Tyrrellspass now in survival battle as Moate march on
Westmeath SFC: Moate All Whites 2-14 Tyrrellspass 1-12
By Gerry Buckley
Moate All Whites had their expected win against Tyrrellspass in the second game of last Saturday afternoon’s Westmeath football championships double-header on a resplendent – if understandably slippery – surface at TEG Cusack Park, in a game that won’t live long in the memory.
The upshot of what was often a poor spectacle is that the men in white look set to participate in the knockout phase in the race for the Flanagan Cup, while the Tidy Town outfit are in a real battle to retain senior status for 2027.
After Enda Monaghan’s charges had shot two wides in as many minutes, their opponents opened the scoring in the third minute via a routine free from Robbie Forde. His colleague Billy Berry was then almost in for a soccer-style goal, but there was to be denying the outstanding Forde in the tenth minute when he rounded off a splendid move by rifling the ball past Joe Hyland to put his side four points clear.
Dissent led to a straightforward free conversion by Evan Connell to open Tyrrellspass’ account in the 12th minute. Dylan Nulty was almost in for a Moate goal, but the Forde show continued on the quarter-hour mark when he neatly pointed with his left foot. To their credit, the men in sky blue and navy responded with three unanswered points between the 17th and 25th minutes, courtesy of Peter Pierson (when the ball fell kindly for him), another tidy point from the same player (shortly after Hyland had been narrowly wide from a ‘45’ from a difficult angle), and a delightfully-struck ‘45’ from Hyland.
However, Val Daly’s men replicated this three-point haul without reply in the closing stages of the first half, the scores coming from Berry (with his fist), a routine free from Forde (the offending Tyrrellspass player seemed fortunate to have avoided picking up a card), and Forde from play on the half-hour mark (seconds after a goal opportunity). Moate All Whites led by 1-5 to 0-4 at the interval.
Connell slotted over another free within three minutes of the resumption of play, but the winners quickly stretched their advantage with scores from Paul Gorman (a great two-pointer from near the terrace sideline), a single point by Tobby Conteh (a skillful effort), and a two-point free from Forde. Tommy Ryan kept Tyrrellspass just about in touch with a great two-pointer with the outside of his boot, but his side still trailed by 1-10 to 0-7 at the end of the third quarter.
A wonderful two-point free from Forde ensued (after an athletic piece of fielding by Conteh). A driving run goalward by Hagan Niall ended with newly-introduced Darragh Delaney being fouled inside the large parallelogram, and that man Forde converted the resultant penalty with aplomb in the 47th minute to put Moate 11 points clear and firmly on their way to a valuable brace of championship points.
A very loose pass from a Tyrrellspass free epitomized their woes. Hyland dissected the posts from a two-point free before the respective number 14s, Forde and Connell, traded points from frees.
With four minutes of normal time remaining, Pierson did well to find the net under pressure after making a fine catch, and a Connell free soon left the deficit at five points. In the closing stages, Delaney (after fielding the ball well) and the lively Pierson (at the end of a delivery by the returning – and influential – Nigel Harte) exchanged points.
Man of the match: Robbie Forde (Moate All Whites). The Westmeath panellist was by far and away the best player on show, as evidenced by his huge haul of 2-9.
Talking point: Tyrrellspass have, in many ways, punched above their weight at senior level in the Lake County this millennium, but they now look in real danger of dropping down to the intermediate ranks.
Scorers – Moate: R Forde 2-9 (1-0 pen, 3f, 2tpf), P Gorman 0-2 (tp), B Berry, T Conteh, D Delaney 0-1 each. Tyrrellspass: P Pierson 1-3, E Connell 0-4 (4f), J Hyland 0-3 (‘45’, tpf), T Ryan 0-2 (tp).
Moate All Whites - Peter McDonald; Dean Corbally, Cathal O’Brien, Andrew Gorman; Daragh Lowry, Cian Whitney, James Bracken; Paul Gorman, Harry Niall; Eoin Bracken, Hagan Niall, Dylan Nulty; Tobby Conteh, Robbie Forde, Billy Berry. Subs used: Darragh Delaney for Berry (44), Sam Fannin for Lowry (49), Luke Whitney for Corbally (58).
Tyrrellspass - Joe Hyland; Jamie Corcoran, Kai Harte, Peter Clarke; Mark Devine, Cormac Monaghan, Jamie Gonoud; Cathal Dunne, Chris Daly; Val Sizychas, David Glennon, Neale Pierson; Tommy Ryan, Evan Connell, Peter Pierson. Subs used: Mikie Mullen for Glennon (30), Nigel Harte for K Harte (44).
Referee - Sean Carroll (The Downs).