Hat-trick for Kennedy in comfortable win for Gaels

Lough Lene Gaels 3-19, St Oliver Plunkett's 0-17

Gerry Buckley

As was widely expected, last year’s Westmeath Examiner Cup finalists Lough Lene Gaels proved too strong for promoted side St Oliver Plunkett’s in their first round clash in this year's senior hurling championship, played in front of a small crowd in pleasant conditions in TEG Cusack Park last Saturday evening.

The undoubted hero for the Collinstown men was corner forward Marcus Kennedy whose whopping 3-3 from play was one point more than his side’s comprehensive winning margin. The Mullingar men, to their credit, never threw in the towel, but the gulf between the standards in senior ‘A’ and ‘B’ is significant, and it was quite a tough opening day for Ciaran McKenna’s charges.

A point exchange between Micheál Daly and Ciaran Curley preceded Kennedy’s clinically-taken first goal in the third minute and, in truth, Joey Williams’ troops never looked like being headed thereafter. Ross Corroon and David Williams traded points before veteran Curley doubled his tally (at the second attempt, having initially been denied a goal).

In the ninth minute, Kennedy found the net again in style after fielding the sliotar cleverly. When Williams converted a free within a minute, the ‘Yellow Bellies’ were already two goals to the good. The respective number 8s, Paddy Lynam (a free) and Daly (open play) swapped points, as did Kennedy and Lynam (both from play), leaving Lough Lene Gaels ahead by 2-5 to 0-5 at the end of the opening quarter.

The side then equally shared four quickfire points – Williams and Kennedy for the winners, and Matthew Cunningham and Davy Gavin for the men in white and green. The Gaels tagged on four unanswered points by the end of the stipulated 30 minutes, courtesy of Williams (two), Daly, and Aaron Kennedy. During this period, Curley was again foiled as he looked set to raise a green flag. In added-time, Shane Ormsby and Cunningham pointed for the hitherto-wasteful underdogs, but they still trailed by 2-11 to 0-9 at the break.

Last year’s decidedly unlucky county final losers outscored their opponents by three points (Aaron Kennedy, and two from Tommy Doyle) to two (Ormsby and Corroon) during the opening seven minutes of the second moiety. Then came Marcus Kennedy’s third – and best – goal when he availed of an intuitive flick from Doyle to whip the ball in mid-air past a helpless Conor Lynch.

When Doyle completed his points’ hat-trick to put his side 13 clear (3-15 to 0-11) in the 42nd minute, it looked like a real hammering was in store for the 2023 senior ‘B’ champions.

However, the local side managed to win the final quarter by six points (a Lynam brace – including a free, a ‘65’ from Lynch, great strikes from Aaron Craig and Gavin, and a fine score within seconds of his introduction from Darragh Hughes) to four (sub Derek McNicholas, Brendan Doyle, a Williams ‘65’, and Marcus Kennedy to round off match scoring). One of the highlights of the final quarter was a wonderful full-length save by Lynch from a trademark McNicholas piledriver in the 55th minute).

Scorers – Lough Lene Gaels: M Kennedy 3-3, D Williams 0-6 (1f, 1‘65’), M Daly, T Doyle 0-3 each, A Kennedy 0-2, D McNicholas, B Doyle 0-1 each.

St Oliver Plunkett’s: P Lynam 0-4 (2f), M Cunningham, D Gavin, S Ormsby, R Corroon, C Curley 0-2 each, C Lynch (‘65’), A Craig, D Hughes 0-1 each.

Lough Lene Gaels: Noel Conaty; Dan Reilly, Dan Higgins, Daire Daly; Philip Reilly, Dara Qamar, Shane Williams; Micheál Daly, Brendan Doyle; Jordan Williams, David Williams, Jason Malone; Aaron Kennedy, Tommy Doyle, Marcus Kennedy. Subs used: Derek McNicholas for J Williams (35), Eoin Daly for Malone (42), John Egan for P Reilly (48), Warren Williams for T Doyle (48), Callum Burns for A Kennedy (56).

St Oliver Plunkett’s: Conor Lynch; Tomass Turks, Zach Aherne, Brian Reidy; Liam Carey, Aaron Craig, John Fry; Paddy Lynam, Cathal Craig; Matthew Cunningham, Davy Gavin, Shane Ormsby; Ross Corroon, Ciaran Curley, Sean Kelly. Subs used: Colm O’Leary for Kelly (46), Nathan Cornally for C Craig (46), Steve McManus for Curley (53), Darragh Hughes for Corroon (60).

Ref: James McGrath (Turin).