St Lomans Mullingar Club Notes 26/02/2024:
ACFL Division 1:
St Lomans Mullingar 0-09 The Downs 0-09
Our senior men kicked off their season last Friday night, when they made the short trip to Kevin Molloy Park to face the Downs. The supporters in attendance braved the bitter cold and saw a hard-hitting game of winter football. Ben Harte got the hosts off the mark, but it was shorty cancelled out when Shane Dempsey got the blues on the board from a mark. Conor Coughlan restored the home side’s advantage before that man Dempsey equalised with a brilliant point from play. The sides exchanged scores before the interval with Dempsey and Harte both on target with a pair of placed balls to leave the sides level pegging at half-time.
The Black and Amber started the third quarter well with three unanswered points all through Ben Harte from frees. You could be forgiven for thinking the visitors would end up on the wrong side of this one but Paddy Dowdall’s men hit back with a strong response. Shane Dempsey hit three on the bounce for his side, a superb strike from play along with two perfectly executed frees. The Downs took a brief lead, but substitute Daniel McCann levelled proceedings going into injury time.
It looked as though the saints had snatched both points on offer when Shane Dempsey’s stunning free saw them in front for the first time with just a single minute left. However, Ben Harte tied things up for a share of the spoils with virtually the last kick of the game. In truth, The Downs were deserving of a draw which was a more than fair result. It was a tale of two free takers on the night, Shane Dempsey and Ben Harte for their respective sides.
The match was a defenders dream with not much in the way of scoring opportunities. The likes of David Whelan and Sean Flanagan put in good solid performances throughout. The Lomans substitutes also did well when introduced but it was Shane Dempsey who was undoubtedly the best player on the pitch with eight super points. Next up for the Mullingar men is Tyrrellspass at home next Friday night.
Team; Rory Matthews, Oisín Hogan, Darragh O’Keefe, Eoghan Hogan, Peter Foy, David Whelan, Conor O’Donoghue, Ryan Jones, Jack Geoghegan, Eoghan O’Keefe, Sean Flanagan, Tristan Graham, TJ Cox, Kelvin Reilly, Shane Dempsey (0.08,0.05f, 0.01m). Subs used; Daniel McCann (0.01), Chris Gilbert, Nathan Lally, Rory Sheahan, Seanaí Bracken.
ACFL Division 3:
St. Lomans Mullingar 4-11 Ballynacargy 2-05
Last Saturday afternoon saw our Division 3 side open this years league campaign with a tough first-round away fixture to Ballynacargy. With last year’s manager Robbie Kenny stepping aside due to work commitments, it meant that Adam Carroll, another Club legend, took control of his first game as manager.
The first half was nip-and-tuck and saw St. Lomans head into the halftime break with a 2-point lead thanks to points from Eoghan O’Keeffe, Danny McCann, David Aughey, Tadgh Kenny and a cracking goal from Conor Regan, leaving the scoreline at 1-5 to 1-3.
The second half began in much the same fashion and with 15 minutes having elapsed, the game was still in the balance. It was at this stage that The Blues management introduced Fola Ayorinde, Mark O’Gara, Adam O’Connor and Kelvin Reilly, all of whom acquitted themselves well and who brought a renewed impetus to the sides performance just when it was needed. The substitutions marked a turning point as Ballynacargy appeared to run out of steam shortly thereafter. The Blues showed no mercy to the men from ‘Bal’ and raised 3 green flags, Ayorinde went on one of his trademark solo runs and cooly rifled the ball to the back of the net, whilst Chris Gilbert helped himself to a brace (one of which was a trademark Gilbert penalty), Cian Daly registered 3 points, Danny McCann fired over 2 more frees, and both Seanai Bracken and Adam O’Connor also got their names on the scoresheet with a point a piece.
Team; Garreth Hickey, Ethan Brown, Sean Kelly (c), Tristan Johnson, Seanai Bracken (0-1), Nathan Lally, Tom Dorr, Conor Regan (1-0), David Aughey (0-1), Chris Gilbert (2-0), Eoghan O’Keeffe (0-1), Shane Mulderry, Cian Daly (0-3), Tadgh Kenny (0-1) & Danny McCann (0-3). Substitutes; Fola Ayorinde (1-0), Kelvin Reilly, Mark O’Gara & Adam O’Connor (0-1).
Fixtures:
Friday 1st March
ACFL Division 1;
St Lomans Mullingar vs Tyrrellspass at 8pm in Home Instead Lakepoint Park
Saturday 2nd March
ACFL Division 3;
St Lomans Mullingar vs Kilbeggan Shamrocks at 2pm in Kilbeggan
Sunday 3rd March
ACFL Division 4;
St Lomans Mullingar vs Shandonagh at 11.30am in Shandonagh
Any time or venue changes will be posted on our social media
All scoring updates will be available via the Whats the Scor app
Last Man Standing:
The crowd gets what the crowd want! Back by popular demand is St Lomans Mullingar Last man standing, to bring us in to the title run in . Firstly, thanks for the continued support, always much appreciated by the club
We will kick off on *Week 27*, closing entries on *Friday 1st March* Again, entries are *€20* a head. Entries can be sent to Mousey (0876230663) or Jack (083 058 6310) on revolut, along with your name
As always pick one team each week to stay in the competition but be wary as you can only pick a team once !
Club Lotto
Draw Date: Monday 19th February
This week’s jackpot: €1,600.00
Numbers drawn: 11,12,15,24
No Jackpot winner
Lucky dip winders (€50 each): Barry Cronin and Emma Devine Scally
Next week’s jackpot: €1,700.00
Next Week’s Draw Date: Monday 26th February
Remember it could be you!
