Charles’ spot kick wraps up Town’s great comeback win

A wonderful comeback by the home team in Dalton Park last Sunday morning saw Mullingar Town emerge with full points after a thoroughly entertaining CCFL Senior Division clash with Ballinahown.

The red and black-clad outfit exerted most of the early pressure, but shots from Shane O’Keeffe and Tristan Finane were comfortably saved by visiting ‘keeper Barry Rowan. Also, Sam Watkin volleyed narrowly over the crossbar in the fifth minute following a Darragh Kiernan corner kick.

In the 12th minute, Ballinahown took the lead – and in some style at that – when Lee Scanlon picked out Terry Byrne, who turned superbly and rifled the ball past Adrian Rapacki.

Some nine minutes later, they almost doubled their advantage in a soft fashion following a corner, but there was to be no denying Byrne his second in the 25th minute when he decisively powered the ball home with his head at the end of another excellent Scanlon delivery.

David Dyer (from a free kick), Watkin (with a backward header), and Finane (whose shot was blocked), all came close to halving the deficit, but their hopes of a dramatic comeback were hugely boosted in the last action of the first moiety, their incessant pressure paying off when Kiernan superbly found the net from the edge of the box. However, they still trailed 1-2 at the interval.

The sides were on level terms in the 52nd minute, good work by Davy Mimnagh and Kiernan enabling Dan Beya to display nimble footwork inside the parallelogram before firing the ball low to the net. Beya was denied what would have been a great individual goal in the 57th by a fine save from Rohan.

In the 69th minute, Paul Reid and O’Keeffe combined on the right wing and the latter’s low cross was met by the inrushing Finane who netted from close range. With the 90 minutes just elapsed, a push on the hard-working Beya by a pink and black-clad defender correctly resulted in a Mullingar penalty.

Stephen Barr’s protests earned him a second yellow card and an early shower. Skipper Jason Charles coolly converted from the ensuing spot kick to round off a memorable comeback by the home side.

Mullingar Town: Adrian Rapacki, Paul Reid, Davy Mimnagh, David Dyer, Jason Charles, Jamie Loran, Shane O’Keeffe, Sam Watkin, Tristan Finane, Dan Beya, Darragh Kiernan. Subs used: Brandon Duggan for Beya (90 + 2), Colm McGowan for O’Keeffe (90 + 5).

Ballinahown: Barry Rowan, Sean Cloherty, Cathal Mannion, Stephen Barr, Brian Gill, Ciaran O’Reilly, Luke Dully, David Harrington, Lee Scanlon, Terry Byrne, Darren Carberry. Subs used: Michael Monaghan for Scanlon (61), Craig O’Grady for Dully (70), Neil Scally for Mannion (73), Donagh Prendergast for Scally (inj., 77), Charlie Healy for Cloherty (77).

Ref: Paul Malone.