Egan inspires sky blues as heslin shoots down malachys

 

Shay Murtagh Precast Westmeath Senior Football Championship Round-up

Tyrrellspass 0-11 Killucan 0-9

A scrappy first leg of last Sunday’s Westmeath SFC double-header in Cusack Park finished with Tyrrellspass edging out Killucan with just two points to spare in this Section A encounter.

Both sides struggled to find any type of rhythm in the opening quarter. Despite having played against the wind, the men in sky blue and navy 0-4 to 0-3 ahead at the interval. Much of the shooting from both sides remained erratic on the change of ends. Indeed, converted frees at either end by Ger Egan and Paul Greville were the only scores of a poor third quarter, while an element of nastiness had crept into proceedings - some of which might have been more firmly dealt with by the referee.

The actual football on offer belatedly improved at this juncture with Killucan’s Joey Boyle making an instant impact when sprung from the bench with a low-trajectory point, albeit a goal looked on. Denis Glennon then doubled his tally, with David Bryan doing well to deflect the ball over his crossbar.

Ger Egan rifled over two wonderful frees to put Alan Mangan’s troops three points clear (0-8 to 0-5), but Joey Boyle’s accurate high shot kept Killucan very much in the hunt. Conor Jordan was wide from a ‘45’ and Tyrrellspass took full advantage by pointing twice in a minute, courtesy of Denis Glennon and Philip Sheridan. With Denis Glennon scoring his fifth point of the evening, the men from the Tidy Town hung on for a deserved win.

Man of the match
Ger Egan (Tyrrellspass). The Westmeath captain worked tirelessly throughout, as is his wont for club and county. His Lake County colleague, Denis Glennon finished the game strongly.

Key moment
Killucan’s Joey Boyle did very well on his introduction, but may well have goaled rather than pointed with his first touch in the 47th minute had he been given the opportunity to settle into the game.

Scorers
Tyrrellspass: G Egan (4f) and Denis Glennon 0-5 each, P Sheridan 0-1. Killucan: P Greville 0-4 (4f), J Boyle 0-2, C Jordan, C Boyle (f), and J Carroll 0-1 each.

Tyrrellspass: Darren Quinn; Ben Gavin, Eoghan O’Neill, Jamie Gonoud; David Jessop, Brian Slevin, Philip Sheridan; Valentinas Sizychas, Ger Egan; Aaron O’Brien, Denis Glennon, Gavin Hoey; Conor Slevin, Dean McNicholas, David Glennon. Subs: Adrian Corcoran for Jessop (50), Joe Hyland for C Slevin (50), Shane Arthur for B Slevin (60 + 1), Nigel Harte for Sheridan (b/c, 60 + 2).

Killucan: David Bryan; Mickey Boyle, Frank Boyle, Niall Flanagan; Tony Doyle, Robbie Greville, Mark Glennon; Conor Jordan, Gary Greville; Cormac Boyle, James Nugent, Jason Gorman; Brian Smyth, Paul Greville, Dan Riggs. Subs: Joey Boyle for Gorman (46), Jack Carroll for G Greville (inj., 53).

Referee: Niall Ward (Garrycastle).

 

St Loman’s Mullingar 5-10 St Malachy’s 2-11

Milltown hosted its first ever SFC game on Sunday afternoon last and the beautifully appointed venue was rewarded with an excellent game which had the small attendance enraptured throughout.

St Loman’s are slightly flattered by their eight-point winning margin, but there is no doubt that they were the better side in this Section A fixture. And when the chips were down, their marquee players stood tallest, none more so than John Heslin who finished with 3-7 of a personal tally.

St Malachy’s for their part hung in well, and caused endless problems for the St Loman’s defence. But they missed too many chances, and it ultimately proved their downfall, as Loman’s claimed the points (and a first championship win for new manager Luke Dempsey) despite not being at their very best.

Scorers
St Loman’s: J Heslin 3-7 (0-3f, 1 ‘45’), S Dempsey 2-1, D Morgan and G Hickey 0-1 each. St Malachy’s: C Keegan 0-5 (5f), D McDermott 1-1, S Whelan 1-0, D Ruane and D Lynch 0-2 each, J Bermingham 0-1.

St Loman’s, Mullingar: Jason Daly; Neil O’Toole, Shane Flynn, Jason O’Toole; David Rushe, Gary Glennon, David Whelan; Adam Gaffney, Paul Sharry; David Morgan, Conradh Reilly, David Windsor; Shane Dempsey, John Heslin, Garret Hickey. Subs: Daragh O’Keeffe for Neil O’Toole (43), Kelvin Reilly for Hickey (53), Daniel Sheridan for Windsor (58).

St Malachy’s: Gary Jackson; Shane Carey, David Langan, Johnny Tuite; Eamonn Og Clarke, Liam Varley, David Lynch; David Lynam, Liam Cassidy; Neal Kirby, Darren Ruane, John Bermingham; Sean Whelan, Dean McDermott, Conor Keegan. Subs: Niall O’Brien for Bermingham (22), John Gallagher for Clarke (55).

Referee: Jim Rock (Coralstown/Kinnegad).

 

Mullingar Shamrocks 2-17 Bunbrosna 0-8

Sometimes a scoreline does not lie and this was certainly one of those games. Mullingar Shamrocks underlined their status as one of the firm favourites to regain the Flanagan Cup with an emphatic win against an outclassed Bunbrosna in this Section B clash at Cusack Park last Saturday evening.

Shamrocks stamped their superiority on proceedings inside the first five minutes when Sean Daly got on the end of a superb team move and slotted to the net for the opening goal. And even at this early stage, the game looked up for Bun’.

The underdogs had their best spell early in the second half and hit four without reply from Tormey (a free), Ronan Scally, Barry O’Mara and a Daragh Lyons free. But that was as good as it got, as Shamrocks then completely took over.

Seanie Daly started the onslaught with a beauty, followed by two Dean Moore frees. Then Ciaran Curley put the issue beyond any doubt when he cut in along the end line and fired an unstoppable shot to the net for a game-defining goal.
It seemed to steal any fight from Bun’, and Shamrocks came home with a wet sail, as the men in green and white laid down solid foundations with a clinical display.

Scorers
Mullingar Shamrocks: C Curley 1-5, S Daly 1-3 (0-1f), P Fagan and D Moore (3f) 0-4 each, S Quinn 0-1. Bunbrosna: D Lyons 0-3 (2f), B O’Mara and P Tormey (1f) 0-2 each, R Scally 0-1.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Philip Shaw; Eddie Moore, Kieran Gavin, Efe Siode; Alan Cashman, Killian Daly, Aaron Purcell; Denis Corroon, Anthony Clinton; Simon Quinn, Dean Moore, Seanie Daly, Patrick Fagan, Daragh Daly, Ciaran Curley. Sub: Paddy Joyce for S Daly (49).

Bunbrosna: John Casey; Conor Newman, Simon Moorhead, John Kiernan; Matt Coade, Conor Lyons, Finian Newman; Padraig Walsh, Aidan Finnan; Peter Tormey, Liam Mitchell, Ronan Scally; Barry O’Mara, Daragh Lyons, Fintan Finnan. Subs: Ken Conroy for Kiernan (h/t), Brian Maguire for Coade (51).

Referee: Damien Maher (Ballynacargy).

*See this week’s Westmeath Independent for reports and pictures from the Castledaly v Maryland, Garrycastle v The Downs and Caulry v Coralstown/Kinnegad Westmeath SFC games; Rosemount v Moate All Whites and Athlone v Shandonagh in the Westmeath IFC.