Impressive Williams steers Lough Lene Gaels to second victory
Slevin’s Coaches Westmeath SHC
LOUGH LENE GAELS 4-14, CASTLEPOLLARD 1-13
Kevin Egan at TEG Cusack Park
In ‘Game of Thrones’ the saying was “the night is dark, and full of terrors”. In TEG Cusack Park on Sunday evening, the sky was dark and full of rain, and it was Lough Lene Gaels who thrived in the sodden gloom to pick up a second consecutive win in the Senior Hurling Championship.
This was the first real gut check for Noel Boyce’s high-flying league champions this year, but while no defeat to the next door neighbours is ever welcome in championship hurling, there was enough quality on show in this encounter, despite the conditions, to give both sides cause for optimism; not just the victors. Ten points may have been the final margin, and to an extent, it was fully-deserved. Lough Lene Gaels were robust and honest in their defensive work, physical and clinical up front, and they played a simple, direct game that was ideally suited to an evening where a more intricate approach would have led to a dark night, full of errors.
Yet in different conditions, it’s not hard to imagine that Castlepollard might have asked a lot more questions of the Gaels’ defence. In the first half, conditions were not quite benign, but still a lot less restrictive, and they showed their worth with some good early scores, including two monster frees from distance from John McCarthy.
They still trailed thanks to an excellent early goal from Eoin Daly, but it could have been very different. Allen Devine made a very poor start with his frees, pushing one very scorable one wide while attempting to find the top corner from 25 metres out, only to see that effort easily repelled.
Where they couldn’t match Joey Williams’ side was in the air. Whether it was the entire Lough Lene Gaels half-back line, Micheál Daly at midfield, Shane Williams at centre forward or the Jason Malone and Derek McNicholas twin tower act in the corners, the Gaels had men who could get up half way to the low sky and pluck sliotars from the cumulonimbus, and they weren’t shy about playing to that strength.
Marcus Kennedy won one such high ball and appeared to have his hurl held as he tried to get a shot away close to goal, but there was no holding McNicholas when he collected a sideline cut from Micheál Daly and held off his man before slamming the ball to the net.
A pair of Devine frees cut the gap back to three points, 2-2 to 0-5, but another McNicholas goalbound effort was blocked, which allowed David Williams to score from the resultant 65, and great defensive work from John Egan soon set up another score for the Lough Lene Gaels dead ball specialist.
Castlepollard were handed a lifeline just before half-time when Andrew Dermody’s long ball wasn’t held by Noel Conaty and instead spilled off the hands of the county goalkeeper and over the line, and while Shane Williams responded with a majestic solo score, Castlepollard would have felt that a goal adrift at half-time wasn’t bad going, given how much danger they looked to be in every time the ball was sent into their full-back line with a bit of altitude.
By half-time, occasional heavy showers had melded together and what now prevailed was persistent, heavy rain, sufficiently strong to draw painful tears from anyone who left it too late to get their turf cut this summer. The playing surface held up incredibly well, and for a brief period at
the start of the second half, Castlepollard managed to use space and even give some low deliveries into their forwards. Their efforts were hugely centre on Allan Devine, who wasn’t just converting the dead ball chances, he was also winning most of them. All seven of ‘Pollard’s second half points came from the stick of number 13, and if anyone else had weighed in with a meaningful contribution to balance things up a little, they might have really tested the Gaels.
Even at that, with ten minutes gone in the second half, Castlepollard were back on level terms (2-8 to 1-11) and the lack of craft in the Gaels’ attack looked like it might hold them back too. With both sides defending well and the ground softening up, it looked less and less likely that either team might pick the lock of their opponents.
The simple answer to that? Throw away the hairpin, and break out the battering ram. Derek McNicholas got a gentle touch on one high ball from Shane Williams to score goal number three, and as the Gaels’ half backs and midfield completely took over the game, they used that long ball more and more. Eoin Daly pointed off a breaking ball, a long-range strike from Micheál Daly effortlessly carried over the bar from midfield, and even if the score didn’t come directly from the high ball, any bit of pressure on ‘Pollard defenders as they tried to clear the ball usually resulted in broken play around half forward that was hoovered up and returned with interest by David Williams.
With the game slipping away from Castlepollard, Daniel Reilly won a great contested ball in defence for the Gaels and was fouled as he cleared, leading to the corner back making it clear to his ‘assailant’ that he approved of the referee’s decision. David Devine used his shoulder to intervene in proceedings, and he picked up a second yellow card as a result, which in turn enabled the Gaels to cruise to victory, and helped open up the space for McNicholas to complete his hat-trick with the last score of the game.
When we consider the tight local and family connections between the two clubs, the dramatic and portentous weather, and the emphatic manner in which the Gaels drove daggers through their neighbours’ chests with a series of close range goals, this was hurling as Shakespeare might have written it.
Albeit, when it comes to this year’s senior championship race, we’re still only at the end of act one.
SCORERS FOR LOUGH LENE GAELS: D McNicholas 3-1, D Williams 0-9 (0-5f, 0-1 65), E Daly 1-1, S Williams 0-1, M Daly 0-1, N Conaty 0-1f.
SCORERS FOR CASTLEPOLLARD: A Devine 0-9 (0-8f), A Dermody 1-0, J McCarthy 0-2f, D Devine 0-1, C Sheridan 0-1.
LOUGH LENE GAELS: Noel Conaty; Daire Daly, Dan Higgins, Daniel Reilly; John Egan, Daragh Qamar, Philip Reilly; Brendan Doyle, Micheál Daly; Eoin Daly, Derek McNicholas, Shane Williams; David Williams, Marcus Kennedy, Jason Malone. Sub used: Warren Williams for Malone (54).
CASTLEPOLLARD: Martin Egan; Seán Lancaster, Darragh O’Reilly, Conor Gaffney; Paul Dermody, Charlie McCormack, Oisín Gaffney; Colm Dermody, David Devine; Joe Rabbitt, Andrew Dermody, John McCarthy; Conor Sheridan, Allan Devine, Brian Gilchrist. Subs used: Patrick Fagan for Rabbitt (11), Matthew O’Reilly for Gilchrist (54), Dylan O’Leary for Sheridan (56), Derek Murray for McCarthy (56).
Referee: Caymon Flynn, St Brigid's.
Examiner's Eye on the game
Player of the Match
David Williams (Castlepollard): Sometimes free-takers pick up accolades like this purely on the back of racking up large tallies of handy dead ball scores, but there were no handy scores in the conditions that prevailed on Sunday evening in Mullingar, and Williams had a lot more to his game as well. He was incredibly lively from general play, picking off three points and bringing his colleagues into the game, and while Derek McNicholas was ruthless in his pursuit of green flags, Williams was a consistent threat, even during the times when Castlepollard looked to be in the ascendancy.
Key Moment
With a few minutes to go before half-time, Lough Lene Gaels led by five points, and were in control. Ten minutes into the second half, the tie was level and Castlepollard finally seemed to have found their stride, using their pace and energy instead of playing the game on their neighbours’ terms.
That all changed when Shane Williams hoisted a high delivery into the Castlepollard square, and as is so often the case in wet weather, putting it “into the mixer” was just the ticket. Derek McNicholas got a subtle flick on the ball, enough to deflect it past Martin Egan, and Lough Lene Gaels had wrestled back the initiative, never to lose it again.