Late McNicholas goal seals shock win for the Gaels

Lough Lene Gaels 1-16, Castletown Geoghegan 1-15

By Gerry Buckley

After a 14-year wait, Lough Lene Gaels are back in the Westmeath senior hurling championship final following a dramatic win over reigning champions Castletown-Geoghegan in what was a riveting penultimate round clash, despite the totally inclement weather in TEG Cusack Park last Sunday afternoon.

An opportunist goal in the third minute of added-time from Derek McNicholas, a survivor of their final defeat at the hands of Clonkill in 2009, enabled the Collinstown men to edge past the holders, who have not been able to retain their title since their famous three in-a-row side of the late 1950s.

Overall, the intense hunger shown by Joey Williams’ charges was a huge factor in this shock win. They looked in trouble when Niall O’Brien superbly converted a 56th-minute penalty, but they refused to throw in the towel and veteran McNicholas edged them over the line with his dramatic close-range three-pointer.

Conditions could hardly have been worse for a championship semi-final with a swirling wind and rain falling throughout. The aforementioned O’Brien nudged Castletown-Geoghegan ahead with a great angled point in the third minute and David O’Reilly doubled their lead in style some two minutes later. However, David Williams levelled the contest by the eighth minute with a fine brace – a wind-assisted ‘65’ and a great score after turning neatly.

Dean McDermott’s afternoon ended prematurely when he was stretchered off, but fine play by his replacement Aaron Glennon preceded a converted free from O’Brien. Williams edged the Yellow Bellies ahead by the 19th minute with two delightful scores from open play, but Castletown-Geoghegan (for whom Derek Gallagher deputised in the bainisteoir bib for the suspended Alan Mangan) responded with three unanswered points from the sticks of O’Brien (two – a quality score from play and a difficult free) and O’Reilly (when teed up by O’Brien).

Free-takers Williams and O’Brien soon traded points. Williams slotted over two more placed balls – a free and a ‘65’ – to level the contest again (0-7 apiece) by the first minute of added-time (a minimum of five had been signalled). Great skill from O’Brien set up Peter Clarke who became just the fourth player on the scoresheet. Cormac Jackson added another in acres of space, but the Gaels equalized by the break (0-9 each) with points from the hard-working Micheál Daly and Williams (completing a great hat-trick of ‘65’s with the last puck of the first moiety).

McNicholas spurned two early chances shortly after the resumption of play, before O’Brien and Williams again swapped points from frees. The Doyle brothers, Brendan and Tommy (who was generally way short of his imperious best on the day), tagged on two outstanding scores, either side of solid Gaels’ penalty claims being waved away. O’Brien had his second untypically poor miss from a free before the respective number 14s, McNicholas (play) and O’Brien (a free), exchanged points, leaving the men in purple and gold ahead by two points (0-13 to 0-11) at the end of the third quarter.

Another Williams free and a delightful point from Eoin Daly put the winners four clear by the 49th minute as their confidence levels visibly soared. The champions replied with points from the sticks of Clarke and O’Reilly. O’Brien almost got in for a goal before Williams put Lough Lene Gaels three clear (0-16 to 0-13) in the 53rd minute.

The well-matched sides were on level terms within a couple of minutes, O’Brien dusting himself down after being fouled and duly giving his fellow-Westmeath player Noel Conaty no chance from a penalty strike. O’Brien nudged the black and amber-clad side ahead on the hour mark, as fading light became a worry with the distinct prospect of extra-time looming.

A minimum of four minutes of added-time was signalled by the fourth official, and in the third of these the Gaels’ supporters were on their feet to herald McNicholas’ decisive goal, after Eoin Daly had been initially denied following a long-range Shane Williams free. O’Brien opted to point a free for the outgoing champions with time almost up, but they were unable to snatch a draw in the seconds remaining following the puck-out.

Scorers – Lough Lene Gaels: D Williams 0-11 (4f, 3‘65’), D McNicholas 1-1, M Daly, B Doyle, T Doyle, E Daly 0-1 each.

Castletown-Geoghegan: N O’Brien 1-9 (1-0pen, 0-7f), D O’Reilly 0-3, P Clarke 0-2, C Jackson 0-1.

Lough Lene Gaels: Noel Conaty; Philip Reilly, Dan Higgins, Daniel Reilly; John Egan, Daragh Qamar, Tommy Doyle; Micheál Daly, Brendan Doyle; Eoin Daly, David Williams, Shane Williams; Jason Malone, Derek McNicholas, Marcus Kennedy. Subs used: Aaron Kennedy for M Kennedy (46), Thomas Kennedy for D Reilly (inj., 56), Warren Williams for Malone (58).

Castletown-Geoghegan: Eoin Glennon; Dean McDermott, Johnny Bermingham, Naoise McKenna; Shane Clavin, Aonghus Clarke, Morgan Gavigan; Plunkett Maxwell, Ciaran O’Brien; Peter Clarke, David O’Reilly, Cormac Jackson; Conor Murphy, Niall O’Brien, Jack Gallagher. Subs used: Aaron Glennon for McDermott (inj., 11), David Fennell for C O’Brien (40), Joe Clarke for Jackson (46), Neal Kirby for Murphy (46), David Maloney for Clavin (56).

Ref: Alfie Devine (Castlepollard).

Examiner's Eye on the game

Man of the match

David Williams (Lough Lene Gaels): His colleague Micheál Daly put in a huge shift in and around midfield, but the winners’ top scorer gets the nod for a huge total of 0-11 in very difficult conditions, including four crucial scores from play.

Key moment

Niall O’Brien, as ever, had a fine game for the reigning champions, but he will regret a brace of missed frees in the third quarter.

Talking point

Can the Gaels bridge a 21-year gap and lift the Westmeath Examiner Cup when they face hot favourites Raharney on October 8?