamrocks only registered a single point in the final twenty minutes, another Jordan Warde effort in what was a great championship start for the young player.  Gerard Heneghan, Alex Gardiner, Jason Nugent and Cathal Mannion outpointed  Shamrocks 0-4 to 0-1down the final stretch. Jordan Warde just missed out on his hat-trick and two speculative shots from Efe Siode were scrambled to safety by the Garrycastle goalkeeper.

            It was Saturday Night Fever in the final minutes as the game became more frenetic and a few cards of different hues decoated the Rosemount evening air. In the end, the final result hinged on a last kick penalty awarded for a foul on Simon Quinn deep into added time. Killian Daly was the one who stepped forward from a very short list of volunteers and accepted the responsibility for the kick. Shane Moran saved  and Garrycastle survived on the night that Dillon Matthews made his  senior championship debut for Shamrocks.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Philly Shaw; Eddie Moore, Kieran Gavin, Aaron Purcell; Brendan O'Reilly, Killian Daly, Micheál Curley (0-1); Denis Corroon (0-2) and Dónal O'Donoghue; Paddy Joyce (Efe Siode), Simon Quinn (0-2), Alan Cashman (Dillon Matthews); Darren Keena (Ciarán Curley), Dean Moore (0-1), Jordan Warde (2-2).