Shamrocks - much more than a GAA club
April 30, 2010their Eyes' and 'Ultimate Classical Musical' shows.
A club which has produced many Leinster and All-Ireland Scor champions down the years, Shamrocks are no strangers to success on the stage and their shows in the Mullingar Arts Centre have not only thrilled audiences, but have also received rave reviews in the local press.
"We have a lot of talented singers and stage performers in our club and these shows provide them with an opportunity to showcase their talents. They also give the not so talented among us the chance to get up on stage and give people a laugh," Mullingar Shamrocks chairman Pearse Corroon explains.
"All of the people involved in the shows are either members of the club or are from the local community. The shows give the club another dimension as they appeal to people who mightn't necessarily be interested in the GAA. And they are great fun for both the participants and the audience."
Over three nights last November, Shamrocks staged their annual 'Stars in their Eyes' show which saw club members imitate the looks and sound of famous pop artists. Among those who took part were: Tony Irwin as Roy Orbinson, Maeve Corroon (Pearse's wife) as Amy Winehouse, Paul Doolin as Frank Sinatra, Niall Moran as Jason Mraz, Niamh O'Shea as Katy Perry, Mark Irwin as Michael Buble, Aaron Purcell as Kenny Loggins, Daniel Kiernan as Evanescence and Maeve Dolan as Alexandra Burke.
Also on stage were: local radio personality Billy Mac as himself, Helen Hassett as Lily Allen, Jordan Onubogu as Ben E. King, Eddie Casey, Kieran McKenna and Eddie Byrne as Queen, Katie McCarthy as Taylor Swift, Karl Brogan as Steve Tyler, Pearse Corroon as Johnny Cash, Adaeze 'Daisy' Onubogu, Gemma McNamee and Siobhan Murphy as the Footloose gang, Graham Dowling, Philip Bell and Darragh Geraghty as Boyzone, while Sarah Jame Bennett, Kelly Eivers, and Aoibhinn Byrne were The Pointer Sisters.
On March 20 last, the Mullingar Arts Centre also played host to a musical evening which raised funds for the new pitch for the Shamrocks' underage section. 'The Ultimate Classical Musical Show' included songs from many Broadway Musicals, including Les Miserables, Chess and Phantom of the Opera.
Among those to perform at the extravaganza were John Smith, Helen, Hassett, Aoife Gavin, Mark Irwin, Maeve Corroon, Heather Fogarty, James Larkin, Denis Corroon, Paul Doolin, Gemma McNamee, Fr Ray Kelly and Emmett Cahill, who was 'borrowed' from St. Loman's GAA for the night.
Mullingar Shamrocks may have gone through 2009 without winning championship silverware, but they put that right in February of this year when they won the delayed 2009 under 21 football title at the expense of neighbours and holders St. Loman's in Kinnegad.
After accounting for Bunbrosna and Rosemount in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively, Shamrocks laid the foundations for their victory in the first half when they built up a 1-6 to 0-4 interval lead. With Darragh Daly and Lorcan Smyth on top at midfield, they had raced into an early 0-3 to 0-0 lead before Smyth powered through to score the only goal.
Further points on the restart from Conor Moore and Adam Corroon pushed the Springfield outfit seven points clear before Loman's cut the gap to four with five minutes remaining. But late scores from Ciaran Curley and man of the match Smyth sealed a 1-12 to 0-9 win.
"We went into the final as underdogs, but the lads gave a great performance to win," says Pearse, who is an uncle of Denis Corroon, who lined out at wing back in the decider and captained Westmeath in this year's Leinster under 21 final against Dublin.
"That's five under 21 championships we've won in the last seven years, so the future certainly looks promising. Ray Smyth, who is Lorcan and Aonghus' father, managed the under 21s along John Corroon and Anthony Clinton, and has since taken over as senior manager. He is obviously familiar with a lot of the players and has a great record in Westmeath club football, so hopefully we'll be there or thereabouts in this year's senior championship."
The well-known electrical contractor was delighted with the huge turnout of underage players for Shamrocks' registration day on March 6 last and also welcomed the recent announcement by Oxigen Environmental to become the club's main sponsor. Pearse is also looking forward to seeing the club's ladies compete in this year's senior championship following their intermediate success last year.
