Warde’s classy goal seals important win for Shamrocks
Mullingar Shamrocks 1-9, Shandonagh 0-3
Gerry Buckley
Mullingar Shamrocks picked up a vital brace of Westmeath senior football championship points with a nine-point win over a very disappointing Shandonagh outfit in a contest which never reached any great heights in The Downs last Saturday evening.
While the actual outcome was not a huge shock, the ease with which the men in green and white won was, coming as it did against a Shandonagh side which had started their campaign impressively by defeating Garrycastle. A return of just three points, all from one player, and including just a single score from play – and that in the 58th minute – represents a poor effort. While the Mullingar men seem unlikely to be serious challengers for the Flanagan Cup, they were still considerably the better side on the night, and their decisive late goal was a thing of beauty.
The winners had the aid of a strong wind blowing towards the clubhouse end of the resplendent complex. Veteran midfielder Denis Corroon, who continues to be a key man for the former county champions, opened the scoring from a tricky free in the first minute. Jordan Warde immediately doubled their lead following a poor kickout. Conor Craig then pulled off a fine save from Conor O’Brien, at the expense of an unconverted ‘45’. The lively Dean Moore made it 0-3 to 0-0 in the ninth minute from a 35-metre mark.
Wides at either end preceded the first score for Kevin Hickey’s charges, Brian Kavanagh slotting over a free from the ground in the 14th minute. Much of the football was scrappy at this juncture, with misplaced passes and weak shooting abounding. Moore almost got in for a Shamrocks’ goal before his colleague, the strong-running Paddy Fagan, kicked a fine point. Alan Cashman dissected the posts in style in the 25th minute at the end of a laboured move. Corroon doubled his tally from frees, and Fagan did likewise from open play on the half-hour mark, leaving Mullingar Shamrocks ahead by 0-7 to 0-1 at the break.
DORAN SAVE
The start of the second half provided very little entertainment for the small attendance. Kavanagh was wide from a ‘45’, and Moore kicked a fine point moments later at the other end in the 39th minute. After a poor kickout from Eoin Doran, the ‘keeper made amends with an instinctive save from Tom Molloy in the 44th minute. The ensuing ‘45’ was taken quickly by Kavanagh, and no score accrued.
After Conn O’Hanlon was denied a goal, Oliver MacNamara fly-kicked the rebound over the Shandonagh crossbar. Doran again came to the rescue of Enda Monaghan’s troops when he kept out a low shot by sub Brendan Killian in the 54th minute. This time, Kavanagh pointed the resultant ‘45’. The same player completed his hat-trick of points for the navy and blue-clad outfit with two minutes of normal time remaining. Ironically, a mediocre match ended memorably when great work by Efe Siode teed up Warde for a lovely dinked shot past Craig in added-time.
Scorers – Mullingar Shamrocks: J Warde 1-1, D Corroon (2f), D Moore (1m), P Fagan 0-2 each, O MacNamara, A Cashman 0-1 each. Shandonagh: B Kavanagh 0-3 (1f, 1‘45’).
Mullingar Shamrocks: Eoin Doran; Marc Eivers, Efe Siode, David Coyne; Killian Daly, Davy Gavin, Conn O’Hanlon; Denis Corroon, Conor O’Brien; Alan Cashman, Paddy Fagan, Zach Aherne; Dean Moore, Jordan Warde, Ollie MacNamara. Subs used: Brendan O’Reilly for Daly (inj., 49), Emmet Walsh for Fagan (inj., 55), John O’Reilly for Cashman (55), Ryan Blundell for MacNamara (60).
Shandonagh: Conor Craig; Maitiú Scully, Daire Conway, Cathal Craig; Adam Treanor, Daniel Scahill, Gareth Carr; Cormac Gordon, Caelum Faughnan; Luke Tynan, Darren McWade, Alan Hickey; Tom Molloy, Ryan Donnelly, Brian Kavanagh. Subs used: Simon Carr for McWade (h-t), Brendan Killian for Gordon (40), Cormac Coyne for Hickey (42), Aaron Flanagan for Tynan (45), Darren Mnguni for Cathal Craig (55).
Ref: Damien Maher (Ballynacargy).