Athlone's Paul Bannon attempts to withstand a challenge from Garrycastle's James Dolan.

Daly's wonder strike seals victory for Garrycastle

Alan Daly has scored many fine goals for Garrycastle over the years, but he's surely never delivered a more spectacular strike than the one which sealed this latest victory over local rivals Athlone. Holding a four-point lead with just over six minutes left, Garrycastle put together a move which cut the Athlone defence open. Shane Mulvihill found Patrick Mulvihill whose pass across the goalmouth presented Daly with a goal chance. Daly's shot was well blocked by Athlone 'keeper Damien Fallon and the ball looped up in the air. Then, in a stunning piece of improvisation and skill, Daly swept the ball into the net with a spectacular scissors kick. The sheer audacity of the finish - something one might expect to see in the English Premier League - had the attendance in Tang gasping in astonishment. It also removed all doubt about the outcome of this Westmeath SFC contest. Garrycastle now have two wins from their two games and remain firmly on course to book their anticipated passage into the knockout stages. By contrast, Athlone have two defeats from their two matches and with games against Maryland, high flying Mullingar Shamrocks and The Downs to come, making the last six looks a tall order indeed. When Athlone's John Stapleton struck for the first goal of the game in the 47th minute, an upset very briefly looked on the cards. That gave Athlone a 1-6 to 0-8 lead, but Garrycastle's response showed the mark of champions. With the switch of Patrick Mulvihill to full-forward paying rich dividends, Garrycastle reeled off 1-6 without reply. Athlone only added to their tally with virtually the last kick of the game, Dermot McManus blasting a close-range free to the net in the depths of injury time. Although for the most part this game wasn't as niggly as last year's quarter-final between these local rivals, it was not without its controversial moments. Indeed, Athlone's Gary Quinn and John Connellan and Garrycastle's James Duignan all could have been sent off as a result of different incidents. The first score came from Dessie Dolan in the third minute, the Westmeath star pointing off his left foot. After Shane Mulvihill was unlucky not to hit the target, Patrick Mulvihill won the resulting kickout which led to a fine point by James Duignan. Athlone got off the mark in the eighth minute, John Connellan landing a superb free from 47 metres, after a foul on John Egan. But with Garrycastle much sharper in snaffling up the breaks around midfield, the Athlone attack had to live on scraps for long spells of the first half. With Garrycastle firmly in the ascendancy, a superb individual point by Shane Mulvihill (who got away from an attempted challenge from Paul Bannon) was followed by further white flags from Conor Cosgrove and Dessie Dolan, leaving the champions 0-5 to 0-1 ahead. On 13 minutes, John Connellan again showed his freetaking prowess, this time from the ground, to keep the men in blue and white just about in touch. In the 15th minute, James Duignan pointed off his left to restore his side's four-point lead. Yet Malachy Gately's charges fought their way back into the contest, with Fergal Murray and centre-back Damien Kelly steadying their defence. Athlone's first point from play came in the 16th minute, John Egan the scorer, following good work by several players, including Brian Fogarty and Joe Fallon. After Garrycastle full-back John Gaffey deflected the ball away from Dermot McManus at the expense of a '45', Connellan was again on target from the placed ball. In the 21st minute, Garrycastle had a gilt-edged chance to really stamp their authority on the game. Damien Fallon made a mess of a kickout and Garrycastle seized on the error, with James Dolan setting up a goal opportunity for James Duignan, However, Fallon redeemed himself with a fine save to keep his side in contention. Towards the end of the half, Dessie Dolan was penalised for overcarrying as he threatened a goal - in the follow-up, Dolan was shown a