Tubberclair denied by late goals as replay now needed

MJS Building & Development Westmeath U17 Division 1 FC Final

Tubberclair 2-9 Mullingar Shamrocks 2-9

By Gerry Buckley

With normal time elapsed in last Sunday’s curtain-raiser, played in pleasant conditions in TEG Cusack Park, the only question seemed to be what would Tubberclair’s winning margin be against Mullingar Shamrocks in the Westmeath minor football final.

However, an unanswered 2-1 in added-time earned a draw for the local side, who could actually have snatched a Houdini-like victory had one of their goal-scorers Ryan Kelly slotted over a tricky free with time all but up. As it transpired, the outstanding full forward was narrowly wide, and Tubberclair deservedly live to fight another day.

With exactly a minute elapsed, Adam Buckley pulled off a great save from Thomas Farrell (following a great run by Daire O’Connor) at the expense of an unconverted ‘45’. The latter, scorer of 2-8 in the semi-final, nudged Tubberclair ahead from a fourth-minute free.

Wind-assisted Shamrocks edged ahead by the 11th minute courtesy of converted frees by Conor Heffernan (left-footed) and Ryan Kelly (right-footed), either side of a brace of Tubberclair misses, but fine points from play by Taylor Slevin and Farrell had Danny Sammon’s men in front by 0-3 to 0-2 at the end of the opening quarter.

Two fabulous frees by Kelly (the first of them from close to the terrace sideline) regained the lead for the boys in green and white. Gavin Pierce was wide after displaying great skill en route to goal, before Kealen Connell equalized at the other end with a low-trajectory point.

The teams exchanged points during the time remaining in the first moiety – Pierce benefiting from fine play by Paul Keating to score in the 28th minute, with Slevin availing of wonderful skill by O’Connor to point (when a goal very much beckoned) in the fourth minute of added-time. The sides were tied at 0-5 apiece at the interval.

The talented O’Connor (from a ‘45’) and Callum Rigney (at the end of a patient move) traded points in the opening five minutes of the second half. However, the South Westmeath team took control of the contest over the ensuing four minutes, with a point from lively wing back Sean Keegan preceding a rapid-fire brace of goals from the boots of Slevin (a daisy-cutter from 20 metres) and a soccer-style three-pointer, set up by Sean Whittaker and finished by Paul Keegan.

Cristóir Ormsby (son of team manager Tom) was prominent for the Mullingar lads since his introduction as they kept just about in touch with a routine free conversion by Kelly.

The green and gold-clad outfit were wasteful at this juncture, but when they outscored their opponents by two points (a superb O’Connor score and a casual point by sub Ruairí Dolan when a goal was on the cards) to one (Kelly from play after a great Heffernan delivery) by the 54th minute, their seven-point lead (2-9 to 0-8) prompted the management to give some token time on the pitch to three subs.

However, to their great credit, Mullingar Shamrocks continued to plug away manfully after a minimum of four minutes’ injury-time was announced.

Great work by Kelly teed up Heffernan for a superb shot to the roof of the net in the first added minute.

Kelly followed up with a classy point, and when Pierce’s teasing delivery was not dealt with after the four minutes had elapsed, an alert Kelly slapped the ball home from point-blank range. The same player almost secured what would have an astonishing – and scarcely deserved – win from a difficult 30-metre free in what was the last action of a pulsating game.

Man of the match: Taylor Slevin (Tubberclair). The midfielder was in the thick of the action throughout, and he kicked 1-2 from play for good measure.

Key moment: Tubberclair sub Ruairí Dolan took a point when a goal was very much on shortly after his introduction late in the contest, probably assuming – like virtually everybody present – that the Paddy Walsh Cup was already in the bag.

Scorers – Tubberclair: T Slevin 1-2, D O’Connor 0-3 (1f, 1‘45’), P Keegan 1-0, T Farrell, S Keegan, R Dolan, K Connell 0-1 each. Mullingar Shamrocks: R Kelly 1-6 (0-4f), C Heffernan 1-1, C Rigney, G Pierce 0-1 each.

Tubberclair: Kailin Blessing; Daire Burke, Caimin Dolan, Liam Staunton; Sean Keegan, Tom Bourke, Jack O’Donnell; Kealan Connell, Taylor Slevin; Thomas Farrell, Paul Keegan, Matthew Lynch; Sean Whittaker, Louis Clayburn, Daire O’Connor. Subs used: Eoin Sheeran for Clayburn (35 mins), Ruairí Dolan for Sheeran (inj., 51), James Connaughton for Lynch (59), Sean O’Neill for Whittaker (59), Stephen O’Connor for Burke (60).

Mullingar Shamrocks: Adam Buckley; Ben Sheerin, Ty Masterson, Adam Glynn; James Flynn, Peter Finch, Ben McNamee; Ameen Hacini, Donnacha Maguire; Paul Keating, Conor Heffernan, Callum Rigney; Gavin Pierce, Ryan Kelly, Alex Sheerin. Subs used: Cristóir Ormsby for Sheerin (32 mins), Padraig Casey for Keating (50).

Referee: Alfie Devine (Castlepollard).