Under-21 Football Quarter-final: Athlone 2-13 Mullingar Shamrocks 2-11.

No joy for our last men standing in the 2016 championships as the under-21s were on the  wrong side of a 2-13 to 2-11 scoreline in what was a fine game of football on a bitterly cold night in Athlone. It was a fighting display with Athlone just about deserving the narrow victory. Shamrocks dominated the final stages but ran out of time when it seemed that Athlone were about to be reeled in.

The opening exchanges were evenly balanced with wind-assisted Athlone’s one point advantage neutralised on four occasions over twenty minutes. Shamrocks points came from Darren Keena (two really excellent efforts) and two Ross Corroon pointed frees. The key-moment of the match came after twenty minutes when Jack Quinn collected a rebound off the goal post and despatched the ball to the back of Dj’s net; the umpire had hardly put the green flag back in its place when Quinn collected the kick-out and raced through to score a second goal. Athlone added two more points before the interval and entered the dressing room eight points to the good (2-6 to 0-4). Shamrocks suffered another blow at half-time as Tye Adamson was forced to retire with a head injury. Two Ritchie Greene frees added to Athlone’s lead but a great goal by David Culkin (who won and distributed the ball very well on the night) and a San Gilmartin point began a Shamrocks revival. Nathan Smyth pointed to reduce the gap to five points (2-8 to 1-6). Ritchie Greene’s frees helped to steady the Athlone ship but a crashing shot from Ross Corroon flew past the Athlone goalkeeper to restore the Shamrocks momentum; Darren Keena, David Culkin and Ross added three great points from play, Patrick Fagan and Ross Corroon pointed frees to reduce the deficit to two points  but unfortunately time ran out.  Shamrocks had outscored Athlone 2-6 to 0-5 in the final quarter but matches are 60-minute affairs; the 60 seconds of slackness that allowed Jack Quinn the freedom to score two goals were crucial but overall it was a very positive performance by Shamrocks with Cormac Murphy, Ryan Blundell and David Culkin offering great support to our established senior players, all of whom excelled on the night.

Well done to team manager Gary Corroon on his enthusiasm (the players responded in style) and efforts to organise and train this team in what was an exciting and busy time for the manager. Shamrocks: Dj Fedronas; Dylan Ledwith (Stephen Hassett), James Shaw, David Coyne; Cormac Murphy, Ryan Blundell, Pearse Corroon; Patrick Fagan (0-1) and Nathan Smyth 0-1 [Conor Bracken]; Brendan O’Reilly, Ross Corroon (1-4), Tye Adamson (Sam Gilmartin (0-1)); Darren Keena (0-3), David Culkin (1-1), Kenny O’Reilly (Alan Kevin).