yellow card after an incident with his marker Gary Quinn. The latter had received a yellow card in the opening few minutes, seemingly for an off-the-ball challenge on Dolan. In a scrappy end to the half, David O'Shaughnessy won a couple of 'hop balls', before Noel Mulligan, who had a fine game for Athlone at wing-back, intercepted a Garrycastle attack, leaving the green and reds ahead by two at half-time (0-6 to 0-4). Within about 20 seconds of the restart, Dessie Dolan showed his undoubted class, winning the ball in the air ahead of Gary Quinn, before popping the ball over the bar. John Stapleton, who had worked hard at midfield, was switched to the Athlone forward line for the second period, with Aidan St John moving to the middle. Stapleton and Joe Fallon were involved in the move which saw Dermot McManus score one of the points of the game from an acute angle. In the 39th minute, a Joe Fallon free moved Athlone to within a point, following a foul by Doran Harte on the ever-dangerous John Connellan. After the industrious John Egan spurned a chance of an equaliser by shooting into the arms of Cathal Mullin, Seanie O'Donoghue intercepted an attempted handpass out of the Athlone defence and returned the ball with interest, driving it over the bar. But then came that goal which gave Athlone a real lift. A number of players were involved in a well-worked move, before Paul Bannon drove the ball goalwards. The ball was blocked but fell invitingly for John Stapleton, who had the relatively easy task of finishing a first-time shot to the net. Game on. Yet Garrycastle's response was mightily impressive. Within a minute, Dessie Dolan, now operating at wing-forward, set up Duignan for the equaliser. Damien Fallon then made a fine catch under pressure but spoilt his work by underhitting his handpass; Patrick Mulvihill seized on it and clipped the ball over for the lead. On 51 minutes, substitute Alan Daly blasted a loose ball over the bar when aiming for a goal. Forceful play by John Gaffey led to a splendid left-footed point by Patrick Mulvihill, and corner-back Alan Fox then earned a free-in which Dessie point. Suddenly, the game had virtually slipped from Athlone's grasp. Daly's incredible goal sealed Athlone's fate, before Patrick Mulvihill turned provider for Dessie to loft over another point. With the result now beyond doubt, the closing stages were quite bad-tempered. Doran Harte was incensed after he was injured in an incident involving John Connellan. Both Connellan and Harte were yellow-carded and the Garrycastle management decided to replace a pumped-up Harte, with Alan Fox re-entering the fray. There was still time for Athlone's Dermot McManus to blast a consolation goal from a 13-metre free, the full-forward managing to fire a shot through a thicket of bodies into the corner of the net. After the final whistle, Alan Daly was knocked to the ground and although this writer didn't see the incident, Gary Quinn appeared to be the guilty party. It was an unedifying end to an intriguing contest, but there could be no doubting that Garrycastle's extra class made them richly deserving winners. SCORERS Garrycastle: D Dolan 0-5 (1f); A Daly 1-1; J Duignan 0-3; P Mulvihill 0-2; S Mulvihill, C Cosgrove, S O'Donoghue 0-1 each. Athlone: D McManus 1-1 (1-0f); J Stapleton 1-0; J Connellan 0-3 (2f, 0-1 '45'); J Egan, J Fallon (f) 0-1 each. GARRYCASTLE: Cathal Mullin; Mark McCallon, John Gaffey, Alan Fox; Karl Henson, Doran Harte, Enda Mulvihill; Seanie O'Donoghue, David O'Shaughnessy; James Dolan, Shane Mulvihill, Patrick Mulvihill; Conor Cosgrove, Dessie Dolan, James Duignan. Subs: Alan Daly for Cosgrove (42 mins); Jonathan McGuire for S Mulvihill (57); Donovan Hermbusche for Fox (59); Alan Fox for Harte (60). ATHLONE: Damien Fallon; Andrew Lynam, Gary Quinn, Fergal Murray; Noel Mulligan, Damien Kelly, Adam Ward; John Stapleton, Paul Bannon; Aidan St John, John Connellan, Brian Fogarty; Joe Fallon, Dermot McManus, John Egan. Subs: Tom Egan for Ward (52 mins); Mickey Greene for Stapleton (56); Brian Mulvihill for Fallon (57). REFEREE: Sean Sheridan (Tyrrellspass).