Junior Football Championship:

St Josephs 3-08 St Lomans Mullingar 1-17

Frustrating, a damn frustrating result. After our opening loss against Tubberclair and St Lomans loss to the same opponents by similar margins, it was always likely that this game would be close and that is how it panned out. Unfortunately, we came out on the wrong side of this result after a real ding dong battle with the town side which with a few minutes to go looked to be heading our direction. However, a terrific score from 45 metres out in added time put the town side ahead and two very late scores sealed their win but it was one that slipped away from us.

The game started with St Josephs ahead within two minutes through Jordan Mc Donnell and this was followed by a Ross Elliffe score in the 9th minute to put us two ahead. St Lomans opened their account in the 13th minute and by the water break the scores stood at 0-2 to 0-1 in our favour. St Lomans equalised in the 18th minute and they had their best period from the 20th to 26th minutes when they reeled off 1-3 to a solitary Dean Slevin point to lead by 1-6 to 0-3. A quickfire reply of 1-1 from Dean brought us back into contention before the Lomans full forward clipped over a point leaving us 1-4 to 1-7 in arrears at half time.

The second half started with St Lomans extending their lead before Andy Scally fired over a good point in the 3rd minute. Things got much better in the 6th minute when a fine move saw Jordan Mc Donnell fire home a cracking goal to leave scores level at 2-5 to 1-8. Game On! Corner Back Eoin Kelly was next on the scoreboard for St Josephs but the story of this period was how we didn’t claim two more goals. Brian Keegan fired a rasper off the butt of the left post which defied physics not to nestle in the net while in the next attack Dean Slevin couldn’t connect with a goal in the offing. We trailed by 2-7 to 1-11 at the water break after 15 minutes of the second half. All to play for in the final quarter. The next few minutes proved fruitful for St Josephs as we moved ahead with Dean Slevins goal in the 19th minute putting us 3-7 to 1-11 ahead. Things got better with Brian Fitzgeralds point in the 22nd minute which left us three to the good as we headed into the final stretch. St Lomans refused to lie down and two points in as many minutes left the minimum between the teams. They got level with a minute of normal time remaining as the game looked destined for a draw which would have been enough to qualify us for the quarter finals. However, Peter Foy the ex Longford Slasher player who came on as a sub fired over an inspirational score in added time which settled the game and two late, late points put St Lomans through by a margin of three at the end.

This was a hard loss to take. We had enough of the play to have won this game and indeed looked to have done enough but the old saying is that it is not over until the final whistle and perhaps a bit of inexperience showed in the end. The lads can be proud of their performances. Niall Rabbitte could do little about the goal which went by him and his accurate kick outs were very good. The full back line of Kieran Boyle,Pearse Weir Norris and Eoin Kelly were busy throughout with Eoin having a very solid game. The starting half back line of Brian Keegan,Andy Conway and Aaron Mc Donnell were very good for long passages against some experienced campaigners. Wayne Mc Cormack and Ross Elliffe manned the midfield berth and broke 50/50 in the game. The forwards always threatened a glut of goals and we got three but it could have been six or seven. Niall Moran,Jordan Mc Donnell and Brian Fitzgerald were our half forwards who combined well while the full forward line of Padraig Moran,Dean Slevin and Andy Scally always put their direct opponents under pressure.

The next step is uncertain at this stage. The bottom four teams in the divisions are due to play in relegation semi finals and eventually a relegation final with the lowest ranked team facing a drop to Junior Two for 2021. At the time of writing, ourselves, Delvin and CFCW are three of the teams with the losers of Ballycomoyle/Mullingar Shamrocks being the fourth. It is not a position we want but it’s a hurdle to be crossed. We have the capability of winning the next game so keep the heads up!!

Thanks to the 180 or so who tuned into Facebook for the game and to Michael Lynam and Ronan Farrell for doing this job. It was the first time we did this and while the result was not what we wanted, we hope people did enjoy the coverage.

Team: Niall Rabbitte,Kieran Boyle,Pearse Weir Norris,Eoin Kelly(0-1),Brian Keegan,Andy Conway,Aaron Mc Donnell,Wayne Mc Cormack,Ross Elliffe(0-1),Niall Moran,Jordan Mc Donnell(1-2),Brian Fitzgerald(0-1),Niall Moran,Dean Slevin(2-2),Andy Scally(0-1). Subs introduced; Hugh Boyle and Gerry Gleeson (both second half)