A result that significantly increases our chances of reaching the play-off stages of the Shay Murtagh Precast Senior Football Championship. A quarter-final place will be the prize on offer for the winner of our next match v The Downs. For the loser all sorts of uncertainty will loom on the final day. The newcomer to the GAA community Jeopardy will be out and about on the day.
Killucan dominated the early stages and had the ball in the Shamrocks net after four minutes when Sami Clarke side footed Devin Hill’s pass past Eoin Doran. An aggressive run by Seán Leech drew a foul and Devin Hill pointed the resultant free to give Killucan a four-point lead. A good save from David Bryan foiled Jordan Warde’s goal attempt before Denis Corroon’s pointed free opened Shamrock’s account. Jordan Warde added a second point immediately from David Bryan’s restart. Killucan dominated but wasted a number of good scoring opportunities. A Brendan O’Reilly scoring attempt dropped short and was kept in play by Dean Moore. Conn O’Hanlon steamed through collected the ball and crashed it to the net to send Shamrocks into the lead (1-2 to 1-1). Eamonn Cunneen from a free equalized before the Shamrocks defence was unhinged and Devin Hill’s angled shot gave Killucan their second goal. A great save by Eoin Doran from a Seán Leech shot prevented a third Killucan goal. Paddy Fagan and Sami Clarke exchanged points. A great piece of play by Marc Eivers produced the most valuable turnover of the evening as the subsequent move ended with Shane Ormsby smashing the ball past David Bryan. The most important score of the evening sent the teams to the dressing rooms level at 2-3 each.
A Denis Corroon free on the restart edged Shamrocks ahead and was followed by a similar score from Eamonn Cunneen. It would be over twenty minutes before Killucan were to score again. In between points from Dean Moore (0-3) and Denis Corroon (0-2) stretched Shamrocks into a winning lead. Dean’s second point came directly from Eoin Doran’s restart with Killian Daly moving the ball upfield; Denis’s final point from a clever mark and the point kicked from a difficult angle. Dean got possession from the restart and completed the Shamrocks total. Small margins. Points from Darren Finn, Sami Clarke and Devin Hill completed the Killucan total before Niall Warde’s final whistle.
Mullingar Shamrocks: Eoin Doran; Marc Eivers, David Gavin, Dillon Matthews; Conn O’Hanlon [1-0] (Killian Daly), Matt O’Shea, Brendan O’Reilly; Conor O’Brien and Shane Ormsby (1-0); Brian Guerin, Patrick Fagan (0-1), John O’Reilly (Lorcan Smyth); Dean Moore (0-3), Denis Corroon (0-4), Jordan Warde (0-1).
