Clara advance to last four in fractious affair

Clara Town 2 Mullingar Athletic 1

By Connla McCarthy

Clara Town booked their place in the Paddy Cotter Cup semi-finals in an eventful and controversial match against Mullingar Athletic on a cold Saturday evening under the Gainstown floodlights.

Clara held a two-goal advantage at half-time, thanks to early strikes from Rob Bracken and Josh Fleming. Despite heavy pressure from the hosts and a well taken Neilas Vilkauskas penalty in the 65th minute, the visitors held on to their advantage.

Despite the half-time scoreline, one could argue that it was a pretty even opening half of football. Luke Dignam had an early strike for Clara blocked, and the offside flag was raised once Robbie Archbold had played in Nathan McCullagh for Mullingar. Adam Kelly also had a cross go too close to the opposing keeper for his liking, but the first goal was soon to arrive.

In the tenth minute, Kelly’s lovely delivery found Alex Rooney in space and he toe-poked the ball past out-rushing Mullingar keeper John McCormack and this presented a chance for Rob Bracken, who was on hand to slide the ball into an empty net.

Mullingar had a great opportunity to strike right back moments later, when Nathan McCullagh’s lobbed cross had Neilas Vilkauskas through on goal, though he couldn’t get the ball over Gavin Fleming in the Clara goal. Two minutes later, McCullagh slid Robbie Archbold through the Clara defence, leaving him one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but Gavin Fleming denied Archbold, pulling off a double save by blocking a follow-up attempt from Andrew Evans.

In the 17th minute, Clara Town extended their lead when Rob Bracken’s corner found the head of Josh Fleming who made the net bulge. From here, the visitors had the bulk of the chances.

Rob Bracken, Alex Rooney, Luke Dignam, David Minnock all had efforts in an eight minute spell to get the third, while for Mullingar, Stephen Cleary’s volley from range was their sole opportunity during this time.

Both teams ended the half with further opportunities. Clara's Luke Dignam couldn’t keep his header under the crossbar, while McCullagh was foiled by Gavin Fleming to ensure the visitors held a 2-0 half-time lead.

There was little doubt as to who controlled the second half. The only chance the visitors had on goal was Bracken’s opportunity with ten minutes to go, which McCormack managed to sniff out.

As for Mullingar, chances came aplenty. McCullagh found Vilkauskas in the 56th minute with a beautiful ball, and the latter did everything right, toe-poking the ball over the goalkeeper, though the ball bounced agonisingly wide.

Eight minutes later, and Vilkauskas was in again from Jordan Scally’s pass, only to be fouled and awarded the penalty. The man who was fouled stepped up to slot home the penalty with conviction into the bottom right-hand corner to give Mullingar a lifeline. It was the reward they craved from their domination early in the second half.

Multiple crosses were attempted into the box for the hosts, but none could find their target. This was before things boiled over. Tensions had been rising during the match, so much so that the game was nearly called off after a lengthy stoppage. There were multiple factors involved in this: vocal and unsporting behaviour along the sideline, especially in the early stages; some contentious decisions by the referee; and the vocal passion of the crowd nearest the dugouts.

There were two red cards shown to John McCormack (Mullingar Athletic) and Josh Fleming (Clara Town). For the remainder of the match, the fans at the dugout side were asked to leave by the referee and tensions neared breaking point on the pitch.

After six minutes of delay, another eight minutes were played, before the referee brought things to a close. In the end, it was Clara who advanced to end the Paddy Cotter Cup hopes of Mullingar Athletic.

Man of the match: Josh Fleming (Clara Town).

Clara Town: Gavin Fleming; Adam Kelly, Tomas Devine, Pa Smith, Ciaran McGuinness; David Minnock, Lee Tierney, Luke Dignam; Josh Fleming, Alex Rooney, Rob Bracken. Subs: Stephen Deehan for T Devine (58 mins), Neil Robbins for A Rooney (67), Victor Sonzaltz for R Bracken (83).

Mullingar Athletic: John McCormack; Hayden Nolan, Andrew Evans, George Ayibiowu, Ben Treanor; Ryan Bitu, Robbie Archbold, Jordan Scally; Nathan McCullagh, Stephen Cleary, Neilas Vilkauskas. Subs: Ben Shaw for R Archbold and Tito Oluwaurmedad for H Nolan (57 mins), Mohammed Mohammed for S Cleary (69) Simon Jorgenson for N McCullagh (81), Eoin Darby for A Evans (95).

Referee: Des McEnery.