Westmeath Senior Football Championship, Semi-Final: Mullingar Shamrocks 0-10 Tyrrellspass 0-9

And so the journey continues, with this superb one point victory against favourites and unbeaten Tyrrellspass in the semi-final. Another destination has been added to the itinerary: a county final meeting with reigning champions and four-in-a-row seeking St Loman's scheduled for Cusack Park on 21 October at 3.30 with Niall Ward in charge of the whistle. History will be created as for the first time an all-Mullingar final will take place in what will be a magnificent occasion for the town of Mullingar; history will also be repeated as we will again enter this final as total outsiders. Mullingar Shamrocks played with great commitment as we have done throughout this championship year with the team's outstanding work rate backed-up with some excellent individual displays.

Conditions were extremely difficult as Shamrocks faced a strong wind in the opening half and as in our previous must-win games, we began by putting two points on the board in the opening two minutes and what valuable scores these proved to be. The first was created by the combined play of Efe Siode and Dean Moore who created an opportunity for Jordan Warde who was fouled. Denis Corroon's strike into the wind was good and what was a difficult free secured Shamrocks opening score. Simon Quinn finished a fine combined move for Shamrocks second score within a minute. Jordan Warde pointed in the ninth minute after a speculative long range shot by Paddy Joyce was abandoned as a wide by everyone except Daragh Daly. Daly alone spotted the potential of the wind to hold-up Joyce's shot and raced across the goal to keep the ball in play without a challenger in sight. Several passes later Jordan Warde finished for an unlikely point in the ninth minute (0-3 to 0-0). Ger Egan pointed a long range free to open the Tyrrellspass account in the tenth minute and after winning possession from the resultant kick-out, the same player pointed from play. In the next attack, Denis Glennon was through on goal but opted for safety and popped the ball over to level matters in the twelfth minute (0-3 each). Ger Egan added three more points to send Tyrrellspass into a three point lead after twenty minutes. A good goal scoring opportunity was spurned by Shamrocks at this stage before a great move that featured the magnificent Micheál Curley prominently ended with another foul on Jordan Warde and Denis Corroon pointed the resultant free. A Ger Egan '45' neutralised this effort (0-7 to 0-4). Shamrocks added another point prior to the interval with a great sweeping move that began deep in defence with Kieran Gavin and Killian Daly combining to set Alan Cashman free, he in turn found Denis Corroon. Denis sent a pass deep into the corner where Dean Moore was alert to the possibilities. Jordan Warde too played a part before Dean pointed for what was probably the Mullingar Shamrocks score of the match. At half-time, Tyrrellspass held an 0-7 to 0-5 lead a satisfactory position from the Shamrocks perspective given the conditions.

Shamrocks repeated their opening ten minutes on resumption by scoring three points to edge ahead. Denis Corroon pointed a free, Efe Siode finished after Micheál Curley and Simon Quinn combined to create the opening and Tye Adamson (who replaced the black carded Paddy Joyce in the first-half) pointed a '45' to send Shamrocks into an 0-8 to 0-7 lead. Simon Quinn extended this lead when he finished a move (Daragh Daly and Jordan Warde featured prominently) that began in the Shamrocks goalmouth after a Ger Egan free had fallen short. A black card issued to Denis Corroon (already on a yellow) reduced Shamrocks to fourteen men for the final fifteen minutes. Points from Aaron O'Brien and Denis Glennon levelled matters before Tye Adamson kicked Shamrocks into their first county final since 2014 with a second long range free in the twenty-eight minute as the final disjoined minutes remained scoreless (0-10 to 0-8).

Mullingar Shamrocks: Philly Shaw; Eddie Moore, Kieran Gavin, Killian Daly; Paddy Joyce (Tye Adamson 0-2), Micheál Curley, Efe Siode (0-1); Denis Corroon (0-3), Patrick Fagan; Daragh Daly, Dónal O'Donoghue, Alan Cashman (Billy Flynn) (Conor Twomey); Jordan Warde (0-1), Dean Moore (0-1)[Ciarán Curley] Simon Quinn (0-2) [Ross Corroon].