Colmcille master Mullinalaghta to reach the county final against Abbeylara
Forced to play almost the entire final quarter of the game with 14 players following a black card for Enda Macken in the 48th minute, Colmcille refused to panic in showing a lot of character to eventually master Mullinalaghta in the Senior Football Championship semi-final at windswept Glennon Brothers Pearse Park on Sunday.
A tremendous long range point from the influential attacker Cathal Reilly left the 2022 county champions in front by the minimum of margins (0-9 to 1-5) midway through the second half and Ger Carberry’s side clinched a very hard earned victory thanks to late scores from Jack Macken and Paul McKeon (free) with the prominent pair clocking up 0-9 between them.
Guilty of kicking a total of 9 wides during the course of this scrappy encounter that was spoiled considerably by the difficult elements, St Columba’s made poor use of the extra man advantage and the best they could manage in the closing stages was a score from Niall Woods in the 59th minute which came too late to salvage the situation.
The absence of the suspended duo James McGivney and Shane Mulligan proved to be a severe setback for Mullinalaghta as they failed to build on a well-taken goal from Jayson Matthews with just three minutes gone in the game.
Colmcille recovered from this early blow to establish a slender 0-7 to 1-3 lead at the break and did enough in the second half on their way to earning a crack at Abbeylara in a fresh new county SFC final pairing on Sunday 13 October.
COLMCILLE: Noel Farrell; Gerard Mulligan, Enda Macken, Conor Grant; Ruairi Harkin, Declan Reilly, Dylan McCabe; Vinny Hourican, Fergal Sheridan; Martin Mulligan, Jack Macken (0-6, 4 frees), Cathal McCabe; Cathal Reilly (0-1), Paul McKeon (0-3, 1 free), Barry McKeon (0-1).
Subs:- Shaun McKeon for B McKeon (injured, 41 mins); Eoin Hawkins for D McCabe (45 mins).
MULLINALAGHTA ST COLUMBA’S: Patrick Rogers; Simon Cadam, Patrick Fox, James Rogers; Gary Rogers (0-1), Connor Leonard, Donal McElligott; Niall Woods (0-1), Aidan McElligott; Michael Cunningham, David McGivney (0-1), Cian Mackey (0-1); Emmet Brady (0-1), Conor McElligott, Jayson Matthews (1-1, 1 free).
Subs:- Cian McElligott for Conor McElligott (40 mins); Aron Earley for J Rogers (49 mins).
Credit: Longford Leader
