Finnane hat-trick fires Town to win over St Peter's
CCFL Senior Division: St Peter’s 2, Mullingar Town 5
Eamon A. Donoghue reports
Mullingar Town were simply too good for St Peter’s in the Athlone Town Stadium on Sunday.
The Athlone side struggled with Mullingar’s relentless movement and first time passing. Tristan Finnane was a particular threat, scoring a hat-trick and his two first-half goals laid the platform for this comfortable win.
Although the game did flow somewhat from end to end, it was Mullingar who were more dangerous in attack and had numerous shots and corner kicks from the off. Playing three at the back, they always had plenty of support for each other up front and it paid off, whereas St Peter’s looked to be a player or two short going forward. They were lacking in support up front, and, at times, seemed to have all players funnelling back.
Any time David Donohoe, Luke Kelly or Nemend Lazic got on the end of possession, they were isolated, with no support and had to go alone, usually losing it to a swarming Mullingar defence. In fact, the Athlone side didn't really test Adrian Rapacki in the Mullingar goal in the opening half.
Mullingar had no such problems up front though. A through ball from Darragh Kiernan put Tristan Finnane in the clear and the striker hit a rasper of a shot that flew into the roof of Darcy Lawless’ net.
Just five minutes later, Finnane did it again, this time his shot was placed to one side of Lawless and Mullingar were two up by the midway point of the half. Shane O’Keeffe, Alex McCormack and Beyo all had shots on the St Peter’s goal before the interval as the visitors kept up the pressure.
St Peter’s introduced Dylan Sumner and James Keane Flanagan at half-time and Sumner, in particular, made a difference, winning headers and making himself a badly needed support cog, getting forward from midfield. The two subs also made a difference physically in the second half for St Peter’s.
And despite Mullingar's first half control, Peter's were right back in the game when the experienced Donohoe was fouled inside the box. Kelly put the penalty away with aplomb and there was just the one goal separating them.
St Peter’s were improved in the second half and got more players forward. But Mullingar continued to cause the St Peter's defence trouble. Sean Reid’s shot was heading for goal when Lawless pulled off a spectacular save.
But it wasn’t long before Lawless was picking it out of his net again. Finnane and Beyo combined before setting up David Mimnagh to score their third in the 69th minute.
Peter's replied quickly when Sumner appeared to be fouled just outside the box and again inside the box, but the referee went back to the first foul outside the box and awarded St Peter’s a free kick. Kelly made the decision incidental when he struck a sensational free kick, over the wall and off the post into the net.
However, Mullingar put daylight between the sides again when Mimnagh's cross field pass was finished to the net by Sam Watkin.
St Peter’s didn’t give up and kept battling but they lacked a cutting and creative edge once they got in Mullingar’s half and Mullingar finished the tie off when Finnane scored his hat trick in injury time.
Mullingar Town: Adrian Rapacki, David Mimnagh, Paul Reid, Jamie Loran, Darragh Kiernan, Sean Reid, Shane O’Keeffe, Sam Watkin, Alex McCormack, Dan Beyo, Tristan Finnane. Subs used: Michael Loran for McCormack (70), Brendan Duggan for Kiernan (79) and Colin McGowan for Finnane (87).
St Peter’s: Darcy Lawless, Ian Coffey, Alex Shalli, Owen Sumner, Graham Whittaker, Ben Kilkenny, Nemend Lazic, James Martin, David Donohue, Luke Kelly, Jayden Tumulty. Subs: Dylan Sumner for Tumulty (h-t), James Keane Flanagan for Kilkenny (h-t), Oran Holland for Shalli (64), Dean Reynolds for Martin (75).
Ref: Paul Tone.