ACL Div. 2: The Downs 1-9 Mullingar Shamrocks 0-4.

The Downs completed a hat-trick of wins against Shamrocks in the ACL Div. 2 match played on Monday which pitted the home team’s first team against the Mullingar reserves. Playing against a strong breeze in the first-half Shamrocks were excellent especially in defence where hard work and committed tackling made things very difficult for The Downs forwards. Billy Flynn, Eddie Moore, Aaron Purcell and Davy Coyne were particularly good. Paddy Joyce worked hard in mid-field and Brendan O’Reilly troubled The Downs defenders. Jordan Warde’s evening ended with Shamrock’s first attack of the day after a collision with The Downs goalkeeper forced his retirement; soon after Dylan McDermott pointed to put Shamrocks ahead which was neutralised by a Downs point after 15 minutes. A long range effort from James Grogan restored the Shamrocks lead but two points before the interval edged The Downs into an interval lead (0-3 to 0-2).

                Unfortunately from the Shamrocks perspective we were unable to maintain the high-pressure effort and The Downs totally dominated the second-half scoring 1-6 before Paddy Joyce and Gary Corroon kicked two consolation scores for Shamrocks shortly before the final whistle.

Shamrocks: Daragh Ryan; Aaron Purcell, Eddie Moore, David Coyne; James Grogan (0-1), Billy Flynn, Kyle Maguire; Paddy Joyce (0-1) and Dylan McDermott (0-1)[Jack Quinn]; Pearse Corroon, Sean O’ Brien (Ryan Blundell), Brendan O’Reilly; Ross Corroon, Gary Corroon (0-1), Jordan Warde (Mickey McKnight).