Fleming's late free earns Coralstown/Kinnegad draw with Athlone

Coralstown/Kinnegad 0-10, Athlone 0-10

Gerry Buckley

Coralstown/Kinnegad came from three points down at the end of the third quarter to earn a share of the spoils with Athlone in the first leg of last Sunday afternoon’s Westmeath senior football championship double-header in very pleasant conditions at TEG Cusack Park.

This game never reached any great heights and a draw will probably please both managers in the final analysis. Some of the shooting was poor, with last year’s losing finalists in red and white particularly culpable in this regard.

Both teams shot a wide apiece in the opening minute, with Paschal Kellaghan’s charges adding another brace during the ensuing two minutes. They eventually found the target in the fifth minute when David Giles’ shot just squeezed inside the post. Scores were at a premium at this juncture, but the pre-match underdogs managed to raise two white flags between the tenth and 13th minutes, courtesy of Kieran Colclough (a well-struck 40-metre free from the ground) and a fine score by Mark Egan (rounding off a good move). The respective number 14s, Darren Giles and Stephen O'Connor, traded points from play, leaving the Shannonsiders ahead by 0-3 to 0-2 midway through the first moiety.

Darren Costello did very well to keep out a Brían Cooney piledriver in the 17th minute, and Shane Fleming was unable to find the net from the rebound. The latter player went on to miss the resultant ‘45’. Either side of two Cooney shots dropping short, Benny Martin doubled Athlone’s lead in the 23rd minute. Three minutes later, O’Connor pointed a routine free (moved in for dissent), with Darren Giles responding with a free in the second last minute of normal time. Fleming spurned a very good chance in added-time, leaving his side trailing by 0-5 to 0-3 at the interval.

Early wides at either end preceded Darren Giles’ second point from play in the 33rd minute. Fleming’s off-day with his shooting boots continued when he shot wide when a goal beckoned. Colclough and Cooney exchanged good points from play before a brace of successful O’Connor frees – the first award seemed soft – put Eoin Jordan’s men into what looked like a healthy three-point lead (0-8 to 0-5) with 45 minutes on the clock.

Eoin O’Brien reduced the gap with a point from an acute angle before Cooney shot narrowly wide with a goal as his target. Coralstown/Kinnegad led for the first time in over 50 minutes with four minutes of normal time remaining, courtesy of three unanswered points from the boots of sub Dan Leech (a quality score) and a Fleming brace (a great score from play and a good free from the ground).

Daniel Reid equalised neatly, and Michael Byrne edged the men in light blue and white ahead with a fisted point in the 59th minute. Their colleague Josh Kenny was black-carded on the hour mark. A minimum of four minutes’ added-time was announced, and in the second of these Fleming more than atoned for some earlier misses with a great free conversion from 45 metres.

Both teams had chances to win the day, with O’Connor smothered when he had a half-chance of an Athlone goal, Cooney missing a good opportunity in the ensuing passage of play and sub Callum Cruise kicking a poor wide with time almost up.

Man of the match: Mark Egan (Athlone). In truth, there were very few standout performers on either side, but Egan looked lively any time the ball came his way.

Talking point: Corlastown/Kinnegad, last year’s defeated Flanagan Cup finalists, have yet to ignite in this campaign. For their part, Athlone have looked more solid than was the case in 2023.

Scorers – Coralstown/Kinnegad: S Fleming (2f), Darren Giles (1f) 0-3 each, E O’Brien, David Giles, B Cooney, D Leech 0-1 each. Athlone: S O’Connor 0-4 (3f), K Colclough 0-2 (1f), M Byrne, B Martin, D Reid, M Egan 0-1 each.

Athlone: Darren Costello; Conor Rushe, Josh Kenny, James Finlass; Michael Byrne, Diarmuid Martin, Kieran Colclough; Benny Martin, Ray Connellan; Stephen Flaherty, Shane Allen, Eamon Martin; Mark Egan, Stephen O’Connor, Daniel Reid. Subs used: Shane Reid for Egan (inj., 48), Paddy Ryan for Rushe (inj., 55).

Coralstown/Kinnegad: Stephen McNevin; Jason Lynch, Daniel Woods, Josh Gahan; Eoghan Bracken, James Maxwell, Eoin O’Brien; Brian McGrath, Liam Daly; Jack Torpey, David Giles, Brían Cooney; Shane Fleming, Darren Giles, Wayne Fox. Subs used: Dan Leech for Fox (43), Callum Cruise for Torpey (48), Ciaran Daly Jnr for McGrath (51).

Ref: Barry Nea (Killucan).