Under-21 Football Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 3-8 St Loman’s 1-7.

Mullingar Shamrock got the better of our near neighbours on this occasion with a great spirited performance in Springfield on Sunday morning and were fully deserving of the seven points victory. Two first half goals from Tye Adamson and Brendan O’Reilly and the switch of Nathan Smith to mid-field after fifteen minutes were they key moments of the first-half. Tye Adamson’s goal was a superb individual effort; Brendan O’Reilly put the finishing touches to a great piece of combined play that began with a Nathan Smith knock-down. Despite a good performance, it looked ominous for Shamrocks at half-time as they had played with the assistance of a strong wind and went to the half-time break level. However the team responded magnificently to Gary Corroon’s dressing room promptings and played with renewed energy and spirit. Shamrocks’ third goal was scored by substitute Conor Bracken; on this occasion much of the hard work was done by Kenny O’ Reilly who was also introduced during the second-half. Kenny won the ball, took the hit, turned his man and provided the pass for Conor to poke the ball home to effectively secure victory for Shamrocks.

There were several noteworthy performances from the Shamrocks perspective in what was essentially a great team effort. Cormac Murphy at corner-back excelled; Dj Fedronas confirmed that he is a goalkeeper of immense promise and was Gary Connaughton like in taking down two shots that looked certain to raise white flags. Patrick Fagan worked tirelessly; Nathan Smith and Darren Keena had their best games this year and Tye Adamson continued with his excellent run of form that began several months ago.

The contribution of team manager Gary Corroon to this win should also be acknowledged. Gary organised a number of training sessions for this group of players and the large panel he assembled on an unpleasant Sunday morning is testament to Gary’s organisation and powers of persuasion. There’s a lesson to be learned from this turn-out.

Shamrocks: Dj Fedronas; Dylan Ledwith, Ryan Blundell, Cormac Murphy; Nathan Smith, David Coyne, James Shaw; Patrick Fagan and Pearse Corroon; Brendan O’Reilly, Tye Adamson, Andy Allen (Kenny O’Reilly); Darren Keena, David Culkin(Conor Bracken), Kenny O’Reilly.