Unbeaten St Loman's always in control against Caulry

St Loman's Mullingar 3-10, Caulry 3-6

Gerry Buckley

While their winning margin was just four points, Flanagan Cup favourites St Loman’s, Mullingar always looked in control against Caulry in TEG Cusack Park last Friday evening.

The upshot of what was a reasonably entertaining game is that Paddy Dowdall’s troops are firmly en route to the knockout stages, while Pat Flanagan has a mountain of work to do to keep his charges in contention, the two protagonists having respectively won and lost all three of their opening games in this year’s Westmeath senior football championship.

The wind-assisted champions could hardly have hoped for a better start, Ronan O’Toole’s right-footed point attempt in the third minute deceiving Jack Connaughton for a very soft goal. Danny McCartan – who had an outstanding first half – followed up with a very good pointed mark, before Senan Baker opened Caulry’s account in the sixth minute with an opportunist point.

However, the men in blue and white added three more unanswered points by the end of the opening quarter, courtesy of John Heslin (two frees) either side of another McCartan point (rounding off a patient move), to move six clear (1-4 to 0-1).

O’Toole (a great team score) and Alan Malynn (after uncertain goalkeeping from Jason Daly) soon traded points. Danny McCartan kicked a terrific point for the winners and he followed up with a classy goal in the 21st minute, finding the bottom corner of the net with aplomb after some fine build-up play. The gap was now ten points (2-6 to 0-2) and a mauling for the underdogs looked a distinct possibility.

To their credit, the South Westmeath outfit plugged away and a point from Damien Dolan (at the end of a well-worked move) preceded a glorious goal chance for Senan Baker, but he blasted the ball over the bar when a green flag looked certain in the 27th minute. Heslin slapped a half-chance of a goal wide at the other end, and in the last action of the half Malynn was wide from a ‘45’. St Loman’s, Mullingar led by 2-6 to 0-4 at the interval.

Shane Dempsey ought to have increased his side’s advantage within three minutes of the resumption, after a clever link-up with Heslin. TJ Cox pointed neatly some three minutes later, before Caulry got a lifeline when loose St Loman’s defending allowed Senan Baker and Malynn to combine for the latter to blast the ball to the net from close range.

However, the holders quickly tagged on a point from the boot of Dempsey and a marvellous individual goal from Sam McCartan, who took a pass from his brother Danny and duly scythed his way goalward before shooting the ball low past Connaughton. Tadhg Baker and Heslin (a tricky free) exchanged points, leaving St Loman’s, Mullingar ahead by 3-9 to 1-5 at the end of the third quarter.

Ben Moran pointed for the losers (after a Senan Baker shot had come back off the upright). Connaughton then saved smartly at the other end from Cox. In the 55th minute, Senan Baker found the net from point-blank range, seconds after his shot from a free had rebounded from the woodwork. Shortly afterwards, a dangerous lineball from Conor McCormack was cleared by the winners’ defence.

David Whelan pointed under pressure for St Loman’s with the 60 minutes almost elapsed. In added-time, Senan Baker doubled his goal tally in style after a clever turn, and the same player was denied a hat-trick with time almost up when he tried to blast a close-range free past a posse of blue-clad defenders.

Scorers – St Loman’s, Mullingar: D McCartan 1-3 (0-1mark), R O’Toole 1-1, S McCartan 1-0, J Heslin 0-3 (3f), D Whelan, TJ Cox, S Dempsey 0-1 each. Caulry: S Baker 2-2, A Malynn 1-1, D Dolan, T Baker, B Moran 0-1 each.

St Loman’s, Mullingar: Jason Daly; David Whelan, Darragh O’Keeffe, Oisín Hogan; Enda Gaffney, Jack Geoghegan, Sam McCartan; John Heslin, Kevin Regan; Rory Sheahan, Ronan O’Toole, Peter Foy; Danny McCartan, Shane Dempsey, TJ Cox. Subs used: Conor O’Donoghue for Foy, Nathan Lally for Dempsey (45).

Caulry: Jack Connaughton; Darren Hynds, Tom Cloonan, Damien Dolan; Eoghan Grennan, Sean Clinton, Olan Healy; Stephen Connolly, Ben Moran; Harry Stuart Trainor, Kevin Maguire, Tadhg Baker; Senan Baker, Conor McCormack, Alan Malynn. Subs used: Sean Murphy for Healy (38), Tiarnán O’Donovan for Stuart-Trainor (38), Emmet Nally for Dolan (48), John Maguire for Hynds (50), Shane Lawless for Clinton (58).

Ref: Enda Kelly (Castledaly).