Sham-rocked: Leech and co run riot in second half

Coralstown/Kinnegad 3-20, Mullingar Shamrocks 2-13

by Paul Hughes

In the first leg of a forgettable Sunday for Mullingar’s town teams against their N4/M4 rivals, Coralstown/Kinnegad ran riot against Mullingar Shamrocks with a second-half display for the ages in this Shay Murtagh Precast SFC clash in TEG Cusack Park.

After a slow start, a real hum-dinger of a clash developed as Shamrocks led by 1-9 to 1-7 at the short whistle, with a goal from Paddy Fagan cancelling out an earlier major from Kinnegad’s Ciaran Daly.

More of the same was hoped for in the second half but nobody expected the massacre that followed. An injury to Fagan dealt Shamrocks a huge blow, with the effect doubled moments later by a goal from Coralstown/Kinnegad’s superb top scorer Dan Leech. From there, the Mullingar men fell apart.

By the time Callum Cruise added a thrilling third goal for Jack Cooney’s charges (57 minutes), they had outscored Shamrocks by a whopping 2-12 to 0-2 in less than a half an hour of play. A late goal from Mullingar’s Ryan Kelly took some of the dirty look off the scoreline, but scarcely so.

Kinnegad have got a lot of credit for their defensive nous in recent years but on Sunday they outlined their attacking credentials in style, with Leech and Cruise forming a pacy and clinical partnership that could push the Reds on to a long-awaited SFC breakthrough.

For Shamrocks, meanwhile, it’s back to the drawing board, with their flagging campaign not helped by mounting injuries. This is the second defeat on the trot for Micheál Burke’s troops, and with forward Brian Guerin out with a long-term injury, the Springfield men also went into Sunday’s fixture with Efe Siode ruled out before the throw-in. To make matters worse, they lost Fagan and teak-tough defender Marc Eivers to further knocks.

After an uninspiring tit-for-tat first quarter, Coralstown/Kinnegad led 0-4 to 0-3. Shamrocks’ Killian Daly opened the scoring, but points from Darren Giles (a free), Eoghan Bracken, Brían Cooney and Dan Leech cancelled out this and other scores from Denis Corroon and Paddy Fagan.

Corroon always has something in his locker to lift an occasion, and on 18 minutes he put Mullingar back in front with a superb two-pointer off the outside of his right boot.

Shamrocks built on this foundation, with Daragh Daly extending the lead with a good score after an attacking run from full back Dillon Matthews, while Fagan notched his second point with a Garryowen-esque hoofed effort moments later.

The Mullingar contingent looked comfortable, but Coralstown/Kinnegad bounced back on 25 minutes when a handpass from Darren Giles found Ciaran Daly storming through a dazed Shamrocks defence, and he levelled matters with a low, left-footed finish.

A minute later, the Reds took the lead when Rory Cole squared for Callum Cruise to fire over the bar with a potential goal on. At the other end, Dean Moore equalised for Shamrocks but with half time approaching, Giles restored Kinnegad’s lead with a free.

In stoppage time, there was more drama. Shamrocks’ Conor O’Brien worked the ball to Dean Moore on the left flank, and he did well to hold onto it while cutting inside along the end line before squaring to Paddy Fagan. From about ten yards out, Fagan smashed to the net, and the men in green led once again (1-8 to 1-6).

Not satisfied with that, Shamrocks attacked again and Dean Moore could have had added a second goal, but his powerful shot went over the bar. At the other end, Darren Giles converted a free and after an exciting finish to the half, Kinnegad trailed by two.

The Reds emerged in confident fashion after the restart and, two minutes in, they were on level terms after an excellent two-pointer from Ciaran Daly. Dillon Matthews, on one of his attacking sorties, restored Shamrocks’ lead for a moment but Dan Leech negated this with his second point.

Leech’s score came moments after Shamrocks talisman Paddy Fagan left the field with an injury, a massive blow for the Mullingar men and a herald of coming woe. The floodgates opened from there, and on 38 minutes Shamrocks were caught flat-footed and a solo run from Conor Callaghan split the defence. Unselfishly, Callaghan shipped to Dan Leech, who netted from close range.

Three Kinnegad points followed the goal, courtesy of Darren Giles, Danny Woods and Leech, with the momentum broken only briefly by Dean Moore’s third point for Shamrocks.

But with the Mullingar men being torn asunder in all sectors, the rout quickly resumed. Callum Cruise divided the posts on 45 minutes after the Reds hit Shamrocks on the counter, and within as many minutes, they added four more points from Leech (2), Brían Cooney (on the rebound, after his initial shot smashed the frame of the goal) and Eoghan Bracken. In the meantime, Shamrocks’ misery was compounded by Marc Eivers’ withdrawal through injury.

On 54 minutes, Ciaran Daly thought he had notched his second goal, and Kinnegad’s third, when he swatted the ball to the net after a pass from Callaghan. However, it was disallowed due to a square ball infringement.

Callum Cruise subsequently tacked on a free and on 57 minutes, the third goal finally arrived. With Shamrocks at sixes and sevens defensively, Dan Leech played an inch-perfect ball into the right corner, which Shamrocks goalkeeper Ross Corroon came out to collect. However, he was beaten for pace by Cruise who, drawing from his well of soccer experience, beat the goalkeeper with a deft flick, and the Mullingar men could only watch helplessly as the ball rolled into the net off the upright.

Kinnegad now led by 14 (3-19 to 1-11) and Shamrocks battled hard in the dying embers to eat into this deficit. Experienced sub Lorcan Smyth kicked a point before a quick 59th-minute move involving Brendan O’Reilly and Denis Corroon was finished to the net by Ryan Kelly.

Brían Cooney (Kinnegad) and Dean Moore (Shamrocks, a free) then exchanged scores in stoppage time to bring down the curtain on a spectacular Coralstown/Kinnegad win, which the Reds hope will turbocharge their bid for a first Flanagan Cup win since 1996.

Scorers - Coralstown/Kinnegad: D Leech 1-5, C Cruise 1-3 (0-1f), C Daly Jr 1-2 (1 2pt), Darren Giles 0-4 (1f), B Cooney 0-3, E Bracken 0-2, D Woods 0-1. Mullingar Shamrocks: P Fagan 1-2, D Moore 0-4 (1f), D Corroon 0-3 (1 2pt), R Kelly 1-0, K Daly, D Daly, D Matthews and L Smyth 0-1 each.

Coralstown/Kinnegad: Shane Fleming; Podge Quinn, Danny Woods, Eoghan Bracken; Jason Macken, David Giles, Eoin O’Brien; Ciaran Daly (Jr), Darren Giles; Rory Cole, Brían Cooney, Conor Callaghan; Dan Leech, Jack Cole, Callum Cruise.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Ross Corroon; Adam Glynn, Dillon Matthews, Marc Eivers; Brendan O’Reilly, David Gavin, Killian Daly; Daragh Daly, Conor O’Brien; Conn O’Hanlon, Paddy Fagan, John O’Reilly; Ryan Kelly, Denis Corroon, Dean Moore. Subs used: Lorcan Smyth for Fagan (inj., 36), Donnacha Maguire for O’Brien (39), Shane Ormsby for O’Hanlon (43), Emmet Walsh for Eivers (inj., 48), Jordan Warde for K Daly (55).

Referee: Alan Coyne (Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall).