O’Toole and co press onwards

St Loman's, Mullingar 2-20 Caulry 0-10

Ronan O’Toole and John Heslin came up with the goods for St Loman’s, Mullingar at TEG Cusack Park on Saturday evening, as the Lakepoint Park club eased past an understrength Caulry to maintain their unbeaten run in this year’s SFC.

Collectively, Paddy Dowdall’s charges look very sharp, and with an impressively talented bench champing at the bit for starting places, they will be hard stopped in their quest to reclaim the Paddy Flanagan Cup.

Caulry, with an eye on qualification for the quarter-finals, will hope to be at full strength for their final round robin game against The Downs in a couple of weeks’ time, and so manager Shane Curran rested some of their key men for this clash.

The likes of Senan and Tadhg Baker entered the fray in the second half, but this made little difference to the outcome as St Loman’s ran out comfortable winners.

The Mullingar men were cruising at the break, with Shane Dempsey tacking on three first half points from play before a 25th minute goal from Danny McCartan put clear daylight between the sides.

Although the second moiety was more competitive, the Saints were a class apart, and a late goal from Heslin put an even dirtier look on the scoreboard for Caulry.

The Blues led 0-3 to 0-2 after a competitive first quarter, with Sam McCartan breaking the deadlock after a patient move on five minutes. Heslin and O’Toole also hit the target, with Kevin Maguire and Aaron Rourke replying for Caulry.

However, the Reds failed to score for the remainder of the half, and the second quarter was all about St Loman’s. O’Toole shot his second before a speculative kick from Andy Malynn at the other end crept wide of the post.

On the counter, a long ball from Heslin was clumsily dealt with by the Caulry defence, and on the turn, Shane Dempsey made it 0-5 to 0-2. Ever-improving midfielder Enda Gaffney then kicked a fine score, before Dempsey cut inside to fire his second point on 20 minutes.

Caulry then clocked up two wides from frees before St Loman’s defender Gerry Grehan gobbled up a stray pass from Kevin Maguire on 25 minutes. This was the spark for a goal from Danny McCartan, who shot low to the net after being set on his way by O’Toole.

At this stage, St Loman’s attacked at will in acres of space, and again O’Toole was the provider for a third score from Shane Dempsey, before two frees from John Heslin made it 1-10 to 0-2 at half-time.

Caulry strengthened their ranks after the restart with the Bakers and Andy O’Sullivan, and while the Mount Temple men improved as a group, by the 50th minute they were 1-17 to 0-6 adrift.

Heslin, the McCartans, Kevin Regan and the wonderful O’Toole (3) all found their range, with Paddy Sleator (2), Senan Baker (a free) and Andy Malynn (a mark) replying for the Reds. Each of O’Toole’s scores off his left peg were marvellous to behold.

Caulry put together some decent moves at this juncture and scored three on the trot. Tadhg Baker raised a flag and Malynn converted a second mark, before Senan Baker tacked on another free to edge them closer to double figures.

However, St Loman’s weren’t finished, and O’Toole kicked a sublime sixth point from play before Sam McCartan extended his personal tally to three with a rocket from the left flank, making it 1-19 to 0-9 as the 60-minute mark approached.

Hungry for a second goal, the Saints almost got it when Shane Dempsey broke through the Caulry defence, only to have his attempt smothered by Cillian Nagle.

Caulry’s tenth point arrived courtesy of a Senan Baker free, but the final flourish came from St Loman’s in stoppage time when John Heslin – moments after despatching a routine free – found the net with a low, left-footed finish to a swift move.

The final scoreline was akin to a one-sided hurling fixture, but Caulry will have more to say beyond this result.

Scorers: St Loman’s: J Heslin 1-5 (0-3f), R O’Toole 0-6, D McCartan 1-1, S McCartan and S Dempsey 0-3 each, E Gaffney and K Regan 0-1 each. Caulry: S Baker 0-3f, A Malynn (marks) and P Sleator 0-2 each, K Maguire, A Rourke and T Baker 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, John Heslin; Tristan Graham, Sam McCartan, Seán Flanagan; Danny McCartan, Ronan O’Toole, Shane Dempsey. Subs used: Peter Foy for Grehan (inj., h-t), Ryan Jones for Gaffney (47), Seán Flanagan for Graham (47), Conor O’Donoghue for O’Keeffe (47), Fola Ayorinde for Regan (57).

Caulry: Cillian Nagle; Eoin Shortall, Kevin Maguire, Seán Fox; Harry Stuart-Trainor, Damien Dolan, Seán Murphy; Stephen Connolly, Conor McCormack; Colin Murphy, Paddy Sleator, Oisín Shortall; Alan Malynn, Aaron Rourke, Olan Healy. Subs used: Dylan Lowry for Shortall (h-t), Senan Baker for Healy (h-t), Tadhg Baker for Rourke (h-t), Andy O’Sullivan for S Murphy (39), Shane Lawless for McCormack (52).

Ref: Barry Kelly (Mullingar Shamrocks).