Williams and co off to a flyer

Paul Hughes

Lough Lene Gaels set out their stall for this year’s SHC ‘A’ with an impressive victory over Clonkill in the championship opener at TEG Cusack Park on Saturday evening.

Had they been less profligate, Joey Williams’ troops could have won this by a greater margin, but they will care little after claiming this opening day scalp despite being without the services of their gifted talisman, Tommy Doyle.

The Collinstown outfit led by the minimum at the break (0-11 to 0-10), but Clonkill, benefiting from a strong breeze on the restart, were expected to kick on. However, Alan Dowdall was sent off early doors and a subsequent goal from Lough Lene Gaels’ Jason Malone put daylight between the sides.

Despite being bereft of Doyle’s mastery, the men in purple and gold defended their long-held lead superbly, leaving Clonkill heavily reliant on frees from Brendan Murtagh.

The sides shared a quartet of wides early on before Clonkill settled down with a terrific sideline cut from Luke Loughlin and a follow-up score from Matthew Glynn. The Gaels responded with a point from Eoin Daly, who was lively in the opening stages.

By the 23rd minute, the sides were level at 0-7 apiece, with scores from Murtagh (four, including three frees) and Loughlin cancelled out by points from the Gaels’ David Williams (three frees), Derek McNicholas (a long-range free), Micheál Daly (from distance) and Shane Williams (after some scrappy play from both sides). With his point from play, Murtagh showed that class is permanent, beating two defenders on the terrace side before splitting the posts.

From there, the Gaels opened up a lead with three more on the trot, including two frees from Williams and a point by McNicholas, who cut in from the left wing after some poor Clonkill defending.

As half-time approached, Clonkill closed the gap to two with efforts from Murtagh (a free) and Jordy Smyth, before David Williams struck a magnificent score from long distance for the Collinstown men.

Clonkill had the last say of the half, with the evergreen Paddy Dowdall fouled after a well-worked move involving the pacy Jordy Smyth. Murtagh effortlessly tapped over the resultant free, and Frank Aughey’s men trailed by the minimum at the short whistle.

A favourable breeze awaited Clonkill on the restart, but after just seven seconds, a high tackle from Alan Dowdall on Micheál Daly gave David Williams a crack at a long-range free. Despite the driving rain and wind in his face, Williams expertly converted from the halfway line.

Clonkill were still fancied to push on, but their plans went awry moments later when Dowdall was sent off, after his off-the-ball challenge on John Egan resulted in a second yellow card. Though Brendan Murtagh tacked on another free for the Loughegar contingent, another setback befell them on 36 minutes.

The Gaels soaked up some pressure before a long clearance from Daragh Qamar reached the Clonkill end. The sliothar slipped from the outstretched paw of Marcus Kennedy, and after some confusion in the Clonkill defence, Jason Malone stole in, rounded Andrew Mitchell and finished to the net from close range. The Gaels led 1-12 to 0-11, and fully deserved it.

By the midway point of the second half, they were five clear after points from Marcus Kennedy and David Williams (both from play) cancelled out another Murtagh free.

Having sensed the frailties in Clonkill’s full back line, the Gaels spent a number of minutes lobbing the sliothar into the large parallelogram in search of another goal. Shane Williams came close at one stage, and Marcus Kennedy drew a spectacular save from Mitchell after breaching the Clonkill defence.

The Gaels’ strategy of hunting a second goal, without result, meant that Clonkill remained very much in contention. After scores from Murtagh (a free) and Luke Loughlin, there was just a puck of a ball between the sides (1-14 to 0-14) by the 51st minute.

However, the Loughegar men were themselves wasteful in the closing stages, and looked woefully short on attacking ideas. Two further frees from the Gaels’ top scorer, David Williams, ensured that they left the field in buoyant mood.

But if there is one thing that’s as sure as the dawn, it’s that Clonkill won’t let an early setback like this dampen their ambitions to claim the Westmeath Examiner Cup in October.

Scorers - Lough Lene Gaels: D Williams 0-10 (8f), J Malone 1-0, D McNicholas 0-2 (1f), E Daly, M Daly, S Williams and M Kennedy 0-1 each. Clonkill: B Murtagh 0-10 (9f), L Loughlin 0-3 (1 s/l), M Glynn and J Smyth 0-1 each.

Lough Lene Gaels: Noel Conaty; Daniel Reilly, Daniel Higgins, Daire Daly; Philip Reilly, Daragh Qamar, John Egan; Brendan Doyle, Micheál Daly; David Williams, Shane Williams, Eoin Daly; Derek McNicholas, Marcus Kennedy, Jason Malone. Subs used: Oisín Dolan for Doyle (58), Thomas Kennedy for M Daly (inj, 60).

Clonkill: Andrew Mitchell; Oisín Loughlin, Darragh Egerton, Andrew Shaw; Luke Kenny, Peadar Scally, Paddy Dowdall; Paul Poynton, Shane Power; Alan McGrath, Luke Loughlin, Alan Dowdall; Jordan Smyth, Brendan Murtagh, Matthew Glynn. Subs used: Josh Murtagh for Shaw (inj, 47), Daire McLaughlin for Glynn (48), Shaw for Kenny (50), Niall Dowdall for McGrath (56).

Ref: Alfie Devine (Castlepollard).