Plunkett"s press home advantage with second half scoring blitz

Although it took them some considerable time to get in to their stride, Mullingar-based St. Oliver Plunketts had far too much power and indeed, class, for a dogged and gallant Crookedwood side at sun-kissed Lakepoint Park, Mullingar on Sunday afternoon.Ultimately, they carved out a commanding twenty-point victory, but it was only in the second period of this clash that the town team really opened their shoulders and flexed their muscles. Crookedwood could not cope with the drive of the green and whites, who now move forward to a semi-final showdown with Raharney.Plunketts team boss, Eddie Casey has had to shuffle his pack regularly through the course of the season for one reason or another, but on Sunday he was back to near full strength and it was clear, from an early stage that they had the beating of a Crookedwood team who certainly did not lack commitment with Kevin Tormey and Ger Brennan driving them on from the back and dangerous corner forward, Barry O"Meara looking menacing any time he managed to get on the ball.Though finishing on the losing side, O"Meara still managed to finish with the highest return over the hour, which probably underlines a flaw in the "Wood make-up, a lack of attacking flair and finish.The game was just two minutes old when O"Meara served notice of his intent. Like any good forward, he was in the right spot when Peter Collins, uncharacteristically, spilled an innocuous speculative effort and the minor prodigy steered the ball to the empty net. Cian O"Leary and Kevin Baker quickly reduced the arrears when raising white flags with David Kelly extending the "Wood"s lead with a point.Two pointed frees from the accurate Michael Cleary had Plunketts back on level terms by the tenth minute but Barry O"Meara demonstrated his ability from placed balls to push the tricolours back in front. After Ciaran Curley, who had a superb game in the middle of the park for Plunketts, had restored parity for the second time, O"Meara took advantage of a rare Sean O"Leary lapse to lift the Crookedwood supporters once more.Cian O"Leary and the irrepressible O"Meara, from a free, traded points early in the second quarter but that was as good as it got for the Crookedwood men who failed to register a further score in the remainging thirteen minutes of the half.Moving up a gear, Plunketts took command and a series of points from Ciaran Curley, Michael Harris, Curley again, Govinda Geoghegan, Noel Gavin, with a splendid effort from midway, along with two Michael Cleary strikes, left the town team with a comfortable cushion at the break, 0-13 to 1-4 ahead.An advancing Noel Gavin opened the second half account for Plunketts with O"Meara replying for the underdogs. A second point from the "Wood corner forward showed they were not going to roll over without a fight and after Plunkett"s Colin Delaney and Crookedwood substitute, Noel Yourell had been dismissed for an off-the-ball incident, Barry O"Meara reduced the margin to four.In the space of a minute, Michael Harris changed the landscape immeasurably when initially clipping over a point before racing through a porous Crookedwood defence to flash the ball beyond John Orme.While "Wood substitute Adam Mitchell pulled a point back, Govinda Geoghegan put the issue beyond doubt when firing home on 15 minutes after the veteran Orme had pulled off two splendid saves.Michael Cleary added another minor for the town side before Cian O"Leary compounded the losers" agony when he picked up a Ciaran Curley pass to fire home.Cleary and Antoin Savage, with Crookedwood"s final point, exchanged frees and the former added to his impressive tally from a placed ball. With two minutes remaining, substitute Aidan Lyons bore down on the Crookedwood goal but lost possession at the vital moment. However, it bounced kindly for Cian O"Leary and he duly prodded the ball beyond John Orme.The final statistics in the game, which was played in an excellent spirit throughout, were left to Plunketts substitute, Clive Kenny, with a swashbuckling effort and Michael Cleary as Plunketts accelerated to the knock out stages.Scorers: St. Oliver Plunketts - M. Cleary 0-8, C. O"Leary 2-2, M. Harris 1-2, G. Geoghegan 1-1, C. Curley 0-3, N. Gavin 0-2, K. Baker and C. Kenny 0-1 each. Crookedwood - B. O"Meara 1-6, D. Kelly, A. Mitchell and A. Savage 0-1 each.St. Oliver Plunketts: Peter Collins; Damien Kiernan, Sean O"Leary, Oisin Clinton; Colin Delaney, Dermot Curley, Sean Maguire; Noel Gavin, Ciaran Curley; Govinda Geoghegan, Cian O"Leary, Michael Harris; Michael Cleary, Stephen McManus, Kevin Baker. Subs. Conaire Flanagan for S. Maguire, Aidan Lyons for K. Baker, Clive Kenny for C. CurleyCrookedwood: John Orme; Kevin Tormey, Shane Orme, Kevin Orme; Darren Fulham, Ger Brennan, David Newman; Antoin Savage, Micheál Savage; David Kelly, Damien Grifferty, Seamus Savage; Ger Boyhan, Tommy Casserly, Barry O"Meara. Subs. Adam Mitchell for T. Casserly, Noel Yourell for G. Boyhan, Conor Hyland for M. Savage, C. Foran for D. KellyReferee: Michael Mannion (Southern Gaels)