Dolan leads Castledaly to impressive win over Maryland

Castledaly 2-19 Maryland 0-13

By Gerry Buckley

A power-packed display in the second half was the key as Castledaly defeated neighbours Maryland by an unflattering 12-point margin in TEG Cusack Park last Sunday afternoon, thereby qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Peter Geraghty Cup.

The race for second spot in section B of the Westmeath intermediate football championship was a tight one and most Gaels expected this effectively winner-takes-all affair to be closely-fought. However, a combination of Castledaly’s better range of scoring forwards and possible Maryland fatigue after a midweek game saw Conor Foley’s troops pull away in some style in a one-sided second moiety.

Castledaly now meet Milltown in their quarter-final at the same venue tomorrow (Saturday), throw-in 2.30pm.

Dean Bracken’s charges dominated the opening exchanges but they had only Keith Malynn’s point after a clever Joe Harte free to show for it, as they kicked two early wides. Lorcan Dolan, who went on to have an outstanding game, equalised neatly.

The respective number 12s, Aaron Nugent and William Reynolds (a solo effort), then traded well-taken points. Adam Turley and Dan Heavin added points to leave the men in gold and green ahead by 0-4 to 0-2 at the end of a very entertaining opening ten minutes.

A trademark Kieran Martin thunderbolt halved the deficit via the crossbar. Dissent proved costly for the winners in the 13th minute when a moved-forward free for a two-pointer was superbly converted from the ground by the latter’s former inter-county colleague Callum McCormack to edge Maryland ahead. The men in blue and white soon spurned a goal opportunity because of a weak pass by Malynn. Another former Westmeath player Alan Stone equalised in style (0-5 each) approaching the end of the opening quarter.

Turley and Malynn (despite being pressurised) swapped points, but Castledaly swooped for five unanswered points between the 18th and 25th minutes via Nugent (a superb two-pointer), a quickfire and classy brace by Dolan, and a Heavin free (shortly after Dolan was denied a goal by Eoin Moran’s outstretched legs).

Harte almost got in for a Maryland goal, but his side finished the first half the stronger by outscoring their opponents by three points (a McCormack free, Malynn and Martin – a sensational score – both from play) to one (that man Dolan again). Castledaly led by 0-12 to 0-9 at the interval.

Maryland replicated their first half wastefulness on the change of ends before Malynn’s one-pointer from just inside the arc reduced the gap to two. A gifted point to Heavin was cancelled out by a McCormack free, and a ding-dong contest looked on the cards. However, Castledaly put serious daylight between the teams by scoring 1-5 without reply by the 48th minute.

Kevin Stone took Michael Lynch’s pass to score a terrific three-pointer in the 39th minute, while the points were shared between Dolan (two), Heavin (two – the second from a free), and Turley. They now led by 1-18 to 0-11.

Unsurprisingly, an air of inevitably permeated the crowd at Westmeath GAA headquarters throughout a disappointing final quarter. To their credit, Maryland kept plugging away and McCormack registered his first point from play before Harte was wide with a goal as his target. The same player then hit the upright from a scoreable free.

Aaron Sheerin fisted a point for the winners and all lingering doubts about the outcome were dispelled on the hour mark when Dolan turned provider for Turley to score a classy goal. Martin’s injury-time point was a mere consolation score for the losers.

Man of the match: Lorcan Dolan (Castledaly). Watching Westmeath manager Mark McHugh can’t but have been impressed with the winners’ number 15, who has been something of a fringe inter-county player of late. Dolan kicked six superb points from open play.

Scorers - Castledaly: L Dolan 0-6; A Turley 1-3; D Heavin 0-5 (2f); K Stone 1-0; A Nugent 0-3 (1tp); A Sheerin, A Stone 0-1 each. Maryland: C McCormack 0-5 (1tpf, 2f); K Malynn 0-4; K Martin 0-3; W Reynolds 0-1.

Castledaly - Cathal Dolan; Shane Fitzpatrick, Liam Fitzpatrick, Emmett Heavin; Jack Kearney, Michael Lynch, John Warburton; Aaron Sheerin, Alan Stone; Jamie Anders, Dan Heavin, Aaron Nugent; Adam Turley, Kevin Stone, Lorcan Dolan. Subs used: David Dolan for Lynch (47), Shaun Kerrigan for Anders (54), Oisín Egan for Nugent (60+1), Paul Costello for Sheerin (60+1).

Maryland - Eoin Moran; Christy Hermbusche, Kenny Kincaid, Kallum Nugent; Christy Grimes, Liam Moran, Ronan Aspell; Colm Seery, Callum McCormack; Keith Malynn, Kieran Martin, William Reynolds; Darren Malynn, Joe Harte, Enda Kincaid. Subs used: Cian Rainey for Nugent (35), Mark Malynn for E Kincaid (43), Brian Moran for K Malynn (57), Kevin Seery for D Malynn (60), David Rushe for Seery (60).

Referee - Sean Carroll (The Downs).