Flat first half proves costly for Caulry
Coralstown/Kinnegad 1-8, Caulry 0-6
by Gerry Buckley
The senior footballers from Coralstown/Kinnegad are back in the Flanagan Cup final after a 25-year wait following last Sunday’s hard-earned semi-final win against Caulry in very difficult conditions for football at TEG Cusack Park.
In truth, the South Westmeath outfit, appearing in the penultimate round for the first time since 1946, never raised a gallop in the first half with just two converted frees to show for their efforts. However, inspired by a brace of great points from Westmeath panellist Conor McCormack, they threatened to cause a shock as the game progressed.
Overall, however, Coralstown/Kinnegad were totally deserving winners, albeit their reward is a somewhat dubious one with an October 1 clash against unbackable favourites St Loman’s on the horizon, the Mullingar blues set to appear in the Lake County football showpiece for the tenth time in 11 years when they take on the side managed by Jack Cooney and Pascal Kellaghan.
Scorers – Coralstown/Kinnegad: B Cooney 1-2 (0-1f), Darren Giles 0-2 (1f), L Daly, J Macken, W Fox, S Fleming 0-1 each.
Caulry: C McCormack 0-3 (1f), S Baker 0-2 (2f), D Dolan 0-1.
Coralstown/Kinnegad: Stephen McNevin; Ciaran Daly Snr, Daniel Woods, Ronan Doyle; Liam Daly, Jason Macken, Josh Gahan; David Giles, Darren Giles; Eoin O’Brien, Shane Fleming, James Maxwell; Dan Leech, Brían Cooney, Wayne Fox. Subs used: Jack Torpey for Leech (47), Eoghan Bracken for Fox (48), Callum Cruise for Fleming (55), Podge Quinn for Darren Giles (60+2).
Caulry: Jack Connaughton; Ben Moran, Kevin Maguire, Sean Fox; Tadhg Baker, Eoghan Grennan, Damien Dolan; Stephen Connolly, Sean Clinton; Tiarnán O’Donovan, Conor McCormack, Paddy Sleator; Emmet Nally, Senan Baker, Alan Malynn. Subs used: Eoin Fox for Clinton (h-t), Luke Buckley for Malynn (h-t), Oisín Shortall for Nally (53), Sean Murphy for Dolan (58), Aaron Rourke for O’Donovan (60).
Ref: Barry Pierce (St Mary’s, Rochfortbridge).
Man of the match
Brían Cooney (Coralstown/Kinnegad). His goal was superbly taken and his two points were also crucial, while he worked tirelessly in unselfish defensive duties for good measure.
Key moment
Cooney’s 23rd-minute goal gave Coralstown/Kinnegad a little breathing space during the remainder of a low-scoring game.
Talking point
Can Coralstown/Kinnegad put it up to unbackable favourites St Loman’s in the final? It will take a degree of improvement to defeat Paddy Dowdall’s impressive troops.
READ FULL MATCH REPORT IN OUR PRINT EDITION ON WEDNESDAY