Draw the fair result in entertaining Westmeath county town derby

The pre-game odds favoured a draw in this highly anticipated town derby between St Loman’s, Mullingar and Mullingar Shamrocks, and that’s exactly what prevailed at TEG Cusack Park on Sunday evening, with both sides passing up chances to claim maximum points in a pulsating encounter.

A draw was a fair result, though five minutes into the second half it looked far from likely, with an experienced and slick St Loman’s leading by eight (1-11 to 0-6), while Shamrocks had lost veteran talisman Denis Corroon to injury at the end of the first half.

However, some smart substitutions and astute positional changes brought Shamrocks back from the dead. Killian Mooney, who replaced Corroon, was a bundle of energy for the youthful Springfield men and Donnacha Maguire’s redeployment to the edge of the square proved pivotal.

Maguire had a hand in a goal for Efe Siode and then took his own with great determination, while scores from Dean Moore and some expert dead-ball efforts from goalkeeper Adam Buckley put David Martin’s troops into the lead with four minutes to go.

But St Loman’s equalised with a typical moment of brilliance from John Heslin and in the dying embers of this hugely entertaining game, both sides missed chances to win it.

St Loman’s got off the mark inside the first minute when TJ Cox kicked off his left just inside the arc, but Dean Moore levelled matters with a free minutes later before adding a second, cutting inside at the Dunnes Stores end to fire a score not dissimilar to Cox’s.

From there, the Saints took over and hit six points on the trot. Sam McCartan spotted a gap in the Shamrocks defence and shot over to equalise, before Heslin (a free), Kevin Regan (teed up by Mikey Weir) and Shane Dempsey (a curled effort) found their range.

On 13 minutes, with St Loman’s bossing the kickouts, Jack Geoghegan then made it 0-7 to 0-2 with a brilliantly executed two-pointer from the terrace side.

After a lull, Ty Masterson battled his way to a badly needed score for Shamrocks on 18 minutes. With both Heslin and McCartan going short with two-point at the other end, Shamrocks netminder Adam Buckley kicked a magnificent two-point free to narrow the gap to two.

On 22 minutes, Shamrocks almost took the lead when a dipping effort from the excellent Alex Sheerin was swatted away by St Loman’s keeper Jason Daly.

Mikey Weir then extended the Blues’ lead to three with a fine point and moments later, TJ Cox found the inrushing Shane Dempsey with a clever handpass over his shoulder. The angle might have been too acute for a goal but instead of fisting over, Dempsey went for power and blasted wide.

Shamrocks punished this with a lovely point from Sheerin after a patient build-up, but then St Loman’s underlined their overall supremacy with the game’s first goal on 27 minutes. John Heslin did well to win a long ball from Danny McCartan, leaving Efe Siode in his wake before planting a powerful shot past Adam Buckley.

Jack Geoghegan (combining with Mikey Weir) added another point for the Saints and on top of losing Corroon to a hamstring injury, Shamrocks trailed by 1-9 to 0-6 at the break.

Paddy Dowdall’s charges went further ahead with a brace of frees from Heslin after the restart, and a rout looked on the cards. But from 35 minutes the game took a radical – and for the neutrals, welcome – change of direction.

Dean Moore went short kicking a point off his left but Donnacha Maguire, now operating at full forward with Shane Ormsby moved further outfield, got his paw to the dipping ball. Jason Daly parried before Efe Siode stuck out his fist and netted. After a brief and perhaps unnecessary confab from officials, the goal was allowed to stand.

Alex Sheerin followed up immediately with a lovely score for a resurgent Shamrocks to leave just four between the sides, and while TJ Cox responded for St Loman’s, on 41 minutes Shamrocks found the net for a second time.

It was a similar story to the first goal, with Maguire causing havoc in the middle of a panicky St Loman’s full back line. This time, the delivery came from Killian Mooney and while Maguire’s initial fisted effort was blocked by Daly, he did well to claim the rebound and smash to the net.

St Loman’s responded with a couple of wides before Shamrocks upped the ante courtesy of a ‘45’ from Adam Buckley. With the Blues continuing to wilt at the back, Dean Moore then equalised with a free.

John Heslin missed a couple of chances at the other end but on 50 minutes, Sam McCartan converted a ‘45’ to briefly stem the tide. On 53 minutes, however, Maguire almost conjured a third goal for Shamrocks when he squared for Dean Moore, but his fisted finish was intercepted on the line by St Loman’s full back Darragh O’Keeffe.

The Blues had little time to breathe, with Shamrocks taking a deserved lead two minutes later. Sub Kelvin Reilly was yellow-carded for fouling Shamrocks’ Ty Masterson on the terrace side and, once again, goalkeeper Adam Buckley obliged with a two-point free, this time from a more awkward angle.

The Saints needed a quick response and it came after the resumption of play, when Shane Dempsey showed great vision to pick out John Heslin. With his back to goal, the Westmeath veteran turned his marker and kicked a difficult equaliser.

With time running out, both sides had a couple of chances to win it. Shortly after Heslin’s point, a big gap opened down the St Loman’s left flank and Brian Guerin went galloping through the breach. The Cork native had a goal on but went for a point and, incredibly, fisted wide.

With 59 minutes gone, Shamrocks had another chance to put the game to bed when they won a ‘45’ while hunting a goal. However, Buckley couldn’t emulate his earlier heroics and shot wide.

A final twist loomed when St Loman’s turned the ball over in stoppage time and ran down the clock before TJ Cox went for the coup de grâce. But his kick went to the right of the Shamrocks goal, and the spoils were shared.

Scorers

St Loman’s: J Heslin 1-4 (0-3f), J Geoghegan 0-3 (1 2pt), S McCartan (1 ‘45’) and TJ Cox 0-2 each, K Regan, S Dempsey and M Weir 0-1 each. Mullingar Shamrocks: A Buckley 0-5 (1 ‘45’, 2 2ptf), D Moore 0-3 (2f), E Siode and D Maguire 1-0 each, A Sheerin 0-2, T Masterson 0-1.

St Loman’s, Mullingar Jason Daly; Darragh O’Keeffe, Nathan Lally, Ciaran Smyth; Sam McCartan, David Whelan, Jack Geoghegan; Sean Flanagan, Eoghan Hogan; Mikey Weir, Kevin Regan, Danny McCartan; TJ Cox, John Heslin, Shane Dempsey. Subs used: Kelvin Reilly for Lally (50), Neilie Duffy for Regan (52).

Mullingar Shamrocks Adam Buckley; Adam Glynn, Dillon Matthews, Brendan O’Reilly; Efe Siode, Ty Masterson, Brian Guerin; Donnacha Maguire, David Gavin; Criostóir Ormsby, Denis Corroon, Alan Cashman; Dean Moore, Shane Ormsby, Alex Sheerin. Subs used: Killian Mooney for Corroon (inj., 30+1), Ben Sheerin for Cashman (h-t).

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