Cullion's Conor Regan hand-passes the ball away with Shaun Smith, Brownstown, unable to stop him.

Gillen masterclass helps Cullion to comfortable win

Cullion 5-14, Brownstown 2-13

Published: Thu 24 Aug 2023, 11:17 AM

Gerry Buckley

A remarkable individual display by their marquee forward Jack Gillen was the main talking point in Killucan last Saturday afternoon as Cullion proved much too strong for once-mighty Brownstown in the Westmeath senior hurling 'B' championship.

The Westmeath panellist ended up with a whopping 4-8 to his name, and while the men in blue and white recorded a respectable 2-13 over the course of the hour-plus, they were somewhat flattered overall to lose by a ten-point margin.

Gillen scored his first goal after 90 seconds, after indecisive goalkeeping from James Moore. Jamie Fitzsimons responded with a brace of very good converted frees into the wind for Brownstown, but Moore will again be disappointed with his part in Cullion’s second three-pointer from Shane Broughan in the ninth minute, putting the winners 2-0 to 0-2 ahead.

The dominant men in maroon and navy proceeded to tag on six points in as many minutes from the sticks of Pearce Corroon (two), Andrew Connaughton, and Gillen (three, the third of them from a free) to lead by a ten-point margin (2-6 to 0-2) at the end of the opening quarter.

Fitzsimons and Gillen then traded points from frees, but the latter was on fire at this stage and he quickly added 1-1 (a great free, and a clinical finish for his second green flag). Robbie Dugdale neatly opened the losers’ account from play in the 26th minute, with Gillen replying by superbly dissecting the posts from a lineball.

To their credit, Declan Mullen’s men refused to throw in the towel and they were rewarded with a cleverly-flicked goal by Cormac Foley (at the end of a Conor Shaw free) and another tidy point from Dugdale with the second last puck of the half. At the interval, the impressive electronic scoreboard read: Cullion 3-9 Brownstown 1-5.

Within the opening five minutes of the second moiety, the respective number 14s exchanged points – Broughan (a classy score from near the clubhouse sideline) and Foley (a tidy finish). Westmeath regular Shaw then added a point for Brownstown. However, that man Gillen scored his third goal in the 38th minute from the penalty spot after his sideline cut had led to a foul on his inter-county colleague Kevin Regan.

The teams then equally shared four points – Fitzsimons with a ‘65’ and Niall Leonard from play for Brownstown, and two great scores from play by Gillen for their opponents – to leave Cullion ahead by 4-12 to 1-9 at the end of the third quarter.

In the 47th minute, Gillen pounced for a terrific fourth goal, and there was a lack of atmosphere to proceedings from then onwards. Fitzsimons (a free) and David Connaughton (seconds after his introduction) swapped points before a mini-rally by the former senior kingpins yielded 1-2 without reply – the goal from a quickly-taken free by Shaw, either side of points from Fitzsimons (a free) and Shaw. Corroon and Fitzsimons (a free) pointed at either end in the closing stages of what was a disappointing encounter.

Scorers – Cullion: J Gillen 4-8 (1-0pen, 0-3f, 0-1s/l), S Broughan 1-1, P Corroon 0-3, A Connaughton, D Connaughton 0-1 each.

Brownstown: J Fitzsimons 0-7 (6f, 1‘65’), C Shaw 1-2 (1-0f), C Foley 1-1, R Dugdale 0-2, N Leonard 0-1.

Cullion: Conor Kelly; Liam Shaw, James Clarke, Pierce Shaw; Conor Regan, Conor Shaw, Shane O’Connor; Kevin Regan, James Kelly; Marc Watters, Pearce Corroon, Brian O’Reilly; Jack Gillen, Shane Broughan, Andrew Connaughton. Subs used: Damien Golden for Connaughton (h-t), David Connaughton for Watters (49), Sean Regan for O’Connor (55), Tadhg Eoin Desmond for Gillen (55).

Brownstown: James Moore; Darren Dugdale, Shaun Smith, Kenny Higgins; Tom Flynn, Philip Gilsenan, Conor Shaw; Oisín Kiernan, Conor Rice; Jack Gavin, Emmet Cunneen, Niall Leonard; Jamie Fitzsimons, Cormac Foley, Robbie Dugdale. Subs used: Danny Henry for Kiernan (50), Gary Smith for Gavin (52), Stephen O’Farrell for R Dugdale (53), Rory Carolan for Flynn (55).

Ref: Jimmy Greville (Castlepollard).