St. Loman's power home as fog engulfs Lakepoint Park

On one of the foggiest nights imaginable for football, St. Loman's, Mullingar made full use of home advantage to crush a poor Athlone outfit and advance to the county final.It was a game that was clouded in doubt, due to the conditions which prevailed in Lakepoint Park but it finally got underway when referee, Sean Sheridan deemed it was safe to embark.There had been a suggestion that Athlone would not be travelling to Mullingar on Friday last but the Shannonsiders did arrive with a light looking panel of just sixteen players.Their cause was not helped however when their opening half point scorer, John Connellan limped off with a leg injury and their numbers were reduced to fourteen when Shane Kilroy Glynn sustained a hand injury with five minutes remaining.However, even with a fully mobilised panel it is difficult to see any other result. St. Loman's were simply headed and shoulders above the Athlone standardbearers. They had stirling performers throughout the park and in restricting the visitors to a single point in the opening period, they put the isssue beyond doubt. With John Heslin and Paul Sharry powereing the team forward from midfield, it was virtually one way traffic in the first half with the Saints amassing nine splendid points.Athlone's best player by far on the night was the hard working John Egan who was named at full forward but went out as a third midfielder but spent most of his time in defence in an effort to limit the damage caused by the Loman's midfield while Westmeath senior panellist Conrad Reilly impressed too at centre forward.Ninety seconds into the secondof the second half, the game was as good as over when Conor Cochrane put Conrad Reilly through for the opening goal.Loman's added another six points and the visitors really struggled to cope. Crusing along, Loman's began began to make some switches in personnel, withdrawing some of their more influential players.But not even that slowed the impetus as they booked a final shoot out against arch rivals, Mullingar Shamrocks.A Noel Mulligan point from a free in the 51st minute was Athlone's second score but two minutes later Adrian Gilmore had the ball in the back of the Athlone net. Michael Duddy had the visitor's third and final score with four minutes remaining before Loman's wrapped up the game with points from Conor Cochrane and Reilly.St Loman's: Jason Daly; Seanie Murphy, Daryl O'Toole, Seamus Savage; Donal McGovern, David Rushe, Emmet Cahill 0-1; Paul Sharry 0-2, John Heslin 0-3 (1'45); Shane Flynn 0-2, Conrad Reilly 1-4 (2f), Eoin Price 0-1; Steve Martin, Adrian Gilmore 1-0, Conor Cochrane 0-3.Athlone: Aidan O'Dea; Kevin Piggott, Kevin Macken, Michael McBride; Dermot Piggott, Eoin Jordan, Daniel Kenny; Noel Mulligan 0-1 (f), Ciaran McCormack; Shane Kilroy Glynn, John Connellan 0-1 (f), Michael Duddy 0-1; Garvin Costello, (Ian Byrne 28), John Egan, Andrew Lynam.Referee: Sean Sheridan, Tyrrellspass.