Shay Murtagh Precast Westmeath Senior Football Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 1-9 Shandonagh 0-3

In the final analysis it was far less stressful than anticipated as Mullingar Shamrocks comprehensively outplayed Shandonagh in this local Derby played in The Downs on Saturday evening. Marc Eivers was back from his Army duties and his return was significant.

A strong wind blowing downfield towards the Clubhouse in the superb venue favoured Mullingar Shamrocks in the first half who tagged on two points within the opening minute – the first a difficult free converted with his usual efficiency by Denis Corroon and the second from the Shandonagh restart scored by Jordan Warde. It’s always a good idea for free takers to avail of the mark when the occasion presents itself and in the 10th minute, Dean Moore fielded high, called the mark and split the posts with his effort. A good effort from a free by Ryan Donnelly opened the Shandonagh scoring account in the 14th minute. It would be 40 minutes before Shandonagh registered another score.

The Shamrocks dominance reflected in winning possession from 9 of the first 12 Shandonagh restarts was not reflected on the scoreboard as the wides tally accumulated (9 in the first half). However, we eventually found the target. Paddy Fagan pointed from long range; Alan Cashman, making a welcome return from injury, pointed after Denis Corroon provided the foundation; Denis pointed a free in the 20th minute, and ten minutes later Paddy Fagan landed another long range missile before Damien Maher called for the interval break with the scoreboard reading 0-7 to 0-1 in favour of the boys in green.

Shamrocks controlled the play in a low-scoring second half. Dean Moore pointed after 10 minutes. Conn O’Hanlon, Jordan Warde and Dean Moore combined to create an opportunity that was volleyed over by Ollie MacNamara for a spectacular score (0-9 to 0-1). In between Shandonagh’s best efforts were foiled by two brilliant Eoin Doran saves – the first from a short restart that went wrong, the second from a blistering Brain Killian shot. Shandonagh were limited to two points scored in the final minutes by Brian Kavanagh, one from a free and the final effort from play in the final minutes.

Shamrocks finished on a spectacular note: a Shandonagh shot dropped short and was collected by Eoin Doran who found Efe Siode and for the only time in the game Efe was given leave of absence from his primary defensive duties. Efe carried the ball the length of the field and eventually offloaded to Jordan Warde. Jordan’s finish was sublime as he chipped a beauty over Conor Craig in the Shandonagh goal.

The victory was important and revives our chances of reaching the knock-out stages of the championship. It’s the equivalent of knock-out football now in our remaining three games against Athlone, Garrycastle and Moate All-Whites. If we win all three, we will almost certainly qualify for a quarter-final spot.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Eoin Doran; Marc Eivers, Efe Siode, David Coyne; Killian Daly [Brendan O’Reilly], David Gavin, Conn O’Hanlon; Denis Corroon (0-2), Paddy Fagan (0-2) [John O’Reilly]; Alan Cashman (0-1) [Emmet Walsh], Conor O’Brien, Zach Aherne; Dean Moore (0-2), Jordan Warde (1-1), Ollie MacNamara (0-1)[Ryan Blundell].