Westmeath SHC Final: Exciting encounter ends in a draw
Niall O'Brien impressed for Castletown Geoghegan. Photo by Tom Beary/Sportsfile
Westmeath SHC Final
Castletown-Geoghegan 1-23 Lough Lene Gaels 2-20
By Gerry Buckley at TEG Cusack Park
Castletown-Geoghegan and Lough Lene Gaels could not be separated in a pulsating Westmeath senior hurling final in Mullingar, the holders trying to win consecutive titles for the first time in 67 years and the challengers attempting to bridge a 23-year gap since their last success in 2002.
Heavy rain in Mullingar throughout the morning threatened a postponement of the Lake County showpiece – last year’s final between the same two teams ended prematurely on day one due to similar weather – and the minor final scheduled before the main event was cancelled as a precaution. As it transpired, however, conditions were quite pleasant and the pitch held up well.
There was very little between the two teams in the early stages and they were tied at 0-5 apiece after nine minutes, with Niall O’Brien and David Williams on song from placed balls at both ends. David O’Reilly grew into the game as the half progressed and he ended up with four points from play to his name, all of them quality scores, albeit the fourth on the half-hour mark should have been a goal.
Both goalkeepers were called into action to good effect, Ciaran O’Brien having to save smartly from Tommy Doyle on the quarter-hour mark, while Noel Conaty kept out Jack Gallagher’s shot some eight minutes later. Overall, the holders, who had the aid of a slight wind, were full value for their five-point lead (0-16 to 0-11) at the break.
The men from Collinstown wiped out this deficit within four minutes of the restart courtesy of two points from Williams’ placed balls (a ‘65’ and a free) followed by a well-taken goal from Tommy Doyle, better known as a defender. His brother Brendan then nudged the Gaels ahead, and it got even better for them in the 36th minute when Williams caught the holders’ defence – perhaps blinded by the sun – off guard to rifle a free to the net to put the underdogs ahead by 2-14 to 0-17.
Castletown-Geoghegan regained the initiative some three minutes later when a goalmouth scramble caused Conaty to deflect the sliotar into his own net as O’Reilly got ready to pounce. It was nip and tuck thereafter with the lead changing hands on a few occasions.
A superb Williams’ lineball levelled the scoring (2-17 to 1-20) in the 48th minute and the sides went on to exchange points on three further occasions before the referee blew the final whistle after the requisite two minutes’ added-time had been played, the last exchange in injury-time between the respective number 14s, Marcus Kennedy (his third from play) and O’Brien (a free).
Scorers for Castletown-Geoghegan: N O’Brien 0-15 (13fs, 1‘65’), D O’Reilly 0-5, N Conaty 1-0 (own goal), P Murphy, P Clarke, J Murphy 0-1 each.
Scorers for Lough Lene Gaels: D Williams 1-12 (1-7fs, 1s/l,1‘65’), M Kennedy 0-3, T Doyle 1-0, E Daly 0-2, M Daly, B Doyle, A Kennedy 0-1 each.
Castletown-Geoghegan: Ciaran O’Brien; Aaron Glennon, Naoise McKenna, David Maloney; Morgan Gavigan, Jack Murphy, Johnny Birmingham; Shane Clavin, Peter Murphy; Aonghus Clarke, Peter Clarke, Liam Varley; David O’Reilly, Niall O’Brien, Jack Gallagher.
Subs: Conor Murphy for Gallagher (46), Mick Heeney for P Murphy (60+1).
Lough Lene Gaels: Noel Conaty; Daire Daly, Dan Higgins, Philip Reilly; Micheál Daly, Daragh Qamar, John Egan; Brendan Doyle, Shane Williams; Derek McNicholas, David Williams, Tommy Doyle; Aaron Kennedy, Marcus Kennedy, Eoin Daly.
Subs: Jason Malone for McNicholas (42), Thomas Kennedy for D Daly (inj., 60).
Referee: Barry Nea (Clonkill).
