2001 Junior Championship B County Final

Alan Rigney forces replay for Caulry in Junior ‘B’ Final

Mullingar Shamrocks had lessons to learn

Caulry 1-15

Mullingar Shamrocks 1-15

Caulry had the last word in a dramatic county junior ‘B’ football final at Shandonagh last Thursday evening when substitute Alan Rigney, with his second score of an enthralling evening’s football, tied his team’s total with that of slender leaders Mullingar Shamrocks in the dying seconds of the game.

Extra time was only brought about in similar circumstances, as Caulry showed a teak-tough nature to draw themselves back into contention after Mullingar Shamrocks had led them a merry dance midway through the opening half.

Gary Corroon, Oisín Clinton and David Noonan all found enough space to score at different times of the earlier exchanges and a lead of 1-5 to 0-1 was soon built up by the reigning champions Shamrocks as a result.

Despite playing against the breeze, Caulry had looked to have put themselves into a promising position after ten minutes play, tackling and dislodging Mullingar Shamrocks’ attacks through some good work by James Hatton, Frank Coakley and Eddie Egan.

Robert Wallace a sound goalie

Robert Wallace, goalkeeper for Mullingar Shamrocks, twice denied Caulry with two fantastic stops in this game and the first was brought off in the midst of intelligent work further up the field by number nine, Jarlath Nohilly.

Caulry had to contend with other good Mullingar Shamrocks’ displays, as substitute Paul Christie and colleague Davy Baker began to assert their authority.

The reigning champions were starting to find the right gear and it was beneficial to Caulry that they didn’t drift too far out of contention at this stage of proceedings. They can reflect on very solid efforts by Frank Coakley, Brian Mullarney and Alan Carroll for staying in touch and Caulry went on to prove they could stay going as the game developed.

Over the next few minutes, though, the complexion of the game altered significantly in Mullingar Shamrocks’ favour and finding men in space became a better tactic as the first-half wore to a halt.

That said, the last score before the interval did go Caulry’s way and it was a reflection of things to come that number fifteen Anselm Fitzgerald was the man to get it.

Putting almost everything that came his way over the bar for the remainder of the tie, he was the main instigator of Caulry’s comeback, despite the good defensive work of David Smith, Richie Daly and Johnny Brick.

The game stood in control of Aidan Daly’s charges at 1-5 to 0-2 at the interval, but Caulry were only beginning to warm up for a splendid evening’s football and gave a tremendous amount of effort after this.

With the first points after half-time going in their direction, the game was beginning to tighten up for Caulry, but Mullingar Shamrocks will be grateful to have come back into the proceedings with a fine few minutes of scoring via Oisín Clinton, Barry Kelly and Gary Corroon to keep the margin still in their favour at 1-9 to 0-10.

Nevertheless, Caulry finished very strongly after this and were soon waiting to pounce at 1-10 to 0-11 after Aidan Dunning knocked over the first of two unanswered frees inside the last quarter.

The second was enough to leave a single point between the teams and Damien Killane was the Caulry saviour not long from the full-time whistle when he delivered the perfect finish to a great run and tie the game up at 1-13 to 1-13.

Benny Noone’s goal

Caulry’s only goal of the game arrived not long into extra-time when substitute Benny Noone reacted cleverly to steer the ball home and send Caulry into the lead for the first time since the opening minutes of the game.

This awakened Mullingar Shamrocks to a fair degree, going by their exploits for the remainder of the game. Paul Christie and Jarlath Nohilly were superb at different times and David Noonan and Barry Kelly picked up scores both sides of the extra-time interval to give another slender advantage to the town team, 1-14 to 1-13.

Paul Christie added another score to put more daylight between the clubs, but a rousing finish was waiting around the corner as Caulry repeated their normal time feat of drawing level in the last seconds of the encounter.

Anselm Fitzgerald notched another free for a team that worked themselves deservedly into a position to draw the game. Parity came about with a brilliant effort by Alan Rigney, defying a tight angle and a diligent Mullingar Shamrocks backline to send the ball sailing between the posts that brought the score to 1-15 apiece at the conclusion.

Both teams will look forward to the next outing with anticipation and despite Mullingar Shamrocks’ possible superior squad members, Caulry will be tough opponents again.

Best for Caulry were TJ Dunning, James Casey, Frank Coakley, Aidan Dunning, Eddie Egan, Anselm Fitzgerald and Alan Rigney.

Best for Mullingar Shamrocks were Robert Wallace, David Baker, Jarlath Nohilly, Oisín Clinton, David Noonan and Paul Christie.

Caulry: TJ Dunning, Brian Mullarney, James Casey, Damien Killane (0-1), Mark Malone, Frank Coakley, Padraig Killane, Seán Hatton, James Hatton, Aidan Dunning (0-4, three frees), Eddie Egan, Willie Buckley, Alan Carroll (0-1), Tom Fallon, Anselm Fitzgerald (0-7, two frees).

Substitutes: Alan Rigney (0-2) for Alan Carroll, Ross Tyrrell for Seán Hatton, John Dolan for Mark Malone, Benny Noone (1-0) for Tom Fallon, Seán Hatton for Ross Tyrrell, Mark Malone for Padraig Killane, Derek Bowen for Willie Buckley.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Robert Wallace, Kevin Daly, Richie Daly, David Smith, Aidan Donoghue, Davy Baker, Johnny Brick, Anthony Clinton (0-1), Jarlath Nohilly (0-2, one free), Gary Corroon (0-2), Oisín Clinton (0-2), Ivan O’Connor, Stephen Corroon, Willie Conlon (1-0), Barry Kelly (0-4, three frees).

Substitutes: David Noonan (0-2) for Ivan O’Connor, Paul Christie (0-2) for Kevin Daly, Mickey Walls for Stephen Corroon, Paul Hickey for Jarlath Nohilly.

Extracted from the Westmeath Examiner Archives, 30th June, 2001