Atheltic stay on top with mixed display
Mullingar Athletic 2 - 0 Inny FC
Mullingar Atheltic retained their position at the head of the league table with this well merited, but far too unconvincing display against a gallant but shot-shy Inny FC in Gainstown on Sunday morning last.
Most local derbies have a bit of edge, and fire and brimstone but this never broke out as Athletic virtually dominated from start to finish, even though their scoring prowess left a lot to be desired. Inny FC defended manfully but offered little up top in terms of scoring chances and when they did, they wasted them, while at times Athletic butchered theirs to the point where one wondered would they come out with the victory. But the two points were all that mattered and two excellently taken Stephen Cleary goals settled the affair here and kept the inexorable march to league honours going for the Mullingar side.
Athletic bossed the game from the off with the lion’s share of possession but very little end product and indeed it was Inny who had the first shot in anger when Cian Cheevers was well wide from a decent opportunity, but the home side began to penetrate and after 15 minutes Tyreke Creevy slipped a super ball to Stephen Cleary who rounded the keeper and slipped into an empty net for the opening goal. Cleary almost had another eight minutes later but was denied by Ruairi Coyne in the Inny goal. He was then was unlucky to see his shot go narrowly wide after another superb slot through from the impressive Ben Shaw.
Inny should have equalised 4 minutes from the break when Bobby Barry had a clear header in the box but didn’t connect properly and Cleary had the last chance of the half but failed to finish a wonderful Athletic move, and it was 1-0 to the home side at half-time.
The second half was really a damp squib with neither side creating many scorable chances but Athletic still dominating the possession stakes. Creevy, Dylan and McDonnell and Cleary had half chances but no more than that while Inny were really struggling up front and failed to make any impression on the score board as a result and the game meandered along at a very pedestrian pace. Athletic sub Kealan Behan was unlucky with a long-range shot but Athletic were finishing with a wet sail and McDonnell crossed a beauty on 76 minutes for Cleary to get the perfect touch to and make it 2-0. In essence, this was the killer blow as far as the Inny FC challenge was concerned.
From that point they struggled for any sort of cohesive play while Athletic simply stroked the ball around and Wesley Imafidoa and Jordan Awunah dominated at the back with some classy and assured defending, thwarting anything the visitors threw at them. The final real action came from a mazy run from another Athletic sub Ejiro Siode who almost scored a belter only to see his final shot go wide of the left hand post. It was a comfortable but workmanlike win for Athletic, but no more than that really. However, winning was the most important thing and they did that without any real fuss to be fair, always appearing to have an edge over their opponents.
Scorers - Mullingar Athletic: Stephen Cleary 2 (15 and 76 minutes).
Mullingar Athletic: Alan Colgan, Neilus Vitkauskas, Dylan McDonnell, Wesley Imafidoa, Jordan Awunah, Ryan Bitu, Daithi Martin, Ben Shaw, Stephen Cleary, Mohammed Hamid and Tyreke Creevy. Subs: Daniel McCann for Hamid (59 mins), Kealan Behan for Shaw (66 mins), Cian McGrath for Creevy (74 mins), Ejiro Siode for Vitkauskas (81 mins), Khaliq Anifowoshe for Cleary (89 mins).
Inny FC: Ruairi Coyne, Barry Murtagh, Darragh O’Leary, Dean McNicholas, Alan Devine, Jack Darcy, Alex Mills, Cian Cheevers, Bobby Barry, David Callaghan, Tatenda Chinyemba. Subs: Michael Carroll for McNicholas (15 mins), Eoghan Moore for Carroll (56 mins), Billy Buckley for Barry (74 mins), Jack Buckley for Mills (76 mins), Manus Branigan for Chinyemba (81 mins).
Referee: Willie Stokes.