ACL Div. 1 Mullingar Shamrocks 0-14 Moate All-Whites 3-11

A tough day in the office for Mullingar Shamrocks in Moate on Sunday morning as a loss to the home side ended our recent undefeated stretch in the ACL Div. 1. In a game played at near championship intensity, Moate got the major scores as the Shamrocks defence was dismantled on three occasions and these were the scores that made the difference. The All-Whites led by 2-6 to 0-8 at the interval after playing catch-up for the opening 20 minutes or so. John O’Reilly opened the scoring with a fine point; Robbie Forde equalised. Ross Corroon after a patient build-up kicked Shamrocks ahead with a fine long range effort; Philip King equalised. In the fifteenth minute Paddy Fagan pointed after a good break by Niall Hardiman created the opportunity; Tobby Conteh equalised. It was now Denis Corroon’s turn to send Shamrocks into the lead and Conor Bracken equalised (0-4 each). Good defending prevented a Robbie Forde goal before Patrick Fagan added another point to the Shamrocks total and again Tobby Conteh levelled. A Robbie Forde free in the 25th minute established a Moate lead for the first time and within three minutes a Ronan Murray goal extended the lead. Shamrocks responded immediately with a Paddy Fagan point and a superb point by John O’Reilly. However, a second Moate goal from Conor Bracken was damaging even though Paddy Fagan again responded with a point before the interval (2-6 to 0-8).

Two points by Ross and Denis after the restart began a mini-revival but points by Ronan Murray and Eoin Bracken restored the 4 point disadvantage after fourteen minutes. Lorcan Smyth pointed off the right boot, a score that was matched by Eoin Bracken. A long range spectacular effort by Niall Hardiman with the outside of the right boot was one of the scores of the morning but Conor Bracken kept the Moate total rolling forward. Moate fullback Andrew Gorman raced forward for a point so too did Conn O’Hanlon for Shamrocks (2-10 to 0-13). However, in the final five minutes, A Robbie Forde point was followed a minute later by a second Conor Bracken goal when poor defending set Bracken free and his blasted shot ripped past Eoin Doran. A Denis Corroon free ended the scoring with Moate All-White deserving winners.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Eoin Doran; Dylan Franzoni, David Coyne (Mark Flynn), Dillon Matthews; Conn O’Hanlon (0-1), David Gavin, Niall Hardiman (0-1) [Matthew Siode]: Zach Aherne, Denis Corroon (0-3); John O’Reilly (0-2), Dean Moore, Alan Cashman (Shane Ormsby); Trevor Keena (Lorcan Smyth, 0-1), Ross Corroon (0-2) [Ollie MacNamara], Paddy Fagan (0-4).