Mullingar Shamrocks' under 21 championship winning team was: Ronan Tyrrell; Conor McEntee, Davy Gavin, Mark Irwin; Darren Masterson, Kieran Gavin, Denis Corroon; Darragh Daly, Lorcan Smyth; Alan Cashman, Simon Quinn, Mark Collentine; Conor Moore, Ciaran Curley, Adam Corroon. Sub used: Stephen Noonan.
Quiet year for Shamrocks
2009 was an unusually lean year by Mullingar Shamrocks' standards with championship silverware eluding the club at all levels. But the under 14s provided some crumbs of comfort by winning the league and Feile Shield.
"A quiet year by our standards" is Pat Collins' summing up of Mullingar Shamrocks' 2009 season. Indeed, the club's long-serving underage secretary is hard pressed to remember when the Springfield outfit last experienced as lean a year in terms of silverware won.
"We'd usually win at least one championship at underage level, but unfortunately we didn't win any last year. The under 14s won the league, but lost the championship final to Coralstown/Kinnegad as well as the Feile semi-final. Our minors lost the championship semi-final to St. Patrick's, and Loman's beat us in the senior championship for the first time since they renamed the club," he explains.
"You have some years like last year, but hopefully we'll do a lot better this year and get back to winning trophies."
While admitting that the senior championship quarter-final replay loss to town rivals St. Loman's was hard to take, Pat questions whether Shamrocks would have done any better against Garrycastle in the county final.
"Losing to Loman's was a bitter pill to swallow, but in hindsight, it might have been a good thing because of what happened to them in the county final. They were well beaten by Garrycastle and even though we drew with Garrycastle in the first round, I'm not sure if we would have been able for them if we met them again.
"The big problem ourselves and Loman's have at the moment is that we're both lacking a bit of size. We're now blessed with big, powerful men like Garrycastle are. We don't have players of the physique of Seanie O'Donoghue, David O'Shaughnessy or Gary Dolan. Even Dessie (Dolan) is very strong on the ball.
"Garrycastle are a very mature team at this stage, they've been around for the best part of 10 years and reached the Leinster final last year. They will be hard stopped again this year," he predicts.
Under the management of Paul Ahearne, Mickey Reilly and Tom Ormsby, who were key members of the legendary side that won a four-in-a-row of senior championships between 1992 and '95, Shamrocks were expected to challenge strongly for Flanagan Cup honours last year after reaching the county final in 2007, but were disappointed not to progress beyond the quarter-final stage. Of the seven games they played, they won three, drew three and lost one.
The Springfield outfit should have beaten Garrycastle in their opening group match, but kicked the game away with some awful wides in the second half and in the end had to settle for a 0-9 to 1-6 draw. A Seanie O'Donoghue goal separated the sides at half-time, 1-5 to 0-5, but despite restricting the champions-elect to a single point in the second half, Shamrocks failed to take both points.
Paul Ahearne's charges produced arguably their finest performance of the year when they hammered Killucan by 1-15 to 0-3 in the second round, with Cian O'Leary helping himself to 1-2. The writing was on the wall for Killucan at the interval when they trailed by 0-2 to 0-8.
Shamrocks chalked up their second win when O'Leary's late goal saw them edge out reigning champions Castledaly by 1-10 to 1-9 in Moate. With MJ McLoughlin to the fore, Castledaly led by 1-5 to 0-4 at the break and were still four points to the good midway through the second half. But after points from Denis Corroon and Fiachra Spellman had narrowed the gap, goal-scorer supreme O'Leary pounced for the winning goal three minutes from time.
Shamrocks maintained their unbeaten run with a 1-12 to 0-6 defeat of Bunbrosna. A Fiachra Spellman goal had them 1-4 to 0-4 ahead at half-time and they pulled away in the second half with the free-scoring Darren Moore giving a man of the match performance.
Going into the final round of group games, Shamrocks shared joint top-spot on the table with Garrycastle. But while Garrycastle beat Castledaly, Shamrocks could only manage a draw with Maryland which meant they finished second and had to be content with a quarter-final place. Indeed, the Springfield outfit were fortunate to salvage a 1-9 apiece draw with the 2008 intermediate champions, with Brian Melody scoring the equalising point in the fourth minute of injury-time.
