Shay Murtagh Precast Senior Football Championship: Mullingar Shamrocks 0-14 Tyrrellspass 1-15
A disappointing end to what has been a satisfactory senior championship campaign that secured promotion to Section A for the 2025 season and guarantees a campaign without the threat of relegation. We are past that stage in our period of transition now and we move on to the next phase of our development.
Our quarter-final against Tyrrellspass began slowly (and 45 minutes behind the scheduled time which was no help to anyone involved) with possession closely guarded by both sides. In the sixth minute, Denis Corroon pointed a free but Tyrrellspass responded directly from the restart with a point by Evan Connell. Dean Moore from a mark restored Shamrocks lead. A fine run by Matt O’Shea created the opportunity for our third point as John O’Reilly and Denis combined to set up Dean Moore who provided the finishing touches to the move. Kieran Geraghty pointed after collecting an Eoin Doran punched clearance and Cathal Dunne added a third point to equalise. A fine effort by Conor Slevin off the left boot edged Tyrrellspass into a lead that was short lived as Denis Corroon pointed after John O’Reilly’s shot was saved by Jack Hyland. Denis collected the rebound and pointed. Two unanswered points by Kieran Geraghty established a lead for Tyrrellspass. Dean Moore called a second mark and again pointed; the mark required the execution of a fine piece of skill by Deano as he collected the ball close to his toes. A Denis Corroon pointed free brought the sides level in the twenty-fifth minute (0-6 each). Evan Connell pointed as Conor Slevin was sidelined for the obligatory 10 minutes following the appearance of a black card. In the three minutes before the interval whistle Tyrrellspass added another point courtesy of a Kieran Geraghty point to enter the dressing rooms with an 0-8 to 0-6 lead.
Shamrocks began the second half with a new sense of purpose and scored points courtesy of Denis Corroon (from the throw-in) and Jordan Warde. Shane Ormsby, playing like a man who has been playing senior all his life, was instrumental in both scores winning possession from the throw in and again from Joe Hyland’s restart. Denis hit a beauty of a point from play that was followed by a Kieran Geraghty equalizing free. Shamrocks pushed two points ahead (0-11 to 0-9) courtesy of Dean Moore and Paddy Fagan, the latter high fielded a sideline kick and turned and pointed from a distance, and scored what was Shamrocks fifth point in a ten minutes spell during which Tyrrellspass was outscored 0-5 to 0-1.
The scoring rate wasn’t to last. From Joe Hyland’s restart, Tyrrellspass worked the ball up-field and Peter Clarke pointed. Dean Moore restored the two point lead with a brilliant kick with the outside of the boot kicked at pace for one of the scores of the night. Again from the restart, Tyrrellspass moved the ball into the scoring zone and David Lynam pointed. Nigel Harte kicked the equalizer in the twentieth minute.
In the final ten minutes, Tyrrellspass secured the vital scores. Dean Moore pointed to give Shamrocks the lead for the last time after Joe Hyland saved from Denis Corroon. Another Kieran Geraghty pointed free equalized in the twenty-first minute (0-13 each). Two minutes later in was all-over. Evan Connell’s spectacular effort sailed over the crossbar to give Tyrrellspass the lead. Shamrocks gained possession from the restart and a move began that sent Brendan O’Reilly through on goal but once again Joe Hyland anticipated the shot and collected cleanly and began the move that ended with Evan Connell shooting to the net for the game’s only goal. Seven minutes of scoreless play followed before Nigel Harte extended the Tyrrellspass lead to five points. The final score of the day belonged to Killian Daly but it was too little too late and our championship campaign was all over.
It is important to record that we depart this championship in a much stronger position than we had at the beginning of the campaign. We thank all those involved especially Enda Monaghan and his management team and the playing panel who worked so hard all season.
Mullingar Shamrocks: Eoin Doran; Marc Eivers, David Gavin, Dillon Matthews; Conn O’Hanlon, (Killian Daly, 0-1), Matt O’Shea, Brendan O’Reilly (Davy Coyne); Conor O’Brien (Lorcan Smyth), Shane Ormsby; John O’Reilly, Patrick Fagan (0-1), Brian Guerin; Dean Moore (0-6), Denis Corroon (0-5), Jordan Warde (0-1).
