County Senior Football Championships, Section B: Moate All-Whites 1-16 Mullingar Shamrocks 1-15
After a dreadful opening quarter, Mullingar Shamrocks, without the injured Ciarán Curley, trailed by 1-1 to 0-0 and Billy Flynn had departed the scene with an ankle injury. The poor start and Billy’s injury proved costly in the end. A Lorcan Smyth point in the eighteenth minute opened Shamrocks account and this was followed by similar scores from Zach Aherne and Paddy Fagan to reduce the deficit. A wonderful Philly Shaw reflex save prevented a certain goal before a fine Shamrocks combined move ended with a Seanie Daly point but the Moate response was immediate and the Mullingar Shamrocks torturer-in-chief on the night, full-forward Robbie Forde (he scored the opening goal) added a point to bring the half-time score to 1-5 to 0-4 in his side’s favour, a half in which Mullingar Shamrocks kicked nine wides as Moate converted all their chances. The return from injury of Micheál Curley midway through the second quarter introduced an extra bite to the Shamrocks challenge.
The game took fire in the second half as Shamrocks scored three points within three minutes of the restart and Moate kicked two more almost immediately. Ross Corroon and Denis combined for the latter to score the first, Seanie Daly kicked the second and for the third Pearse and Denis Corroon combined to create an opportunity that was finished by Ross. Moate replied with two points of their own courtesy of Robbie Forde and wing-back Gavin Murray. Another brilliant Philly Shaw save, almost a replica of the first, kept Shamrocks in the game but the rebound was popped over to extend the Moate advantage (1-8 to 0-7). Scores were coming thick and fast: Seanie Daly scored his third point; Moate replied with a similar score. Johnny Corbally pointed from a mark but Seanie Daly neutralised this one with a point of his own. Two more Moate points, before the water break, increased the 2020 intermediate champions lead to 1-12 to 0-9 with Philly Shaw saving bravely at the feet of a Moate attacker as the quarter concluded.
Dean Moore and Jordan Warde were introduced at the break and brought new life to the Shamrocks attack with Dean, in particular, having a massive impact, but it was Robbie Forde who was the first to put his name on the scoresheet with a point. Dean Moore kicked a fine point on the swivel before Gavin Murray shot over via the crossbar to extend the Moate lead to seven points with ten minutes remaining. Philly might have got a vial touch to deflect the ball over; Philly has been guarding the net for Shamrocks now for a long time and this game ranks up there with the best of Philly. Shamrocks were now powering forward and a great Dean Moore point cut the deficit after good work by Seanie Daly. In the twenty-first minute there was some surprise when Moate kicked a wide. Paddy Fagan pointed (1-14 to 0-12). Jack Gillen announced his presence on the field by pointing a difficult free with the confidence of a long-term veteran, Dean Moore pointed off his left foot and with two minutes left Jack Gillen pointed another difficult free to narrow the gap to just two points. Robbie Forde steadied the Moate ship with a point. Jack Gillen attacked and when the ball broke free it was snapped up by Dean who blasted an unstoppable shot to the net for a brilliant opportunist equaliser (1-14 to 1-14). Shamrocks weren’t finished and Dean had a chance to send Shamrocks ahead but unfortunately this time his shot, off the right boot, drifted wide. Moate weren’t finished either and after winning a turnover, Robbie Forde pointed to secure a vital championship win.
Section B was never going to be easy. It now becomes a total dog fight and is as near as makes no difference to knock-out football for all six teams in the group.
Mullingar Shamrocks: Philly Shaw; Dillon Matthews, Kieran Gavin, Eddie Moore; Brendan O’Reilly, Pearse Corroon, Efe Siode (Micheál Curley); Daragh Daly and Patrick Fagan (0-2); Seanie Daly (0-4), Denis Corroon (0-1), Billy Flynn (Ryan Blundell); Lorcan Smyth (0-1) [Jack Gillen, 0-2], Zach Aherne (0-1), [Dean Moore, 1-3], Ross Corroon (0-1) [Jordan Warde].
