Dominant first half gives Raharney the platform to down Dalton's
Slevin's Coaches Westmeath SHC: Raharney 2-20, Fr Dalton's 4-9
By Kevin Egan
Raharney have a win on the board, and Fr Dalton’s once again went toe-to-toe with a senior championship contender, and came away with a relatively narrow defeat. Something for everyone in the audience, some people might argue – but only if you weren’t in attendance at TEG Cusack Park on Sunday evening.
Those who saw this game play out first hand got a very different story, as the Ballymore men were miles adrift for long stretches, and they only came back into the game when they plundered a string of late goals, in no small part due to some comically poor defending under a high ball from the boys in blue.
Raharney supporters walking out of the county grounds would feel that huge improvements are needed at both ends of the ground if they are to secure knockout hurling, never mind get back to a county final, while Fr. Dalton’s fans will feel that the positivity that they took from their clash with the county champions in round one has evaporated considerably, particularly in light of the 20 minutes before half-time, when they were completely over-run.
In the early stages, Eamon Gallagher’s side certainly seemed to carry that momentum into this tie, even after Devin Hill kicked the ball to their net to make it 1-2 to 0-1 in Raharney’s favour after five minutes.
Brian Finerty (twice) and Ivan Smyth fired over as they cut the gap back to two points, and generally seemed like they were capable of matching their opponents in the middle third of the field.
That all changed as Killian Doyle began to wield his influence, with Ciarán chipping in with a close-range, scrappy goal that was arguably even more valuable than a top drawer finish, as Fr. Dalton’s passed up three excellent chances to clear their lines, ensuring maximum psychological damage.
By half-time, Raharney had made hay. They were 2-13 to 0-5 clear, and the contest was done and dusted, even though there were warning signs in their full back line.
Ivan Smyth sprinted clear of the defence and flicked the ball over the head of the advancing Aaron McHugh, but he just put a fraction too much power onto it and the ball nestled on top of the net, rather than into it. Enda Kincaid and Jack Duncan both missed chances to score through ground pulls, while Brian Finerty managed to cut in the from the right and dummy the keeper, but was subtly nudged in the back as he attempted to shoot, and the danger was cleared.
Those warning flags weren’t heeded, and while it never looked like Fr. Dalton’s would reel in their opponents, the reigning Senior B champions succeeded in plundering four second half goals, matching their tally from last week.
Three of the four came from high balls into the Raharney square, with Enda Kincaid and John Gilligan both scrambling the sliotar over the line from close range, while a foul on Owen McCabe under the dropping ball meant that he was able to add a goal from a penalty to the 20 metre free that he had already crashed to the net.
At the other end of the pitch, Eoin Keyes struck a highlight reel point on the run as he crowned an impressive burst of acceleration with an equally stylish finish, but that was to be the only Raharney point in the second half that didn’t come from Killian Doyle’s stick. Some of that was no doubt due to a sense that the job was done, and on the evening in question, they were right.
When it comes to the championship as a whole however, the 2021 Westmeath Examiner Cup winners still have a fair bit to do if they’re to put themselves properly in the mix.
Man of the match: Killian Doyle (Raharney): His 15-minute cameo against Castlepollard proved his value to this side, and while it’s hard to say for certain that Fr Dalton's would have taken something from this game if the county star wasn’t available for selection, you certainly couldn’t say for certain that Raharney would have got over the line without him.
Key moment: Perhaps if Fr. Dalton’s had stayed in touch a little bit longer, they might have caused Raharney to sweat a little bit more. For that reason, their defensive calamities that led to Ciaran Doyle’s goal were hugely consequential.
SCORERS - Raharney: K Doyle 0-16 (13f), C Doyle 1-1, D Hill 1-0, E Cunneen 0-1, E Keyes 0-1, J Boyle 0-1. Fr Dalton’s: O McCabe 2-1 (1-1f, 1-0 pen), B Finerty 0-5 (0-3f, 0-1 65), E Kincaid 1-0, J Gilligan 1-0, I Smyth 0-2, J Kearney 0-1.
RAHARNEY: Aaron McHugh; Darren Finn, Conor McKeogh, Gary Greville; Brian McHugh, Robbie Greville, Michael Doherty; Eamon Cunneen, Rory Keyes; Joey Boyle, Brian McGrath, Eoin Keyes; Devin Hill, Killian Doyle, Ciaran Doyle. Subs used: Eoghan Aherne for Boyle (20-26 mins, temp), Eoghan Aherne for C Doyle (45), Neil Carty for McKeogh (50)
FR DALTON'S: Eoin Moran; Brian McCabe, Eoin Ryan, Ronan Hanley; Seán Keena, Jack Kearney, Pádraig Nestor; John Gilligan, Sam Maxwell; Enda Kincaid, Kieran Martin, Ivan Smyth; Owen McCabe, Brian Finerty, Jack Duncan. Subs: Ciaran Finerty for Nestor (58), Conor McNeill for Martin (59), Seán McCabe for Hanley (59), Ronan McLoughlin for Maxwell (60+1).
REFEREE: Mick Murtagh (Clonkill).