Athletic let off the hook by Mountmellick

An understrength Mullingar Athletic were fortunate to escape with a share of the CCL Senior Division points in dull and wintry conditions at Gainstown.Bottom-of-the-table Mountmellick United belied their lowly league status with a very spirited performance, which really should have seen them travel back to County Laois as winners of this entertaining floodlit encounter.A tricky crossfield wind threatened to spoil this tie but overall it was a decent game of football, played in a good spirit throughout, with the only black mark being a very brief flare-up with around a quarter of anhour remaining in the contest. This resulted in a Mountmellick player being dismissed on a second yellow card (and certainly should have resulted in one of his team-mates receiving a straight red). Given that the Laois lads had to play out the remainder of the game with only ten men, in addition to which they were forced to use their only sub very early in the game, it makes their performance all the more meritorious. However, they missed a plethora of gilt-edged chances over the course of the game, including two "gimmes" when one-on-one with the Athletic goalie and the Mullingar side can consider themselves very fortunate to take a point from the game.Athletic dominated the early exchanges but Mountmellick always looked dangerous on the break and twice came close to opening the scoring.However, Mullingar took the lead in the 19th minute when a cross from Shane Archibald was misjudged somewhat by the visitors" custodian Martin Forde, allowing Joey Broderick to head the ball to the net from close range. Twice in quick succession, Mountmellick"s Shane O"Connell came close to equalising, with a lot of good ball coming in from the right wing. In the 32nd minute, a superb mazy run from Niall Flynn resulted in the number 9 being fouled some 25 metres from goal. Flynn dusted himself down and proceeded to strike a great free kick which hit the side netting, with the Mountmellick defence beaten all ends up.A half-hearted penalty claim from the visitors was then rightly waved away, but the Laois men bagged a deserved equaliser a minute from the end of normal time. As it transpired, it was a very fortuitous score, with Robbie Hibbitts" 35-metre free kick from near the touchline on the clubhouse side of the ground mishandled by Shane Weir and the ball ended up nestling in the Athletic net. It almost got worse for the home "keeper before the break when he was caught in possession as he played the ball along the ground in his own penalty area, but Shane Dowling failed to avail of the gift.There was an unusual start to the second half with assistant referee Brendan Cruise taking charge of the whistle, original referee Paul Murphy reverting to a linesman"s role after damaging his achilles. One of Mr Cruise"s first tasks was to point to the halfway line when a wonderfully-flighted free kick from Niall Flynn was met by a brave diving header from Stephen Markey who flashed the ball to the net from six metres out.Soon afterwards, Robbie Hibbitts should have equalised before both goalkeepers were called into action - Martin Forde, in particular, doing well for the visitors on a couple of occasions. Dwayne Fenane spurned a glorious chance to level the tie when his powerfully-hit shot from close range flew over the Athletic crossbar.However, the equaliser eventually came when fine approach play from Shane Dowling and Shane O"Connell teed the ball up for Robbie Hibbitts to score his second, sweeping the ball home from less than ten metres out. Both sides had chances to go in front, Mountmellick undoubtedly looking the more likely winners at this juncture. In the 32nd minute, a flashpoint occurred in the Mountmellick goal area and "keeper Martin Forde was very lucky to stay on the pitch, escaping with a yellow card. His colleague, Mark Grennan also saw yellow but, as it was his second, he was forced to take an early shower. Shane Dowling missed a wonderful chance to wrap up the points for the visitors but again Lady Luck smiled on Liam McGovern"s men.Ironically, Athletic had the ball in the net in the final seconds, but the referee had clearly blown for an infringement well before the "goal".On the night, Athletic wore blue to allow the visitors to wear their normal yellow jerseys, but it was more than the Mullingar gear which was off-colour in a game when they certainly used up more than their fair share of "get-out-of-jail" cards.Mullingar Athletic: Shane Weir, Claudio Nardone, Willie Coyne, James Fagan, Mark Syron, Joey Broderick, Darragh Kiernan, David O"Riordan, Niall Flynn, Shane Archibald, Stephen Markey. Subs: Conor McEntee (for Archibald, 59 mins), Alan Cashman (for Fagan, inj, 75 mins), Paul Radford (for Kiernan, 82 mins).Mountmellick United: Martin Forde, Alan Reddin, Jason Fitzgibbon, David Forde, Niall Lynch, Dwayne Fenane, Mark Grennan, Shane O"Connell, Robbie Hibbitts, Edward Melia, Shane Dowling. Sub: Kieran Carroll (for Melia,injured 18 mins).Referee: Paul Murphy (half-time replacement, Brendan Cruise).