St Lomans Mullingar Club Notes 20/05/2024:
ACFL Division 1:
St Lomans Mullingar 3-10 Moate All Whites 1-08
St Lomans Mullingar continued their winning run with a hard-fought victory over Moate All Whites last Friday night. The sides were locked on ten points each before the game and Moate travelled to Lakepoint Park keen on causing an upset. The Hosts got off to the ideal start, TJ Cox opening the scoring with a free before Sean Flanagan broke from midfield straight through the heart of defence and finished to the net with aplomb.
The sides then traded a couple of scores each with Shane Dempsey and Eoghan Hogan getting off the mark for the blues. Dempsey doubled his tally moments later, but the visitors replied with a goal to reduce the deficit. TJ Cox got his second of the day to leave three between the sides at the interval.
Moate started the second half the stronger and outscored the home side three points to one with TJ Cox doing the scoring for the saints. The sides once more exchanged scores with Dempsey adding to his tally and the minimum was between the sides going into the final quarter and the momentum seemed to be with the away side. However, the Mullingar men turned matters around in the closing stages.
Dempsey extended the lead with a point before Kelvin Reilly found the net when he reacted quickest to TJ Cox’s dropping ball and fisted past the goalkeeper. Moate responded with a pair of free’s either side of a Dempsey point. The game was well and truly settled when Dempsey lashed in Lomans third goal when he got on the end of a good team move. It was fitting that man of the match Sean Flanagan had the final word with an excellent point to seal an eight-point win.
The winning margin was somewhat flattering for the county champions but as the adage goes, goals win games. This win leaves the blues with a chance of reaching a league final going into the final two games against Milltownpass and Tyrrellspass respectively. Paddy Dowdall’s team were sloppy in stages but still hit some excellent scores and fought hard against a dogged Moate team.
In terms of individuals, Sean Kelly and Darragh O’Keefe were solid in defence. TJ Cox and Shane Dempsey made their scoring presence felt but Sean Flanagan was by far and away the best player on the pitch. The midfielder covered every blade of grass and was heavily involved in everything Lomans did well, as well as contributing 1-01 on the scoreboard. Next up for the Blues is Milltownpass in two weeks’ time.
Team; Rory Matthews, Sean Kelly, Darragh O’Keefe, David Whelan, Eoghan Hogan (0.01), Jack Geoghegan, Oisín Hogan, Enda Gaffney, Sean Flanagan (1.01), Rory Sheahan, Kelvin Reilly (1.00), Peter Foy, Chris Gilbert, TJ Cox (0.04, 0.01f), Shane Dempsey (1.04, 0.01f). Subs used; Eoghan O’Keefe, Ryan Jones, Tristan Graham, Ciaran Smyth, Fola Ayorinde.
ACFL Ladies Division 1:
St Lomans Mullingar 3-09 St Mary’s Rochfortbridge 1-15
Our senior ladies booked their place in the league final last weekend after a hard-fought draw against St Mary’s Rochfortbridge in Lakepoint park on a beautiful Sunday morning. The visitors began the stronger with three opening points. The blues managed to get a foothold in the game after the sides traded scores, a Katie Kilmurray treble doing the damage for the home side. Shannon Breslin then netted for the home side to give them a slender lead.
St Mary’s responded well two quick-fire points to regain the lead. The teams once again exchanged a pair of scores, Kilmurray adding to her tally and Ciara Blundell opening her account for the Mullingar side. St Mary’s lead by the minimum at the interval, it could have been more had it not been for two point blank saves from shot stopper Jane McKenna.
Once again Rochfortbidge started strong with a pair of scores before Ciara Blundell took matters into her own hands scoring 1-02 without reply. Two excellent points either side of a long-range goal which flew into the top corner. Once again, the visitors hit two in a row before Kilmurray reponded with an excellent point from play to leave Lomans ahead by one. Laura Murphy then got on the end of a great ball from Shannon Breslin to net a third goal for the blues after her initial shot was saved and Ciaran Kilmurray’s side suddenly lead by four points.
An experienced bridge team came on strong in the last ten minutes and hit back with 1-02 unanswered to lead by the minimum going into injury time. A physically shattered Lomans side managed to draw a late free courtesy of Katie Kilmurray. Kilmurray managed to compose herself and with ice in her veins she nailed the placed ball and with the final kick of the game earned her team a share of the spoils.
