Kerrigan notches four as Tullamore romp to victory

Tullamore Town 6 Rosemount Mulvey 1 Tullamore made it ten goals in their opening two games with another swashbuckling performance as they swept aside their Dublin opponents in Leah Victoria Park last Friday. They started brightly playing a lovely brand of football that saw them on top in the first fifteen minutes without managing to create any clear-cut chances. Indeed, the visitors were first to threaten and were only prevented from taking the lead following a free kick by a wonderful double save from Martin Cunningham. Town then took complete control of the game with an amazing five minute hat-trick from in-form striker Francis Kerrigan. The first came on twenty minutes when he got on the end of a great Trevor Francis through ball to blast past the Rosemount keeper and, while the crowd were still celebrating, he added to his tally with a superb volley from the edge of the area. Within minutes he had completed his hat-trick when he out-paced the defence to send a lovely lob over the advancing keeper to put his side three up. On the stroke of half-time, the visitors had the ball in the net but it was ruled out for off-side as the first half ended with the home side three goals to the good. On the resumption, Rosemount tried manfully to get back in the game but, on 55 minutes, whatever hope they had evaporated when they were reduced to ten men following a striking incident. With Enda Carroll and David McMahon being introduced, Tullamore continued to press and went further ahead when, following a fine jinking run by McMahon, Carroll confidently swept the ball past the keeper for goal number four. Jason Pohl then sent a fine effort inches wide but, with 70 minutes on the clock, the prolific Francis Kerrigan broke clear in the inside right channel before rifling the ball into the far corner for his fourth goal of the game and his sixth in two matches. To their great credit Rosemount never gave up on the game and were rewarded with a consolation score in the 82nd minute when a cross from the right eluded the defence and nestled in the far corner of the net. But Town were to have the last word when Enda Carroll made it six with a fine individual goal, cleverly beating his marker before firing home. In what was a fine team performance there were outstanding contributions from Shane Colsh, Jason Pohl and Enda Carroll, but the man of the match award went to Town's four goal centre forward Francis Kerrigan. Despite his team's sensational start to the season, manager Kevin O'Connor will be mindful of the fact that there will be tougher games ahead, but for the moment it's very much a case of so far so good. TULLAMORE: Martin Cunningham, Stuart Kavanagh, Shane Colsh, Ken Doyle, David Gorman, Stephen Murray, Keith O'Connor, Jason Pohl, Trevor Francis, Jason Tyrell and Francis Kerrigan. Subs: Enda Carroll, David McMahon, Anthony Heffernan, Martin Ward, Seamus McEvoy, Pat McCarthy, Seun Akinboda. League of Ireland A Championship Tullamore Town's next game is at home to Galway Utd on Wednesday, 9th September, kick-off 8pm in Leah Victoria Park.