Pumas taste away defeat in Athlone

Despite causing plenty of problems for the Willow Park Celtic defence, Mullingar Athletic Pumas tasted defeat when they made the journey to Athlone on Saturday morning.

Two goals inside the final 15 minutes put the gloss on this deserved but hard-earned win for Willow Park Celtic over the Pumas at Kilmacuagh, Athlone.

Though full value for their win, Willow had goalkeeper Ryan Digan to thank for his numerous goal-saving interventions throughout the game.

Starting the game with considerable energy, Willow put the Mullingar goal under some early pressure and very nearly struck the first blow when Ryan Barkey saw his low shot touched around the post by Jack Molloy.

They were given their first warning of Mullingar's threat on eight minutes when Mark Sugrue skipped past two defenders from the right wing before forcing a save from Digan in the Willow goal.

After Junior Miranda set up Conor Fennell for another Willow chance, Digan was again called into action down the other end, this time saving from Sean Plunkett on a breakaway move.

Darren Kenny looked sure to open the scoring for Willow on 25 minutes only to see his progress halted by a superb saving tackle from Ronan Byrne.

As the rain began to fall heavier, a first-half stalemate looked likely. But the game's first goal did arrive with a minute left in the half when Jamie Nicholson found Kenny unmarked in the penalty area and the midfielder found the bottom left corner of Molloy's net with the minimum of fuss - a fine finish.

There was still time for Digan to pull off the best save of the day, pouncing low to his right to tip away a Pablo Santofima header that looked certain to find the net.

The saves continued to roll in the second half for Digan as he first used his feet to deny Greene in a one-on-one situation on 50 minutes. Then he did brilliantly to parry away a Mark Sugrue effort after the Mullingar player had spun his man in the box.

The Athlone side had their chances too with Nicholson and Fennell both going close, on 53 and 56 minutes respectively, as they looked to close out the game.

And with 14 minutes left on the clock, the decisive moment arrived when Willow were awarded a free kick just outside the Mullingar side’s penalty area. Brian Finneran stepped up and his perfect left-footed effort left the 'keeper rooted to the spot and the ball nestled perfectly in the corner.

From there, the Pumas never looked likely to get anything from the game and the final blow was struck in injury time when Miranda capped a fine display of forward play with an exquisite through ball finding the run of Conor Fennell. Molloy rushed from his line to close the angle but Fennell showed impressive composure by waiting for the Mullingar keeper to make his move before coolly rolling the ball past him at the near post to seal the win.

Player of the match

Ryan Digan (Willow Park Celtic). Although there were some eye-catching displays further up the pitch from Junior Miranda (in particular), Jamie Nicholson and Christy Joyce, Willow's netminder gets the nod for a string of fine saves and blocks while the game was still very much in the balance. Without his interventions, there could have been a very different outcome to this game. For Mullingar, midfielder Sean Plunkett certainly looks one for the future while, up front, Sean Greene caused the Willow defence problems all afternoon.

Willow Park Celtic

Ryan Digan, Sean Fortune, Brian Finneran, Patrick Hussey, Ryan Barkey, Loba Collins, Conor Fennell, Darren Kenny, Jamie Nicholson, Junior Miranda, Christy Joyce. Subs used: Shane Doran for Miranda (31 mins); Joe McHugh for Fennell (31); J Miranda for Doran (54), C Fennell for McHugh (54), J McHugh for Joyce (80).

Mullingar Athletic Pumas

Jack Molloy, Rian Market, Ronan Byrne, Pablo Santofima, Michael Farrell, Mark Sugrue, Hugh O'Gara, Sean Plunkett, Andrew Gavigan, Sean Greene, Adam McDonald. Sub used: Nathan Massey for McDonald (H-T).

Referee: Paul Tone.