AC Celtic unable to withstand Tigers"

An awesome extra-time display from Mullingar Athletic Tigers, during which they scored a whopping eight goals in 20 minutes, was enough to see off the challenge of AC Celtic at Athlone Institute of Technology last Saturday afternoon. An equalising goal by AC Celtic"s Chris Roche deep into stoppage-time at the end of normal time had forced extra-time when it looked as though Mullingar would hold out for the win. But upon the resumption of play, Mullingar Athletic went goal-crazy as AC Celtic looked to have run out of steam, having fought so hard to force the equaliser. Mullingar had a number of big and powerful players in their ranks but it was one of the smallest players on the pitch, David Cosgrove, who proved to be their real danger-man. Cosgrove netted a hat-trick himself as well as being involved in everything good that his side did on the day. By the end of it all, it was a stroll in the park for Mullingar who were by far the superior side in terms of both physicality and skill. The first period of play was played largely at a slow pace but with Mullingar doing most of the pressing. Troy Malten went close on 8 minutes with a sweetly-struck free-kick that just rose too high over the cross-bar. Malten went close again a minute later with a solo run and shot that just missed the mark. It was all Mullingar but just before the end of the first period of play, it was, in fact, AC that very nearly took the lead. A throw-in by Roche fell to Oisin Langan on the edge of the Mullingar penalty area. He hit a first-time shot that had the "keeper beaten but unfortunately missed the post by a whisker. The second period of play wasn"t three minutes old when we had the game"s opening goal - and it fell to Mullingar. A run down the right wing by David Cosgrave saw him cross in to the middle where Joseph Newman was waiting unmarked. Showing good skill and awareness, Newman coolly slotted the ball to the bottom corner with the outside of his boot to give Mullingar a deserved lead. David Cosgrave continued to torment the AC Celtic defence and, within 5 minutes, he saw two of his efforts saved by Eric Lynch. Then AC Celtic hit back. First with a Shay Fox effort that flew just wide and then Fox again found himself with time to shoot having been played in by a clever flick by Shane Duffy. But his effort flew wide of the mark once again. Both sides had good chances to score before the next break in play but the score remained one-nil to the visitors going into the third and final period of play. But having seen their opponents dominate the majority of proceedings thus far, AC Celtic, now playing with a strong breeze at their backs, took the game to Mullingar in desperate search of the equalising goal. Chris Roche was first to go close with a narrowly off-target free-kick. Oisin Langan and Shane Duffy then spurned good opportunities before Roche again shot over the bar. Dean Murphy then tried his luck before, with the goal gaping, Timi Olatumji was just unable to connect with a Shane Duffy cross. It was a frantic finish to the game but just when it looked like Mullingar would hold out, Celtic struck, deep into stoppage time. With mere seconds remaining, Dean Murphy launched a hopeful ball forwards. And amazingly the Mullingar defence had gone asleep and left three unmarked players in the box. It was Chris Roche who accepted the responsibility, took control of the ball and slammed it low past Sam Gilmartin to send the game into extra-time. But having worked so hard to get back into the game, extra-time was to prove a cruel 20 minutes for AC. Mullingar now stepped it up a gear and within two minutes were back in front when a Ronan Burke shot was blocked down but the rebound fell to David Cosgrove, who slammed the ball high to the top corner. Less than 60 seconds later it was three-one. This time Matthew Willaby received the ball in midfield, skipped around a couple of challenges before finishing nicely to the bottom corner with a long-range shot. Three further minutes had elapsed when Troy Malten got in on the act with a goal of his own, finishing coolly having cleverly skipped around an AC challenge. Willaby then floated a beautiful pass to Cosgrove who poked the ball past the out-rushing goalkeeper to the bottom corner. Five-one at half-time in extra-time and it looked as though it couldn"t get any worse for AC. But it did as Mullingar were now finding it all too easy to break down Celtic"s defence. Willaby grabbed himself another goal two minutes after the restart and that was followed closely by David Cosgrove"s hat-trick goal - an easy finish after being put through by Troy Malten. Willaby then secured his hat-trick after receiving a pass from man-of-the-match Cosgrove and the two combined again in a final move that saw Willaby score his fourth of the game and make it nine-one to Mullingar. A merciless extra-time performance from Mullingar but AC can be happy with how they fought so hard in normal time to secure that equalising goal. In the end they looked out on their feet having put in such an effort. AC CELTIC: Eric Lynch, Joe Devery, Shay Fox, Chris Roche, Oisin Langan, Dean Murphy, Shane Duffy, Timi Olatumji, Dara Kenny, Joe Carmony. MULLINGAR ATHLETIC: Sam Gilmartin, Troy Malten, Ronan Burke, Brian Kavanagh, Joseph Newman, Matthew Willaby, Owen O"Donoghue, David Cosgrave, Dara Tone, Cathal Byrne, Charlie Fletcher, Mark Ronan.