St Loman's 1-20 Killoe Young Emmets 1-10
St Loman’s were never troubled by a disappointing Killoe side - who ended the game with 13 players - in what proved to be a somewhat one-sided Leinster senior club football quarter-final in Glennon Bros Pearse Park in Longford.
All-Star nominee Ronan O’Toole’s 12th-minute goal propelling the Westmeath side to a far from flattering ten-point win against the home team.
The pre-match showers had disappeared and conditions were pretty much ideal for football and it was the Westmeath champions who were straight out of the traps and, after Longford native Peter Foy was wide from an early goal chance, Danny McCartan (a mark) and Denis McGoldrick (open play) traded points before St Loman’s took complete control of the game in virtually every position.
Points from Sam McCartan, John Heslin (free), Danny McCartan and Ronan O’Toole preceded a wonderful individual goal from the latter in the 12th minute. Further points ensued via Sam McCartan, Shane Dempsey - whose red card in the first-round win against Shelmaliers had been reduced on appeal to a black.
Heslin then added another free, Sam McCartan pointed a '45’ after his brother Danny had been denied a goal before Dempsey added another.
Fine points from Paddy Moran and Mickey Quinn briefly stemmed the tide for Killoe, who are managed by former St Loman’s manager Luke Dempsey, but with Heslin spraying the ball around delightfully, Paddy Dowdall’s men increased their lead before the break when Shane Dempsey completed his hat-trick of points to leave the Lake County men ahead by 1-11 to 0-03 at the break.
In truth, all the Mullingar men needed to do in the second half was to keep the scoreboard ticking over, and this they did at their ease, starting with another Dempsey point after 50 seconds. Heslin continued to dictate the tempo in and around the midfield area, and he also kicked a great left-footed point from play in the 37th minute. Their lead was marginally down from the interval to ten points (1-14 to 0-07) at the end of the third quarter.
Emmet Óg’s woes were compounded by the dismissal of sub Cian Dooner in the 49th minute (a black card to follow his earlier yellow). To their credit, they continued to plug away and were rewarded with a fine goal from Danny Mimnagh in the 55th minute to leave them trailing by 1-18 to 1-08. The sides shared four late points – Danny McCartan and Heslin (a free each, Heslin’s coming in added-time after another Killoe sub Colm Coyle was red-carded) for St Loman’s, and Paddy Kiernan and Mark Hughes for a well-beaten Emmet Óg outfit.
St Loman’s, Mullingar: J Daly; E Hogan, D O’Keeffe, O Hogan; J Geoghegan, D Whelan, E Gaffney; S Flanagan (0-01), J Heslin (0-05, 0-04f); P Foy, S McCartan (0-04, 0-01‘45’), K Regan; D McCartan (0-03, 0-01f, 0-01m), R O’Toole (1-02), S Dempsey (0-05, 0-01m). Subs: K Reilly for Foy (41), F Ayorinde for Flanagan (50), T Graham for Regan (50), R Jones for Gaffney (58), G Grehan for O Hogan (58)
Emmet Óg, Killoe: M Hughes; N Farrelly, L Hughes, E Farrelly; G Farrelly, R Moffett, C Farrelly; P Kiernan (0-01), R Keogh; D McGoldrick (0-01), M Quinn (0-01), E Keogh; D Mimnagh (1-01, 0-1'45'), M Hughes (0-03, 0-01f), P Moran (0-01). Subs: C Coyle (0-01) for McGoldrick (19), R McGoldrick (0-01) for N Farrelly (h-t), C Dooner for E Keogh (33), S Clarke for R Keogh (41), C Donohoe for C Farrelly (54)
Referee: A Nolan (Wicklow)
