Five-star Guerin show wins it for Brownstown

Brownstown 6-17, Southern Gaels 3-8

By Paul Hughes

BROWNSTOWN’S Brian Guerin ran riot with a quintet of goals as the Blues cruised to the Adrian Murray Cup with 18 points to spare against a disappointing Southern Gaels side at TEG Cusack Park on Saturday afternoon.

The Cork native was down to start at midfield but spent most of the 60-odd minutes of this IHC final tormenting the Southern Gaels full back line.

‘Has anyone ever scored five goals in a county final?’ was the question doing the rounds of Westmeath GAA headquarters on Saturday, and the answer is yes – Jimmy Byrne rattled in five goals for Rickardstown when they saw off Castletown Geoghegan in the 1959 senior hurling decider. But it goes without saying: it is a rare occurrence.

Incidentally, Rickardstown went on to win that final by a point north of double scores, and Brownstown achieved the same outcome on Saturday after they ruthlessly dispatched their limited Athlone opponents.

The Archerstown side led 3-9 to 1-3 at half-time after Guerin (2) and Emmett Cunneen found the net, while Guerin’s fellow newcomer Donal Lane impressed with four superb first-half points.

The Blues benefited from big displays right down the spine of the team – James Moore put in an agile display in goal; the experience of Conor Shaw, Philip Gilsenan and Cormac Foley counted at the back; and Patrick O’Reilly provided a terrific display in midfield.

Southern Gaels netted twice in the second half but Brownstown had far too much firepower for Tony O’Keeffe’s charges, who are back to square one in their search for a first intermediate title since 1986.

Brownstown led 0-3 to 0-1 after seven minutes as a hat-trick of superb points from Lane – the second after he seized on a poor puck-out – drowned out Johnny Martin’s fifth-minute score for the Athlone side.

A minute later, Guerin struck his first goal after being teed up by Conor Rice, and not long after that, the former turned provider, breaking down the ball for Emmett Cunneen to apply a simple finish.

Chulainn Dowd converted a 60-metre free for the Gaels but back came Brownstown with another swift 1-2. On the quarter-hour mark, after some great work from Patrick O’Reilly in midfield, Guerin got on the tail end of a long ball and smashed it to the net after outsmarting the Southern Gaels rearguard.

Jamie Fitzsimons (a fine effort) and Donal Lane then tacked on further scores to make it 3-5 to 0-2 with 17 minutes gone.

Dowd responded with a point from a difficult angle for Southern Gaels but Fitzsimons and Cormac Foley kept the scoreboard ticking over for the Blues with short and long-range frees respectively.

With a minute to go in the half, Dowd threw his side a lifeline by finding the net with a free from distance, and they might have been further lifted had Seán Dowd raised a green flag moments later, but he shot just wide.

Instead, Brownstown – who lost Conor Rice to an injury just before the short whistle – ended the half on top with scores from Foley (from 50 metres) and Fitzsimons (a free).

Southern Gaels badly needed a couple of early second-half goals but they continued to rely on frees from Chulainn Dowd, and he shot three in the third quarter to cancel out scores from Fitzsimons (two frees) and Tiernan Purcell.

However, Brownstown applied to the coup de grace to any lingering Gaels comeback hopes with a flurry of goals from Guerin. After a breathtaking move, he latched on to a pass from Niall Leonard to swat the sliotar to the net for his hat-trick on 43 minutes, and four minutes later, he won the ball of his own accord, beat two defenders and soloed his way to a fourth.

In between, Jamie Fitzsimons converted another free and Brownstown now led 5-13 to 1-6, and the game was effectively over as a contest.

Kevin Dolan (Southern Gaels) and Fitzsimons (from 50 metres) exchanged scores before a 50th-minute shot from the Gaels’ Eamon Martin found the top corner of James Moore’s net. Martin did well to mop up a long ball from Cian Geary before picking his spot.

The Shannonsiders barely had time to derive any joy from that strike before Brownstown hit back. Fitzsimons dispatched another free before Guerin eyed a ball over the top, caught the sliotar and soloed his way to the finish – goal number five for the man of the match.

Keeping their heads up, Southern Gaels rallied late on with a point from Seán Dowd and a goal for sub Fionn Dowd, who slotted home from close range after Brownstown failed to deal with a high ball. But the Archerstown contingent had the final say with superb points from Guerin and Tiernan Purcell.

At full time, Brownstown captain Conor Shaw received the Adrian Murray Cup from Frank Mescall, Westmeath GAA chairman.

Scorers – Brownstown: B Guerin 5-1, J Fitzsimons 0-7 (4f, 1 ‘65’), D Lane 0-4, E Cunneen 1-0, C Foley (1f) and T Purcell 0-2 each, N Leonard 0-1. Southern Gaels: C Dowd 1-5 (1-4f), E Martin and F Dowd 1-0 each, J Martin, K Dolan and S Dowd 0-1 each.

Brownstown: James Moore; Oisín Kiernan, Philip Gilsenan, Kenny Higgins; Cormac Foley, Conor Shaw, Anthony Mulvaney; Conor Rice, Patrick O’Reilly; Donal Lane, Emmett Cunneen, Tiernan Purcell; Niall Leonard, Brian Guerin, Jamie Fitzsimons. Subs used: Robbie Dugdale for Rice (inj., 30+4), Tom Flynn for Foley (51), Shaun Smith for Leonard (54), Rory Carolan for Kiernan (59), Stephen O’Farrell for Purcell (60).

Southern Gaels: Jonathan Keogh; Shane Galvin, Kieran Duncan, Diarmaid Murtagh; Cian Geary, Cian McCarthy, Dermot Treacy; Diarmuid Martin, Eamon Martin; Maurice Fitzgerald, Seán Dowd, Kevin Dolan; Johnny Martin, Seán Murphy, Chulainn Dowd. Subs used: MJ Kelly for Fitzgerald (34), Luke O’Connell for Treacy (34), Fionn Dowd for J Martin (42), Paul Hogan for Galvin (51), Eoin Hardiman for Murphy (55).

Ref: Seán Carroll (Cullion).