Fr Dalton's, Southern Gaels and Castletown bid for county titles

By Kieran Galvin & Gerry Buckley

Hurling takes centre stage in Westmeath this weekend - with Fr Dalton's, Southern Gaels and Castletown-Geoghegan among the clubs bidding to win county titles.

Fr Dalton's of Ballymore take on Crookedwood in the Senior 'B' hurling final on Saturday at TEG Cusack Park (throw-in 4.30pm).

The Ballymore side defeated Brownstown 3-14 to 1-13 in their opening championship game, with Owen McCabe scoring 2-2. Then a 1-18 to 0-8 victory over Raharney's second team clinched a semi-final place, Ronan McLoughlin contributing eight points for Fr Dalton's.

With McCabe again impressive, Fr Dalton's got the better of St Brigid’s in the last four (3-9 to 1-11), while Crookedwood edged out Brownstown (1-17 to 2-12) in a thrilling contest in the other semi-final.

The winner of Saturday's final will take their place in the top tier of Westmeath hurling in 2021.

On Sunday, Southern Gaels travel to Castletown-Geoghegan to face Clan na Gael (a combination of Castlepollard and Brownstown) in the U-17 Division 2 hurling final (throw-in 12.00). Last year, largely the same group of Southern Gaels players won the Westmeath U-16 Division 2 crown.

The Southern Gaels management team is Tom Murphy, Martin Geary, Cormac Ó Súilleabháin and Tony O'Keeffe, while the team is captained by Cian McCarthy.

The Athlone side has made considerable progress at underage level in recent years and, last weekend, they defeated St Vincent's in the U-13 Division 3 hurling final (see report in this week's Westmeath Independent).

Meanwhile, the Westmeath senior hurling final takes place on Sunday (TEG Cusack Park, 4pm) as Castletown-Geoghegan attempt to prevent Clonkill from completing a three-in-a-row. It's a repeat of last year's final which Clonkill won 2-16 to 1-16.

Clonkill are on top of the Westmeath senior hurling roll of honour with 16 titles, one ahead of Brownstown, while Castletown have 13 crowns to their credit. Castletown's last title came in 2017, having defeated Raharney in that year's final.

Plunkett Maxwell from Rosemount is part of the Castletown panel and he scored 1-2 in the semi-final win over Castlepollard. Westmeath footballer David Lynch also plays hurling with Castletown, who will be looking for big displays from the likes of Liam Varley, Aonghus Clarke and Niall O'Brien.

"It will take a massive effort to beat Clonkill," said O'Brien in the lead-up to Sunday's final. "They are a very seasoned team. They have a lot of experience and have a couple of young lads now. We are going to try and stop them getting the three in-a-row as best we can.”

Understandably, O'Brien (a son of team manager Pat) would like if more spectators were permitted at games in these very strange times. Overall, however, he is philosophical. “When you are playing a game and very focused on it, you don’t really notice the crowd much, or hear much other than what the players on the field are saying. When there are 200 in there, they are loud enough anyway. They still make a nice bit of noise. It hasn’t affected me or any of the players, from what I have heard,” he reflected.

Castletown will be without team captain Neal Kirby, who is on duty in Syria with the Defence Forces, while Shane Clavin seems unlikely to line out.

If Clonkill win on Sunday, Brendan Murtagh will become the first player ever to receive the Westmeath Examiner Cup three times.

Murtagh has the height of respect for Clonkill’s opponents in the eagerly-awaited decider. “Castletown have match-winners all over the field. It’s going to be hard to contain them. Obviously, they are going to try to contain us as well. Whoever does that better will win, I suppose. When they get into a rhythm, they get scores very freely. We’ll be trying to stop them getting into a rhythm and limit them as much as we can,” he stated.

Brendan has an interesting take on the new arrangements for players before, during and after games. “What I find tough is the lack of the dressing room. It was good when lads were in a pre-match routine and you got your bit of physio done. There are no team talks now, and it’s just not as personal outside on the pitch. I find that strange. Now that 200 spectators are allowed, there is a bit of a cheer. In the semi-final, you’d hear them when there was a score. But I feel for supporters who have always gone to finals who won’t be allowed in next Sunday,” he said.

Niall Mitchell’s injury, sustained while playing football with The Downs, robs Clonkill of a key player, with Murtagh describing his absence as “a huge loss".

“We’ve a huge task, there’s no doubt about it. Castletown-Geoghegan have been going very, very well,” Brendan added.

Castletown are also in the Under-17 Division 1 final, in which they face Raharney at 12.00, preceding the senior decider.