ACL Div.3: Mullingar Shamrocks 1-9 Moate All-Whites 2-6
Within five minutes of the final whistle Moate All-Whites seemed to have secured the league points at stake as the home side had dominated the second half scoring and looked comfortable in their 2-6 to 0-7 lead. The Keena brothers were central to the comeback. Quick thinking by Darren after he was fouled released Dylan Franzoni who in turn found Trevor Keena who finished to the net despite the attention of several Moate defenders (2-6 to 1-7). Shane Ormsby won possession from the restart and initiated a move that ended with a foul on the big midfielder. Shane pointed the resultant free. There was time for one last attack and after a great turnover Dylan Franzoni found himself in space and kicked the all-important equalizing point. There was no time for a restart.
Wind assisted Shamrocks carved out an 0-5 to 0-2 interval lead. A pointed Johnny Corbally free opened the scoring for Moate before Nathan Conrally equalized. John O’Reilly edged Shamrocks ahead before Corbally added his second point. Niall Hannigan, Darren Keena and Hannigan again added points before the half-time whistle. The latter scored was created by a great Matthew Siode, Efi-type run from deep in defence (0-5 to 0-2). Luke McCabe pointed a free to extend Shamrocks lead which was balanced by an Eoghan Curran effort for Moate. Reece Jones then took over and added 2-3 to the Moate total from a combination of placed balls that included a penalty as well as points from play. A great Mikey Curley save prevented a third goal. A Trevor Keena point from play was the only offer from Shamrocks during this episode of Moate dominance. But all was to change in the final five minutes.
Mullingar Shamrocks: Mikey Curley; Eamonn Breslin, Matthew Siode, Dylan Franzoni (0-1); Niall Hardiman, Micheál Curley (Con Kelly), John O’Reilly (0-1); James Larkin (Emmett Walsh), Shane Ormsby (0-1); Eddie Moore, Darren Keena (0-1), Niall Hannigan (0-2); Nathan Cornally (0-1) [Seán Hynes], Luke McCabe (0-1), Matthew Shaw (Trevor Keena, 1-1).
