Westmeath SFC Weekend Round-Up

THE opening round of the Shay Murtagh Westmeath SFC took place over the course of last weekend, with some interesting tussles providing valuable insight into what might lie ahead for the year for some of the county’s leading Gaelic football teams.

In this week’s Westmeath Independent (on sale from Wednesday, April 24), the senior football clashes of Garrycastle/Castledaly, Athlone v Castletown-Finea Colle/Whitehall, and Maryland v The Downs are given extensive coverage, as well as the intermediate matches featuring Caulry, Rosemount, Tang and Tubberclair.

Here is what happened on in the north of the county over the weekend, starting with perhaps the most eye-catching fixture of the weekend, the meeting of St Loman’s and Tyrellspass at Cusack Park last Sunday.

With their marquee inter-county duo of John Heslin and Paul Sharry (in the second half) on song, St Loman’s, Mullingar got off to a fine start in this year’s Westmeath championship with a deserved five-point win (1-17 to 1-12) over Tyrrellspass in a high-scoring and entertaining first round clash.

It is a staggering 50 years since the Mullingar blues last lifted the Flanagan Cup, named after one of their staunchest on and off-the-field servants, and 2013 would undoubtedly be a fitting year to break the half-century famine. On last Sunday’s evidence, Declan Rowley’s charges should figure prominently in the business end of the campaign come the autumn.

However, a lot of water will flow under the bridge between now and then, and there is enough class in the Tidy Town ranks to suggest that they also will be a force to be reckoned with when the knockout stages are down for decision.

Heslin, a county midfielder, lined out at full-forward for his club and when even operating in third gear, the U21 star contributed eight points, including five from play. The game’s key moment came 90 seconds after half-time when Gareth Hickey’s scrambled goal put the winners ahead for the first time.

Heslin top-scored for St Loman’s with eight points (including three frees), while Kelvin Reilly chipped-in with four frees. Ger Egan was the leading scorer on the day for Tom Coffey’s side with seven frees, while the evergreen Martin Flanagan showed he still has a major say at this level with 1-2. The Glennon brothers, David and Denis, contributed Tyrellspass’ other scores.

Also at Cusack Park on Saturday, Coralstown-Kinnegad got off to a convincing start when brushing aside the challenge of Killucan on a scoreline of 0-18 to 1-5.

The Saffrons had marquee players like Paul Greville and James Nugent on their books when they kicked 1-5 against Kinnegad last year – but they finished that game only two points adrift.

This time around, without the aforementioned duo, they looked desperately short on attacking options. They notched up just a point from play in the second half, as the Reds closed out the game as comfortable winners.
Although an injury to wing-back Jason Cully came as an early setback for Coralstown/Kinnegad, sub Darren Giles led the way, finishing with 0-5 and looking very polished from frees. Ger Leech also contributed four frees to Coralstown-Kinnegad’s impressive tally, while Conor Jordan was the leading marksman in Killucan’s disappointing 1-5 tally when notching 1-1.

Mullingar Shamrocks, meanwhile, commenced their defence of the Flanagan Cup with an expected facile win over a game but limited Bunbrosna in a lacklustre affair at Cusack Park last Sunday afternoon.

Ray Smyth’s troops seldom had to move into anything resembling fifth gear in an often-dreary contest in front of a small crowd, but the object of the exercise – a brace of championship points – was more than comfortably achieved.

On this evidence, retention of a place at the top table of Westmeath football in 2014 will be Bunbrosna’s objective and Declan Farrell and his mentors have a degree of work on their plates in the months ahead. Lorcan Smyth top-scored for the champions with five points but it was Denis Corroon, the midfielder, that narrowly edged out defender Killian Daly and Smyth for the Man of the Match accolade. Corroon’s form will have pleased watching Westmeath manager, Pat Flanagan, albeit his three points from play might not have been secured against tighter-marking opponents.