U11 Midland league
Mullingar Athletic 1
Killavilla 2
Having beaten the visitors in Roscrea, the home team set about doing the same again from the start. Early pressure caused several mistakes in the Killavilla defence, but the Athletic front line wasn’t sharp enough to punish. A powerful Ronan O’Toole free kick was headed wide and a speculative cross shot from Shane O’Keeffe was comfortably held by the goalie while Jake O’Meara could have done better when his header clipped the crossbar.
When the visitors broke up field they were usually well contained, but half way through the first period, complacent defending allowed their attacker through for a classy finish in the far corner.
Athletic maintained the lion’s share of possession after the break, but fell foul of the visitors’ speedy counterattack. Luke Tormey tackled well to clear one break, but at the next, two rash mis-kicks let the same attacker through, where he finished well.
This seemed to strengthen Mullingar’s resolve. Shots rained in on the visiting keeper and he handled all well until Andrew Kilmartin wriggled through. His shot was parried onto the bar and tapped in by Ryan Dempsey. The same player fired straight at the keeper when he met a tempting Shane O’Keeffe cross.
A well-deserved equaliser looked certain when Andrew Kilmartin rocketed a free kick just under the bar. However Killavilla’s man-of-the-match keeper parried it and caught it on the second attempt.
Athletic’s football was a pleasure to behold and they were in control for more than three quarters of the match, but Killavilla, to their credit, did what the home team didn’t - defended well and took their chances.
Athletic: Luke Tormey, Colin McGowan, James Monaghan, Glen Gaffney, Oisin Quinn, Liam Bowes, Andrew Kilmartin, Niall Gavin, Jake O’Meara, Shane O’Keeffe, Ryan Dempsey, Tom Gavin, Ronan O’Toole.