Shamrocks and St. Loman's proved inseparable in their first quarter-final meeting at Cusack Park. The green and whites looked set for victory when they led by three points with 10 minutes to go, but a late Conor Lynam goal tied up the scoring at 0-10 to 1-7.
However, Shamrocks were never in contention in the replay, going down to their great rivals by 2-8 to 1-15. If anything, the scoreline flattered the green and whites whose two goals came from Simon Quinn and Lorcan Smyth in the closing stages.
Looking ahead to this year's championship, Pat Collins says: "We hope to be there or thereabouts again. Reaching the quarter-final is the minimum target for the team. We'll be without Kieran Gavin, who is spending the summer in San Francisco, and he will be a huge loss to both his club and county.
"And with the way the economy is, we could be down a few more players come the championship. In previous years, our third level students would have had no problem getting summer work, but it's a different story now. Those lads won't stay around if there's no work for them."
Shamrocks' minor and junior teams went one better than their senior counterparts by reaching their respective championship semi-finals, while the under 21s went to the county final. The minors, who were managed by John Doran, Davy Walls and Denis Corroon, lost to St. Patrick's, while a last-gasp John Fitzpatrick point saw the juniors suffer an agonising 0-9 to 0-10 defeat to St. Paul's in their last-four clash at Cusack Park.
According to Pat, the under 14s - managed by Paul Doolin, Sean Hynes, David Coyne and Peter Carter - represented Mullingar's best hope of success in 2009. And while they delivered a league title and the Feile Shield (beating The Downs by 3-14 to 2-3 in the final), they were forced to give second best to Coralstown/Kinnegad in both the Feile na nOg and championship.
After losing the Feile semi-final in April, Shamrocks had revenge on their minds when they renewed their rivalry with the Meath-border outfit in the championship decider in October. The Mullingar boys made a dream start when Darren Keena's free sailed all the way over the head of the Kinnegad goalkeeper and into the net.
But despite this setback and the fact that they were playing against the elements, Coralstown/Kinnegad battled back to lead by 1-3 to 1-2 at the break with their goal coming from Aaron Glynn after 23 minutes.
The team in red and white took the game by the scruff of the neck after the restart and extended their lead to 3-4 to 1-2 midway through the second half thanks to further goals from Dylan Cooney and Glynn. But Shamrocks refused to throw in the towel and after clawing back two points, Jack Quinn and Dean Scally hit two goals to level proceedings with time almost up.
However, Kinnegad weren't about to settle for extra-time and after Jamie Greville restored their lead, a speculative shot from Shane Fitzsimons from 60 metres out went all the way to the Mullingar net, giving them a 4-5 to 3-4 victory.
"We expected Kinnegad to be our biggest rivals at under 14 level last year and so it proved. The two teams have been neck-and-neck since they were under 10 and that was the case once again last year. We beat them in the league, but they beat us in the Feile and championship," Pat explains.
"This year, we have high expectations for our under 16 team. They won the under 14 championship two years ago and hopefully they'll be able to repeat the trick at under 16 level."
The Mullingar Shamrocks team that defeated The Downs in the Feile Shield final was: Conor Bracken; Brendan O'Reilly, Sean Lee, David Coyne; Nathan Gavin, Mark Hegarty, Darren Keena; Ricky McCarthy, Conor O'Brien; Ryan Blundell, Paddy Fagan, Jordan Ward; Dylan Cannon, Dean Scally, Darren Carter. Subs used: Ciaran Mullen, Luke Byrne, David Culkin, Michael Joyce.
The senior team that faced St. Loman's in the drawn championship quarter-final was: Philip Shaw; Aaron Purcell, Kieran Gavin, David Miller; Micheal Curley, Dermot Curley, Denis Corroon; Donal O'Donoghue, Anthony Clinton; Brian Melody, Cian O'Leary, Adam Corroon; Brian O'Sullivan, Shane Colleary, Darren Moore. Subs used: Conor Moore, Fiachra Spellman and Ciaran Curley. Tweet
