Heslin imperious as St Loman’s comfortably see off Tidy Town

St Loman's Mullingar 1-15, Tyrrellspass 0-9

Paul Hughes

St Loman’s, Mullingar kept their automatic semi-final qualification hopes firmly on track with a comprehensive defeat of Tyrrellspass in TEG Cusack Park last Saturday evening.

Torrential rain made for a greasy ball and surface, and in theory, this should have benefited Tyrrellspass, but the gulf between the sides was obvious from the early stages.

John Heslin, who finished the game with 1-7, found the net inside three minutes, and although Tyrrellspass – who were without the services of Ger Egan – battled their way back into contention and had the better of the second quarter, they trailed 1-8 to 0-7 at the interval. A second half return of just two points from Ray Sheridan’s charges meant that St Loman’s had only to do the needful, and like emerging rivals Coralstown/Kinnegad, they have two wins and a draw on the board.

A point from play Tyrrellspass’s Evan Connell cancelled out an early free from Heslin, but moments later, Westmeath’s all-time championship top scorer got in behind the Tidy Town defence and found the net with a close-range finish.

Paddy Dowdall’s troops led 1-5 to 0-3 by the 11th minute after a lively opening, with Danny McCartan, Heslin (a free) and Ronan O’Toole adding to their tally, while Dean McNicholas and Nigel Harte responded for Tyrrellspass with decent points from play.

The Tidy Town settled into the game thereafter and started to play some attractive football. Tommy Ryan began to exercise influence on proceedings with a trio of points, including a superb kick off his right shortly before the break. However, St Loman’s maintained their four-point gap with frees from Heslin (2) and O’Toole. Shortly before half-time, what was up until that point a sporting encounter hit a bump in the road when Tyrrellspass’s Dean McNicholas was yellow-carded after flooring Enda Gaffney (St Loman’s) with a shoulder in the back. Tempers flared on the field and the sideline, but order was soon restored.

After building up some momentum late in the first half, Tyrrellspass had high hopes for the second, but they struggled to build on that purple patch. St Loman’s, meanwhile, had the luxury of introducing the pacy attacking duo of Shane Dempsey and Peter Foy from the bench.

The game declined as a contest in the third quarter, and by the 50th minute, Tyrrellspass had yet to add to their first half tally. St Loman’s, meanwhile, tacked on five points and led by 1-13 to 0-7 at that stage.

Danny McCartan got the ball rolling with his second point, before Heslin teed up sub Oisín Hogan for a minor in the 35th minute. Scores from Ronan O’Toole and Sam McCartan followed, before a free from Heslin completed that five-point scoring run (50). Minutes earlier, Tyrrellspass sub Kieran Geraghty gave his side a sniff at goal when he cut through the St Loman’s defence and rifled a powerful shot, but it was straight at Saints netminder Jason Daly.

Adam Flanagan lifted the Tidy Town faithful with a well-taken point on 57 minutes, but it was game over at that stage. The gap between the sides was underlined a minute later by a score from Kevin Regan, which came at the tail-end of a swift St Loman’s move and a nice pass from Enda Gaffney.

Heslin (a free) and Tyrrellspass’s Peter Pierson traded late scores, as this rain-soaked encounter fizzled out to its conclusion.

Scorers - St Loman’s: J Heslin 1-7 (0-5f), R O'Toole 0-3 (1f), D McCartan 0-2, O Hogan, S McCartan and K Regan 0-1 each. Tyrrellspass: T Ryan 0-4 (3f), N Harte, E Connell, D McNicholas, A Flanagan and P Pierson 0-1 each.

St Loman’s, Mullingar: Jason Daly; Eoghan Hogan, Darragh O’Keeffe, Gerry Grehan; Jack Geoghegan, David Whelan, Conor O’Donoghue; Enda Gaffney, Ryan Jones; Tristan Graham, Ronan O’Toole, Sam McCartan; Danny McCartan, John Heslin, Seán Flanagan. Subs used: Shane Dempsey for Graham (h-t), Oisín Hogan for Flanagan (h-t), Peter Foy for O’Donoghue (42), Kevin Regan for Jones (42), Seán Dinnegan for Grehan (54).

Tyrrellspass: Joe Hyland; Stephen Quinn, Jamie Corcoran, Jamie Gonoud; Peter Clarke, Conor Slevin, Aaron O’Brien; Adam Flanagan, David Lynam; Val Sizychas, Nigel Harte, Tommy Ryan; Peter Pierson, Dean McNicholas, Evan Connell. Subs used: Kieran Geraghty for Lynam (42), Seán Deegan for Corcoran (44), Eoghan O’Neill for Quinn (inj., 50), Keith Hamilton for O’Brien (54).

Ref: Enda Kenny (Ballinagore).