Liam Carey, St Oliver Plunkett's, is about to be challenged by Ross Gaffney, Delvin, in the senior 'B' hurling championship on Saturday.

Meehan’s brace crucial as Plunkett’s eliminate Delvin

Published: Thu 24 Aug 2023, 11:32 AM

St Oliver Plunkett's 2-15, Delvin 1-14

Gerry Buckley

In the second leg of the Westmeath senior hurling ‘B’ championship double-header in Killucan last Saturday afternoon, unbeaten St Oliver Plunkett’s copper-fastened their place in the knockout stages with a hard-earned four-point win against Delvin.

The Valley men are now out of contention with a game to go, but they played a huge part in what was a very entertaining contest for the small crowd at the well-presented venue. Conversely, the Mullingar men already look sure to be strong contenders for the Mickey Power Cup.

The standard of play was noteworthy right from the off with six points equally shared in as many minutes. Wind-assisted Plunkett’s three white flags came courtesy of Davy Gavin, Ciaran Curley, and Paddy Lynam (a free), while Westmeath star Darragh Clinton scored an early hat-trick of points for the maroon and white-clad outfit (the third of them from a free).

The tit-for-tat scoring continued for the remainder of the opening quarter. The scores were traded by Clinton and ‘keeper Conor Lynch (frees), Dean Ennis and Ross Corroon (quality scores from play), and Lynch (a free from the 65-metre line) and Clinton (a wonderfully skilful effort from play), leaving two evenly-matched sides tied at 0-6 apiece.

A terrific Shane Ormsby brace and Corroon’s second score put the men in white and green three clear by the 25th minute, but their opponents finished the first moiety strongly with four unanswered points (one of which should have been a goal).

The scores came courtesy of Ross Gaffney (despite being pressurised), Clinton (two placed balls – a free and a disappointing penalty strike on the half-hour mark, after a foul on Eoin Carolan who had produced a great catch), and a neat score by Josh Coll. With the useful wind behind them on the change of ends, Delvin looked to be in a good position at the interval when they led by 0-10 to 0-9.

Clinton again showed his class with another wonderful point a mere 12 seconds after play resumed, but St Oliver Plunkett’s responded impressively with a hat-trick of unanswered points all from the stick of Longford player Lynam (the first from open play preceding two fine free conversions). However, two successful frees from Clinton saw the lead change hands again (0-13 to 0-12) by the 42nd minute.

Seven minutes later, Paddy Kelly cut in from the sideline and duly rifled a great shot past Lynch for a tonic goal for the losers.

Their fans’ joy was short-lived, however, with sub Thomas Meehan getting a flick to an underhit Lynam free to reduce the deficit to the bare minimum. Lynch then pulled off a great save from Ennis.

Lynam equalised (1-13 each) with aplomb in the 54th minute. Ennis doubled his tally before super-sub Meehan was on hand to poke the sliotar over the line in the 56th minute after Stephen Reilly had kept out an initial shot from another Mullingar sub Matthew Cunningham.

Curley soon put the winners a goal up with a delightful point. The post denied Clinton from a first-time pull approaching the hour mark. After a couple of Delvin lobs failed to generate an equalising goal, it was left to Lynch to seal an impressive win with a great free from the last puck of an enthralling contest.

Scorers – St Oliver Plunkett’s: T Meehan 2-0, P Lynam 0-5 (3f), C Lynch 0-3 (3f), R Corroon, S Ormsby, C Curley 0-2 each, D Gavin 0-1.

Delvin: D Clinton 0-10 (5f, 1pen), P Kelly 1-0, D Ennis 0-2, J Coll, R Gaffney 0-1 each.

St Oliver Plunkett’s: Conor Lynch; Zach Aherne, Stephen Conway, Brian Reidy; Liam Carey, Aaron Craig, Steve McManus; Tomass Turks, Sean Kelly; Paddy Lynam, Davy Gavin, Shane Ormsby; Ross Corroon, Ciaran Curley, Nathan Cornally. Subs used: Cathal Craig for Corroon (h-t), Greg Gavin for Conway (h-t), Thomas Meehan for Kelly (44), Matthew Cunningham for Cornally (54).

Delvin: Stephen Reilly; Aaron Fenlon, Patrick Clune, Francis McGrath; Liam Carolan, Adam Ennis, Fintan Cox, Dean Ennis, Paddy Farrington; Paddy Kelly, Darragh Clinton, Killian Murphy; Josh Coll, Eoin Carolan, Ross Gaffney. Sub used: Alan Cox for Gaffney (53).

Ref: John Dermody (Lough Lene Gaels).