It’s nearly impossible to win Four-in-Row County football titles in Westmeath …
On Friday 5 December, the Mullingar Shamrocks Dinner Dance will be held in the Park Hotel, Mullingar where our Four-in-a-Row County Senior Champion team of 1992-1995 team will be celebrated. It’s an achievement worth recognising in normal circumstances but in the context of Westmeath football the achievement is particularly significant.
Mullingar Shamrocks is a very different club in 2025 than it was in 1995 and in fact many of our most active members were still in primary school when the fourth successive title was landed. So its important to provide a bit of context for our current members.
The Four-In-A-Row Club is the elite group of Westmeath football clubs and is a club of just three members, Riverstown Emmets, Athlone and Mullingar Shamrocks. Many great teams have dominated the Westmeath club scene over the years but only three have been strong enough to remain unbeaten over four championship campaigns.
Rosemount (twice), Kinnegad, The Downs, Garrycastle and St Loman’s have won three successive titles but were unable to add a fourth to the sequence.
The great Riverstown Emmet's team from the Killucan area of the early 1900s was the first club to attempt the feat but they fell short at the final hurdle in 1909 when they were defeated by Athlone on an 0-4 to 0-2 score-line following a replay. The Riverstown men recovered from the setback and won county titles in 1910, 1911, 1912 and in 1913 completed the first four-in-a-row title winning sequence beating The Downs comfortably in the final (1-4 to 0-1). The drive for five began for the Riverstown men (before the phrase was invented, no doubt!) and was completed with The Downs again going under in the 1914 final, this time on a 2-1 to 1-1 score-line. The Riverstown Emmet's record of eight championship titles over a nine year period is unmatched in Westmeath football as is the club’s record of playing in 12 successive finals.
Rosemount won three successive titles between 1939-1941 but were eliminated before the county final stage in 1942 when Milltown won the title. Kinnegad were next in line but their loss to Athlone in the 1947 final (2-9 to 2-3) cost them their special place in Westmeath football's elite family. Rosemount also fell short in 1954 after winning titles in 1951, 1952 and 1953. However, Athlone then stepped up to the plate in style and dominated Westmeath football in the second half of the 1950s. The fourth successive championship title was secured in 1958 when the Mental Hospital were defeated (0-9 to 0-8). Sean Dempsey played a key three point-scoring role in this final. The same Sean Dempsey was chairman of Mullingar Shamrocks when the club won the county title in 1986 and on last Sunday we honoured Sean’s memory when we staged the Sean Dempsey Festival of Football; Athlone extended their winning run in 1959 and 1960 to make it six successive titles. Alone they stand in the history of Westmeath football; the club's magnificent feat has never been equaled.
The Downs powerful squad of the late 1960s-1970s landed the three-in-a-row titles (1968-1970) but were eliminated in 1971 prior to the county final stage. Four successive titles also proved to be a mission impossible for the great Garrycastle team of the 2000s but the club came very close to joining the elite group. After losing to Castledaly in 2008, Garrycastle rebounded and defeated St Loman's in 2009 and Mullingar Shamrocks in 2010 and 2011 after a replay. However they were edged out by Shamrocks in the 2012 final replay by a single point (0-12 to 1-8).
St Loman’s record of playing in 10 successive finals in recent times is without equal but the club’s attempt to join the four-in-a-row club ended at the county final stage in 2018 when Mullingar Shamrocks came out on top in the never-to-be forgotten first all-Mullingar final on a 2-12 to 1-11 scoreline. Sean Dempsey’s grandson Shane, was a member of the St Loman’s side.
Mullingar Shamrocks county final victories on the road to winning the four began in Athlone in 1992 when the home side were defeated 0-14 to 0-4 with our current Minor Board chairperson Ollie Keating leading the Athlone challenge. Rosemount were defeated in 1993 (0-13 to 0-4), Tyrrellspass (1-14 to 0-9) in 1994 and Rosemount again in 1995(0-18 to 1-7).
The team was managed by Gerry Nohilly with Tom Hunt and Paddy Dunne the selectors. Ritchie O’Donoghue managed the team in 1992-1994 and of course was in charge since 1985 during which time championship titles were also won in 1986, 1987 and 1990. Patrick O'Reilly played with Riverstown Emmets in the finals and was also a member of the Emmett's team that won a senior hurling title. Patrick O'Reilly is Paddy Dunne's grandfather and apart from his management role in 1995, Paddy was a playing member of the champion Mullingar Shamrocks team in 1986 and 1987 and is never far away when Mullingar Shamrocks are in action on or off the field.
Mullingar Shamrocks lined out as follows in the 1995 final: Dermot Ryan; Ned Moore (Captain), Brian Lawlor, Paul Aherne (Paddy Monaghan); Michael ‘Spike’ Fagan, John Conlon, Bill Sex (0-1); Tom Ormsby, Kevin Cahill (0-1); Eddie Casey (Aidan Lyons), Kieran Ryan (0-1), Denis Corroon (Eric Smyth, 0-1); Bernard Flynn (0-10), Mark Treanor (0-3), Michael O’ Reilly (0-1).
Ten players played in all four finals: Dermot Ryan, Ned Moore, Michael ‘Spike’ Fagan, John Conlon, Bill Sex, Tom Ormsby, Kieran Ryan, Denis Corroon, Bernard Flynn and Michael O’ Reilly.
But for Matt Scally's heroics this sequence might well have equalled the Athlone six-in-a-row as the big goalkeeper was superb in his team's 1-9 to 0-9 victory against the defending champions, Mullingar Shamrocks, in the 1991 final.
After the semi-final results, it will be at least four more years before there is an addition to the Westmeath Four-in-a-Row Club.
