McNicholas and Williams ease Gaels past Fr Dalton’s

Lough Lene Gaels 2-19, Fr Dalton's 0-8

The form team in this year’s Westmeath SHC ‘A’, Lough Lene Gaels, made it three wins out of three at TEG Cusack Park on Friday night with a comprehensive defeat of newcomers Fr Dalton’s.

Building up some vital score difference with their eyes on an automatic final spot, the Gaels led 0-10 to 0-4 at the short whistle before going on to dominate the second half.

Both sides were guilty of some poor shot selection in the first moiety, but in truth, there was only ever going to be one winner here. After the restart, the Gaels pulled away in style with some magnificent long-range scores from Derek McNicholas and Shane Williams, and both men helped themselves to goals as the Ballymore-based opposition wilted.

Joey Williams’s charges were two up after four minutes thanks to an opener from Marcus Kennedy and a ‘65’ from David Williams. At the other end, Ivan Smyth teed up Sam Maxwell for a shot at goal, but it was saved by Gaels ‘keeper Noel Conaty.

Smyth opened the Fr Dalton’s account in the fifth minute, but after another quarter of an hour the Gaels had established a 0-7 to 0-2 lead, with David Williams (two frees), the lively Marcus Kennedy (two more from play) and Jason Malone raising flags for the Collinstown side, and Jack Duncan firing over for Fr Dalton’s.

Some decent goal chances followed for both sides, with Derek McNicholas fizzing a low drive across the face of goal, and Owen McCabe (Fr Dalton’s) crashing a spectacular shot off the upright after doing well to win the ball. Fr Dalton’s played some of their best hurling at this stage.

Wides were clocked up at either end, but the Gaels had the lion’s share of opportunities and led by six at the break, with scores from McNicholas, David Williams (frees) and Jason Malone cancelling out a brace of frees from Brian Finerty.

Eamonn Gallagher’s troops emerged on the restart hoping to sneak an early goal and halve the deficit, but instead the Gaels extended their advantage to 11 with five consecutive points in six minutes from McNicholas (3) and Shane Williams (2). Four of these came from near the halfway line, emphasising the widening gulf between the sides.

David Williams (a free) and Brian Finerty (from play) traded scores before Lough Lene Gaels finally raised a green flag on 46 minutes. The former played a superb cross-field ball to Shane Williams, who smashed it to the net to make it 1-16 to 0-5.

Williams struck the crossbar moments later, and on 50 minutes Derek McNicholas got in ahead of Fr Dalton’s netminder Eoin Moran to win a long ball, before showing tremendous skill and agility to turn and scoop the sliotar over the bar.

David Williams added a free for the Gaels – his sixth point – and when the second goal duly arrived, there was an air of inevitability about it. This time, McNicholas stole in behind the Fr Dalton’s defence to net from close range, taking his tally to 1-5. Earlier in the half, the veteran Westmeath star briefly retired with a hand injury, but re-emerged in determined fashion.

Shane Williams wrapped up the scoring for the Collinstown outfit on 54 minutes with a classy puck from the left wing, before the men in purple and gold eased off the gas.

Brian Finerty tacked on three frees for Fr Dalton’s, who lost forward Owen McCabe in the dying embers to what appeared to be a shoulder injury. This was unwelcome salt in the wounds left by a difficult evening for the south Westmeath side, who have now lost three games on the trot.

Man of the match: Derek McNicholas (Lough Lene Gaels). It was a tough choice between McNicholas and Shane Williams, both of whom cranked up the gears for the Gaels in the second half. McNicholas’s experience was invaluable however, and he shook off a hand injury to finish the game with 1-5.

Key moment: Not so much a moment, but moments: the three superb long-range scores from McNicholas and Williams (2) in the early minutes of the second half killed off this contest.

Scorers - Lough Lene Gaels: D McNicholas 1-5 (0-1f), S Williams 1-3, D Williams 0-6 (5f, 1 ‘65’), M Kennedy 0-3, J Malone 0-2. Fr Dalton’s: B Finerty 0-6 (5f), I Smyth and J Duncan 0-1 each.

Lough Lene Gaels: Noel Conaty, Daniel Reilly, Dan Higgins, Jordan Williams; Philip Reilly, Daragh Qamar, John Egan, Brendan Doyle, Micheál Daly, David Williams, Shane Williams, Eoin Daly, Derek McNicholas, Marcus Kennedy, Jason Malone. Subs used: Thomas Kennedy for Higgins (inj., 7), Warren Williams for E Daly (51), Ciaran Lynch for D Williams (54), Kevin Hogan for Doyle (57), Johnny Dermody for Malone (60).

Fr Dalton’s: Eoin Moran, Eoin Ryan, Brian McCabe, Seán McCabe, Seán Keena, Jack Kearney, Pádraig Nestor; Conor McNeill, Sam Maxwell; Enda Kincaid, John Gilligan, Ivan Smyth; Owen McCabe, Brian Finerty, Jack Duncan. Subs used: Ronan McLoughlin for McNeill (44), Ciaran Finerty for Maxwell (51), Kenneth Kincaid for E Kincaid (54), Luke Smyth for O McCabe (inj., 59).

Ref: Barry Nea (Turin).