Mullingar 2’s v Pembroke Wanderers 6’s
Leinster League Division 5

Goal scorers:
David Kingston x 2
Owen Wiltshire x 2
Ashley Wiley x 1

Player of the Match: Sean Glennon

Mullingar 2’s were determined to put their defeat to Corinthians in last weeks cup game behind them and focus purely on getting a vital win to move them up from the bottom of the table.
With a full and strong squad available again this week, even the umpire had to check we only had 16 players due to the number of players in the dug out!

The pre-match message was simply we must win, keep it simple, find a yellow shirt and support each other both on the ball and off and we will win.

Q1 - Mullingar started with a zip in their step and started really well playing the ball with confidence and purpose and winning the ball in midfield and driving forward to attack and put pressure on Pembroke’s defence. Mullingar’s pressure resulted in winning their first short corner, up stepped the captain to try his luck with a Drag Flick which was low down the middle for the keeper to stop but not get a good clearance which feel to kindly to Ashley Wiley to pick up and slot into the corner to Mullingar 1-0 up.

Whilst Mullingar was playing well Pembroke’s tricky captain was causing the full backs some trouble with his ‘I’ll knock it past you and run’ or ‘ramp the ball over your stick’ technique which he has some success with the previous game and in this one, whilst this was identified during the pre-game chat Mullingar still allowed him time and space to do it. Their Captain ran into Mullingar’s circle when centre back John Murphy stepped across to make a challenge and inadvertently took the player out, this resulted in was a few of though was a bit harsh the dreaded ‘Penalty Stroke’. It was down Mullingar’s keeper to try and keep out, despite Conor’s best efforts in psyching the young Pembroke player to put him off the Pembroke player stepped up and took the stroke with confidence and scored to make it 1 – 1.

This only seemed to spur Mullingar on and make Mullingar more determined to get their lead back and push on for a win, some great work from the midfield who were finding space in the middle and out wide. David ‘Silver Fox’ Kingston continued his fine scoring form with another well taken goal, David picked up the ball at the top of Pembroke’s circle to take on a few players then take the ball pass an out rushing keeper and calmly hit the ball into the corner of the goal to make it 2-1 and finish the first quarter on a positive note.

Q2 – The quarter time talk was, continue the good work and keep putting pressure on their defence, mark them closely, don’t give them an inch and keep working hard, we have the sub’s so work hard for 5 mins then have breather and get yourselves back on.

The Midfield players were working extremely hard supporting both and defence, Mullingar’s defence were standing strong mopping anything that was coming through, Sweeper Stephen Wiltshire was dealing with Pembroke’s Captain who was their main threat going forward and it became a good contest between the two captains, with Stephen managing to win the majority of tackles, on one occasion a clumsy coming together saw Pembroke’s captain receive a soft green card for a two min rest, Mullingar took advantage of the extra player and wasn’t long before they scored another goal a loose ball in the Pembroke’s circle which deflected of the keeper for Owen to tap in to put Mullingar 3-1 up.

With their tails up Mullingar were seemed to be winning balls all over the pitch, Graham Duggan found himself in the oppositions circle and take a shot which was ‘apparently’ going to be going past the post until Owen came in to ‘pinch’ or tap in at the back post. Ending the quarter 4 – 1 to Mullingar.

In the 3rd quarter Pembroke seemed to find some momentum, this coincided with Mullingar losing some focus and start giving the ball away cheaply and push higher and higher to attack Pembroke’s circle, however this was leaving big gaps between midfield and defence. Mullingar got a lucky break Pembroke’s captain received a 10 min yellow for some words to the Umpire. The 3rd quarter ended pretty uneventful.
During the quarter talk the message was simple, work hard for the last 17 mins, concede no goals, don’t give them lift by scoring any goals.

Q4 – Whilst Pembroke were back to 11 players on the pitch, they were throwing players forward in an attempt to get back into the game, Mullingar’s defence were rising to the challenge and not letting anything through, any attempts on goal was being well handled by Pud.
Mullingar’s Midfield and forwards were doing wonderful work passing the ball out wide or winning shorts corners, Mullingar managed to win two shorts’ corners in quick succession an despite Stephen dragging flicking with precision and power the keeper had good reactions and seems to be able to raise a glove and keep them out.

Another attack which resulted in another short corner, the decision was made to change the routine to a switch to the right for David to strike on goals, the push out, stop and switch worked perfectly with David finding time to smash the ball across the goal into the far corner and finished the game off.

A well deserved and great performance from the whole team, and well done to the Man of the Match winner Sean Glennon for his tireless work in the centre of midfield.

A special mention also has to go out to the young talented player Graham Duggan, James O'Malley and Cameron Wiltshire who are going from strength to strength in their first season in the senior leagues.

Thank to both Umpires Marc Watters and Larry Halpin who both marshaled the game very well to make it an enjoyable game.

Mullingar 2’s next game is away to high flying Weston 2’s on Saturday 10th Feb.