Back-to-back league finals for St Lomans is phenomenal achievement after an unbeaten league campaign and with several notable absentees managed to salvage a result against a seasoned Rochfortbridge outfit. The football will now be put on hold for the leaving cert, after which Ciaran Kilmurray’s side will look forward to a mouth-watering tie against county champions Milltown.
A good solid performance had many individuals stand out. Keelie Mulderry performed well in defence. Katie Kilmurray was closely detailed by the St Mary’s defence but still managed an impressive tally of six points. Laura Murphy worked tirelessly as did Shannon Breslin. Ciara Blundell however was the standout player and really lead by example for her team, hitting 1-03 from play.
Team; Jane McKenna, Eve Scally, Keelie Mulderry, Julie McLaughlin, Chloe Cahill, Aileen Martin, Ellen Kilmurray, Annie Kilmurray, Shauna Traynor, Laura Murohy (1.00), Katie Kilmurray (0.06, 0.04f), Ciara Blundell (1.03), Aoibhe Hogan, Shannon Breslin (1.00), Paige Matthews
ACFL Division 3:
St Lomans Mullingar 2-06 St Josephs 1-09
Our division three side earned a hard-fought draw last Thursday night including brilliant goals from Fola Ayorinde and Tristan Graham. The result rules out any slim chances of a league final but a successful campaign it’s been nevertheless and a good performance against strong opposition.
Team; Dano Fitzsimmons, Riley Sheahan, Sean Kelly, Tristan Johnson, Paddy Dowdall, Ciaran Smyth, Tom Dorr, Ryan Jones, Eoghan O'Keeffe, Chris Gilbert, Tristan Graham, Shane Mulderry, David Morgan, Fola Ayrionde, Daniel McCann. Subs used: Adam O'Connor and Mark Tunney.
ACFL Division 4:
Rosemount 2-12 St. Lomans Mullingar 2-09
There are 10 teams in Division 4, nine of these teams are 2nd sides with Lomans being the exception, as we field our 3rd side in this very competitive Division.
It was a youthful Blues side that travelled to Rosemount last Monday evening for this penultimate Division 4 game, knowing a win would ensure their division 4 status for 2025. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be as Rosemount edged out Lomans in the closing minutes, meaning our lads will need to pick up 2 points in their forthcoming (and final) game against Caulry in 2 weeks’ time.
Rosemount clearly had the edge in this game, fielding some experienced footballers with Senior experience, nonetheless our lads were tigerish throughout, refusing to allow Rosemount build up a big lead. All the Lomans lads acquitted themselves very well and despite the loss it’s fair to say that Management were extremely proud of the lads performance.
As previously mentioned, this was mostly a youthful side, however a special mention must go to the exception-to-the-rule, goalkeeper (and captain) Joe Matthews. Joe celebrated his 50th birthday recently, yet he still played excellently throughout, pulling off several excellent saves and providing excellent guidance to the outfield players.
Another player to catch the eye was Riley Sheahan, he was excellent throughout, covering every inch of the pitch over the 60 minutes and was very close to being man-of-the-match. However, the man-of-the-match accolade simply had to fall to young Danny McCann who scored a very impressive 1-09 in total, Danny is certainly a player to keep an eye on in the future.
Team; Joe Matthews (c), Jack Tyrrell, Ciaran Smyth, Tristan Johnson, Tom Dorr, Ethan Brown, Mark O’Gara, Nedas Bielicas, Tadgh Kenny, Eoghan Kenny Darren Kavanagh (1-0), Adam O’Connor, Riley Sheahan, Danny McCann (1-09) & Shane Mulderry. Substitutes used; Finn Sheahan & Mark Tunney.
Club Lotto:
Draw Date: Monday 13th May
This week’s jackpot: €2,800.00
Numbers drawn: 2,4,5,21
No Jackpot winner
Lucky dip winders (€50 each): Eamonn Gorman and Thomas Shaw
Next week’s jackpot: €2,900.00
Next Week’s Draw Date: Monday 20th May
Remember it could be you!
