Corcoran fires Lilliput Gaels to victory over Athlone

Lilliput Gaels 2-11, Athlone 2-7

By Eamon A. Donoghue

Lilliput Gaels found scoring that bit easier than Athlone and this was enough to get them into the Westmeath U20 Division 2 championship final with this victory at Páirc Chiaráin last Saturday.

Lilliput Gaels (a combination of St Malachy's, Ballinagore and Loughnavalley) will now meet St Mary's Rochfortbridge in the final after the latter's win over Killucan in the other semi-final.

In Shane Corcoran, Lilliput had a trump card and his scoring burst either side of half-time was the key to winning the game.

The first quarter was flat, scores were scarce and the game struggled to come to life. Lilliput Gaels had a canny ability to find the target better than Athlone and Adam Cassidy was in the mood to express some silky skills with his left foot.

Cassidy kicked a brace of points and the marauding Shane Doran, up from defence, also kicked a score. Darragh Lough's point for Athlone was sandwiched between those Lilliput scores.

Lough cut the arrears with his second score, before Shane Corcoran extended the visitors' ascendancy again.

Then a crucial score arrived, with Corcoran the scorer of the goal, after a Cassidy pass. Corcoran sidestepped an Athlone defender before unleashing a right-footed rasper to the net, beating Ben Manning with the power of his shot.

Moments later, Corcoran scored again, this time a point, and Lilliput led 1-5 to 0-2 in the 27th minute.

Athlone finished the half strongly with two scores in succession by Luke Nicholson and substitute Luke Whelan. At half-time, it was Lilliput Gaels 1-5 Athlone 0-4.

After the turnaround, Lilliput piled on the pressure and went for the jugular. They totally dominated the third quarter and Corcoran scored his second goal in the 35th minute.

Further scores from Corcoran and Cassidy pushed Lilliput into a lead of 2-6 to 0-4. At that stage Athlone were just about hanging on; they needed a lifeline and quickly.

With the game going away from them, Nicholson scored a morale-boosting goal for Athlone in the 40th minute. But Lilliput responded immediately with points from Cassidy and Aaron Jackson (from a 45).

It was now Lilliput 2-8 Athlone 1-4 and time was running out on the hosts. But then substitute Rian Dully scored Athlone’s second goal to give them hope.

They did try to claw their way back into the game but Lilliput responded and Cassidy kicked a brace of scores to see off Athlone somewhat comfortably at the end.

Athlone looked a side in disarray at times and they struggled to put together combination play. They struggled in the possession stakes and weren’t as efficient as their opponents. A club with the population of Athlone should probably be playing at a higher level, but Lilliput emerged as deserving winners on the day.

Scorers - Lilliput Gaels: S Corcoran 2-3, A Cassidy 0-5 (1f), S Doran, D Maloney, A Jackson 0-1 (45) each. Athlone: L Nicholson 1-1, R Dully 1-0, D Lough 0-3 (1f), L Whelan 0-2, J Kenny 0-1.

Lilliput Gaels: Rory Quinn; Shane Maloney, Odhran Gavigan, Killian Jackson; Sean Jackson, David Maloney, Shane Doran; Aaron Jackson, Peter Murphy; Shane Corcoran, Philip Reynolds, Dylan Corcoran; Adam Cassidy, Conor Elliffe, Niall Claffey. Sub used: Conor Maloney for Claffey (53).

Athlone: Ben Manning; Eoin Hardiman, Donagh McCormack, Ruairí McMickan; Piaras Rohan, Owen McNamara, Cathal Hardiman; Lorcan McCormack, Luke O’Connell; Pierce Edmundson, John Martin, Darragh Lough; Josh Kenny, Luke Nicholson, Cillian Geary. Subs used: Luke Whelan for McNamara (injured, 8 mins), Rian Dully for Rohan (32), Owen McNamara for Edmundson (55).

Referee: Pat Fox (Rosemount).