Under-16 Football Quarter Final: Mullingar Shamrocks 2-13 Killucan 3-9
Two Under-16 teams went toe-to-toe in a match that contained plenty of honest endeavor and required twenty minutes of extra-time to produce a winner. Shamrocks began sharply and Oisín Gavin pointed from an attack that developed directly from Mick Gordon’s throw-in. Ted Aherne added to the lead with a pointed free but Killucan retaliated with points from Aran Glynn and Donnacha Briody (0-2). Shamrocks worked a great goal from the restart that was finished by Oisín Gavin and began with a short kick to Seán Hickey. A Rory Kilmartin point extended the lead after great work by Rory McCaul. Two minutes later the sides were level again when Shamrocks keeper Szymon Kasprzak was lobbed by the Killucan midfielder Dean Gallagher. Shamrocks again pushed three points ahead with 0-2 from Ted Aherne (including a fine strike of a free kick off the ground) and a point by Hugo Corroon off a mark. A second Killucan goal from Luke Wallace brought the sides level again in the 23 minute. Almost immediately, Killucan banged in their third goal – this one scored by Dylan Dixon. Hugo Corroon was again on target with a point before Mick Gordon whistled for the interval with the scoreboard reading 3-3 to 1-7 in favour of Killucan.
Shamrocks attacked from the restart and Ted Aherne scored Shamrocks second goal and James Davitt added a point to give Shamrocks a two point lead (2-8 to 3-3). Eoin McGrath reduced the deficit and Donnacha Briody equalized from a free. Two points from Hugo Corroon were neutralized by like efforts from Eoin McGrath and Brooklyn Greville and after 44 minutes the teams were level. Seventeen minutes of scoreless play followed during which Killucan were reduced to fourteen players and dominated the play but some great defending and a litany of wides denied the team the winning scores.
In the failing daylight extra-time began with the scoreboard glowing in the background. Shamrocks edged ahead from the throw-in with a Hugo Keegan point from a mark; Donnacha Briody equalized from a free-kick (2-11 to 3-8). Two more points were exchanged as Colm Clinton, Rory McCaul and Hugo Corroon combined to create a scoring opportunity for Hugo who was fouled. Ted Aherne popped over the routine free but Brooklyn Greville responded with a great score – a point after a great solo run. Colm Clinton got through on goal but his shot was saved by Jack Heffernan and Hugo Corroon was unable to score from the rebound. It was left to Ted Aherne to secure the victory with a free kick that was far from routine. Ted did the business and pointed to give Shamrocks the victory by the minimum margin in a match between two very honest and evenly matched teams with the scoreboard reading 2-13 to 3-9.
Mullingar Shamrocks: Szymon Kasprzak; Harry Tilson, Seán Hickey, James Ryan; Rian Sheeran (Zak Masterson), Zak Coyne, Liam Heffernan; Ted Aherne (1-5), Rory McCaul; Darragh Ryan (Declan Newman), Oisín Gavin (1-1), James Davitt (0-1); Ruairi Kilmartin (0-1) [Colm Clinton], Hugo Corroon (0-5), Ryan McNamee (Charlie Murtagh).
