Garrycastle gear up for ‘ding-dong’ battle with The Downs

Garrycastle manager Gary Dolan was naturally pleased with his side’s emphatic victory over Mullingar Shamrocks in last Sunday week’s Westmeath SFC quarter-final.

Most people expected a tight contest between two clubs who have had several close battles over the years but, as things transpired, Garrycastle cruised to a 3-14 to 0-8 victory.

“Yeah, I suppose a lot of people would have been ruling ourselves and Shamrocks out throughout the year. It was hard to believe with them winning in 2018 and us winning in 2019. They have great pedigree across the pitch but once we got on top, their challenge kind of died off. It was great to get the lead we did,” Dolan told the Westmeath Independent afterwards.

The decision to play Gary’s cousin James Dolan as an inside forward reaped rich dividends as he caused the Shamrocks defence all sorts of problems.

“He’s well able to win a ball and he’s well able to take a goal, we’ve seen that over the years with Westmeath and Garrycastle. He’s dynamic enough to move anywhere, he can work in any part of the pitch,” said Gary, who is joined on the sideline by John Keane, Franco Doolan and James Duignan among others.

With Tom O’Halloran scoring 1-3 and Alex Gardiner contributing 0-6, Dolan was happy with the way the forward line clicked. “We had so many forwards scoring today which is a big help. We could feel that performance coming for a while,” he said.

Although Garrycastle only won one of their five group games in Section A, Gary was still encouraged with aspects of their performances.

“There were some very good performances throughout the group stages. In the Loman’s game, there were some great patches. In The Downs game in Kinnegad, there were some very good patches. It was a very tight group, we’ve seen that over the years. We got out (of the group), that’s what it’s all about; we got to the quarter-finals and we’ll try to capitalise on it,” he said.

Mention of The Downs brings next Sunday's semi-final (TEG Cusack Park, 12.00) into sharp focus. The Downs eliminated Garrycastle at the quarter-final stage in 2020 and Steven Cleary’s charges also came out on top narrowly in that aforementioned group game in this year’s championship. Therefore, Garrycastle will be hoping that they can learn lessons from those defeats against a Downs outfit viewed as strong contenders for this year’s title.

“They have some fine footballers and they’re putting in a lot of work into their team up in The Downs, and they’re getting big numbers which is great for them. It’s going to be a good, ding-dong game; I’m sure it will be a tight battle,” Dolan remarked.

Dolan was pleased with the impact made by Garrycastle’s young players, such as Bill Kelly, against Shamrocks. “Bill is a great guy and so is Eoin Mul’ (Mulvihill) and Andrew Monaghan - they’re all young fellas. Jason Nugent and Cathal Mannion came on as well, they’re all very good footballers and that creates a headache for us,” said Gary, referring to selection dilemmas ahead of the semi-final.

As for any injury problems in the squad, Dolan said that Conor Cosgrove “is carrying a bit of an injury”. The Garrycastle camp will be hoping he can play some part in the clash with The Downs.

Westmeath GAA Fixtures

Saturday, October 30

Clarke's Bar Junior 1 FC Semi-Finals

Ballycomoyle v Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall, 1pm, TEG Cusack Park, Sean Carroll (standby referee: Barry Kelly, linesman: Ken Gunning, 4th official: JP Reynolds).

St Loman’s Mullingar v Bunbrosna, 4pm, Ballynacargy, Jim Rock (standby referee: Paul McCaughey, linesman: Ken Daly, 4th official: Declan Nugent).

Writech Intermediate FC Semi-Finals

Castledaly v Tang, 4pm, Páirc Chiaráin, Brendan Keena (standby referee: Pat Fox, linesman: Des McEnery, 4th official: Niall Ward).

Milltownpass v St Malachy’s, 4pm, TEG Cusack Park, Enda Kelly (standby referee: Keith O’Brien, linesman: JP Reynolds, 4th official Ken Gunning).

Junior 2 FC Semi-Finals

Caulry v The Downs, 4pm, Kilbeggan, Shane Maher (standby referee: Caymon Flynn, linesman: Gary Hurley).

Killucan v Moate All Whites, 4pm, Rochfortbridge, Mick Murtagh (standby Referee: Mick Gordon, linesman: Rob Cornally).

Sunday, October 31

Shay Murtagh Precast Senior FC Semi-Finals

The Downs v Garrycastle, 12.00, TEG Cusack Park, Declan Nugent (standby referee: Damien Maher, linesman: Shane Maher, 4th official: Alan Coyne).

St Loman’s Mullingar v Coralstown-Kinnegad, 3pm, TEG Cusack Park, Gary Hurley (standby referee: Alan Coyne, linesman: Enda Kelly, 4th official: Barry Kelly).

Under-15 Division Two Hurling Championship Final

Fr Dalton's v Southern Gaels, Drumraney, 3pm.