The healthy attendance in Milltown’s resplendent facilities on Saturday afternoon last were treated to a superb contested by Shamrocks and Cill Oige. Two evenly matched sides went at it from Eoin Gorman’s first whistle to his last some 90 minutes later and it was a privilege to witness.
Where does one start to capture the roller coaster of emotions experienced by the players and spectators in this final? Mullingar Shamrocks were dead and buried on at least three occasions but staged wonderful recoveries on each occasion to snatch victory in the final minutes of extra time. It was a triumph for resilience, determination and never say die spirit.
Shamrocks dominated the early exchanges but the absence of the talismanic Hugo Corroon seemed to affect his teammates as at least four good goal scoring opportunities were squandered as well as several point scoring chances. It should be noted that Hugo’s replacement Manus Kelly was one of the Shamrocks stars on the day in defence and Shay Leavy’s move to centre forward was also productive but Hugo’s lethal finishing was missed on the day. The first half was something of a shoot-out between the respective full forwards as Conor Clinton’s accuracy established an 0-6 to 0-2 lead for Mullingar Shamrocks after 28 minutes. Darragh Ryan finished a Colm Clinton 45 for the sixth point. Cill Oige’s superb full forward Alex Mullen Adamson was responsible for his sides scores at this stage and he then scored a superb individual goal with a run from midfield, Darragh Deegan added a point and Adamson competed the first half scoring with a point to bring the half time score to 1-4 to 0-6 in favour of Cill Óige. After dominating the first half, this was a very poor reflection of Shamrocks efforts and a poor return for the midfield dominance exerted by Oliver Keane and Sean Hickey.
Cill Óige emerged for the restart a changed team. Alex Mullen Adamson and Colm Clinton exchanged points on the restart before Cill Óige began to take control and a lead of 1-12 to 0-7 after 45 minutes seemed ominous for the green and whites. Darragh Deegan’s double two pointers were significant contributors to this total as well as points from Mullen Adamson, Alex Pillion and a single point from Deegan. Seamus Wallace and his coaching crew have worked extremely hard across ninety pitch sessions since February and the team’s resilience showed in the final quarter. A Colm Clinton point began the revival and from the restart Colm gained possession and created an opportunity for Nathan O’ Reilly who finished in style to the Cill Óige net (1-12 to 1-8). Ryan McNamee and a great Oliver Keane point cut the deficit but Charlie Dolan’s point extended the Cill Óige lead to a more secure three points. Colm Clinton pointed again and with the electronic Milltown scoreboard moving into lost time, it looked dodgy for Shamrocks. Colm Clinton had an outside chance of saving the day when Shamrocks were awarded an angled 14-metre free. Colm worked his magic one more time and fired to the net past seven defenders, to regain the lead for Shamrocks for the first time since the 28th minute. However, Cill Óige weren’t finished. They did what they had to do and won possession from the restart and a pass to Alex Mullen Adamson produced the inevitable equaliser.
Extra-time began in disastrous fashion for Mullingar Shamrocks. History seemed about to repeat itself with two quick fire Alex Mullen Adamson goals that established a six point cushion for Cill Óige and brought his total to 3-6 for the afternoon’s work. A Colm Clinton two-pointer from play, and a single point by Colm reduced the deficit to three points and reconfirmed Shamrocks resilience. A superb goal scoring opportunity was spurned after a great bout of combination play. Good defending by Cill Óige ended with a penalty awarded to Mullingar Shamrocks after a defender touched the ball on the ground. Colm Clinton was equal to the occasion and hit as good a penalty as one could hope to see. At the interval, the sides were level at 3-14 each. Callum Studds hit a great point off the left boot to edge Cill Óige ahead which was extended by a pointed free by Darragh Deegan. However, Colm Clinton had the final say. A pointed free reduced the gap to the minimum and his long range free spiralled into the net and secured Shamrocks a 4-15 to 3-16 lead. This was Colm’s final score of the day; it’s not every day a young man scores 3-11 in a county final, hurling or football. These are the special days in a young player’s career.
A couple of hectic minutes of defending followed as Cill Óige went in search of a winner. A brilliant Conor Mathews save foiled their best effort. Conor, a member of a family with a huge tradition of goalkeeping, has performed heroics for Shamrocks all year in his new keeping role and his reflexes were up to the challenge on this occasion. A two pointer free from Darragh Deegan dropped short and created more anxiety before it was scrambled clear and the final whistle brought relief. During the late phase of the game Padraig Regan, Oisín Gavin, Harry Tilson; Manus Kelly, Zak Masterson and Rian Sheeran defended their territory with fierce determination. The late substitutes too played their part and this resolute defending kept the Cill Óige attack at bay to ensure a famous Shamrocks’ victory.
This was a squad effort with the consistently high numbers at training a key part of the side’s progress this year. Well done to the management team of Seamus Wallace, Derek Sheeran, Adrian Regan and Oliver Keating.
Two future Shamrocks’ stars Billy Corroon and Gerry Clinton jr were delighted to be tasked with presenting the cup to Sean Hickey.
Mullingar Shamrocks: Conor Matthews, Padraig Regan, Oisín Gavin, Harry Tilson; Manus Kelly Zak Masterson (Oliver Keane, 0-1),Rian Sheeran; Seán Hickey, Nathan O’ Reilly (1-0); Oliver Keane (Theo Kelly), Shay Leavy (0-1), Darragh Ryan (0-1) (Conor Walsh); Charlie Murtagh (Darragh Daly), Colm Clinton (3-11), Ryan McNamee (0-1) (MJ Burke). Other panellists: Dylan Byrne, Luke Kelly, Ruairí Kelly, Conan Kelly, Fionn Ledwith, Rory Thornton, Cian Traynor, Sam Phillips.
