St Lomans Mullingar GAA Club

Clarkes Bar Junior Football Championship Final:

St Lomans Mullingar 1-10 Tubberclair 0-17

St Lomans fell just short in this year’s junior football final despite putting in a fantastic display last Saturday in TEG Cusack Park. On a day where conditions were ideal for football, both teams began brightly. Both sides traded three scores each in the opening exchanges with David Morgan on target for the Blues. The Saints were inches away from a goal when Conan O’Hara rounded the goalkeeper but his shot was blocked on the line and somehow stayed out. Tubberclair went in front through a brilliant free from Robbie Curley. They increased their lead to two with Conor Elliot on target either side of a point from Conor Cochrane. David Morgan’s point reduced the deficit to one. On the stroke of half time the Blues were in front for the first time. Morgan’s free hit the post, Conan O’Hara reacted quickest to the loose ball and struck a low shot into the bottom corner of the net to give Lomans a precious lead.

Tubberclair were quicker out of the blocks in the opening half with Fred Keller and Conor Elliot quickly wiping out the Lomans lead. Gareth Hickey put the Mullingar men back in front with a curling effort off his left boot. Both sides then traded scores with Morgan once again on target for the Blues. Tubberclair replied with a double from Fred Kelleher to leave them a point to the good. Once again the Saints reacted well and Chris Gilbet pointed superbly to level proceedings. Gilbert was on target again moments later to cancel out a point from Tubberclair’s Ronan Walker. Tubberclair then hit three unanswered points which truned out to be the winning of the match. Gareth Hickey’s long range free reduced the deficit to two. As James Davitt’s men chased an elusive goal to try and steal victory, Tubberclair managed to hit us on the counter-attack with Fred Keller on target twice. Referee Keith O’ Brien blew the final whistle and St Lomans Mullingar fell short by four points.

Our players were devastated at the final whistle but they can take huge pride in the performance they delivered in the final and indeed all year. When you take into account that Tubberclair won the reverse fixture by over twenty points juts six weeks ago, this was a massive improvement. Tubberclair although deserving winners were certainly sweating for large periods of the game. The Blues gave a great account of themselves with many outstanding individual performances. David Morgan was deadly accurate up top. Shane Boyce was a bundle of energy and gave very last ounce he had. Boyce has become a hugely improved player in 2020 and will be knocking on the door for the seniors in 2021 if he keeps up this level of performance. Skipper, Chris Gilbert worked tirelessly in the middle of the park. Oisin Hogan and Tristan Graham are certainly lads for the future and both wing-backs were fantastic on the day with the intensity of their tackling and overall graft. Gerry Grehan at full-back was absolutely top-class and probably the Saints man of the match on the day. Grehan returned in 2020 after a spell in the states and is a welcome addition to any team. Also best wishes for a speedy recovery to Tristan Graham who suffered a nasty injury to his arm in Saturday’s match. Well done to the Lads and the Management team of James Davitt, Robbie Kenny, Mark Breslin, Gerry Farrell and Richie Cleary for devoting all their time and effort to the lads this year. We have come a long way at this level and the future is bright. Congratulations to Tubberclair and best of luck in the Intermediate Championship next year. 

Team; Dano Fitzsimons, Daire Smyth, Gerry Grehan, Senan Russell, Oisin Hogan, Eoghan O’Keefe, Tristan Graham, Frank Kavanagh, Chris Gilbert (0.02), Shane Boyce, David Windsor, Conor Cochrane