U16 footballers regain Reilly Cup
April 30, 2011Westmeath football received a much-needed boost last August when Graham O'Connor's highly-rated under 16 side regained the prestigious Gerry Reilly Cup after a nine-year lapse.
And they almost achieved a magnificent double, only losing a titanic Fr Manning Cup final to Sligo after extra-time three days later. The team's success and undoubted talent has given rise to the hope that similar success will follow at under 18 level and how that would be welcomed in a county that has had a torrid record in the Leinster minor championship since a provincial title last came to the county in 2000.
"Overall, it was a brilliant year for us," enthuses Killucan clubman O'Connor, who has since been appointed Westmeath minor manager for 2011.
"It would have been nice to win the double and we certainly had our chances to so in the Manning Cup final. We led Sligo by four points in the second half, but we just couldn't get enough possession into our forwards to kill the game off. Once the game went to extra-time, we started to tire which was to be expected after the Gerry Reilly final three days earlier.
"But even though we came up short in the end, I can't praise the players enough. They gave it everything last year and winning the Gerry Reilly Cup was the least their efforts deserved."
Having won the Gerry Reilly Cup on six occasions between 1990 and 2001, success in the popular Oldcastle tournament had, somewhat worryingly, dried up in recent years. But restored to its original format last year, O'Connor and his selectors John Joe Carberry (Rosemount), Pat Fox (Moate All-Whites), Frank Mescall (Ballynacargy) and Gary Quinn (Athlone) were determined to reverse that trend.
They made the perfect start by defeating the home county Meath 3-14 to 2-12 in the first of four triumphant outings at the new Millbrook ground, which is located on the Castlepollard Road out of Oldcastle. Meath had posted the first two points before Lorcan Dolan replied with the opening goal. A second goal from the Castledaly clubman helped Westmeath to a 2-5 to 0-4 lead, but the hosts finished the first half by scoring an unanswered 1-3 to trail by the minimum, 1-7 to 2-5 at half-time.
The Lake County demonstrated their class on the restart, however, when they outscored Meath by 1-7 to 0-1 to end the game as a contest. Barry Dardis managed a late penalty for the Royals, but it was a case of too little, too late as Westmeath ran out comfortable winners.
Westmeath continued their impressive form when they powered to a 4-9 to 0-11 victory over Dublin to qualify for the final in fine style. Dublin were leading by 0-4 to 0-1 when man of the match Robbie Greville levelled with the game's opening goal. Athlone's Ray Connellan tagged on a free to give the maroon and whites a 1-4 to 0-6 interval lead and they pulled clear in the final quarter thanks to further goals from Ian Hyland (two) and Lorcan Dolan.
Louth also registered wins over Dublin and Meath to reach the decider, making the final round clash a meaningless affair. But eager to gain a psychological edge over their opponents ahead of the final, Westmeath recovered from a 0-2 to 0-6 half-time deficit to emerge as 1-8 to 0-8 winners, with David Brooks' goal proving decisive.
The outcome was the same when the teams renewed their rivalry in the decider on August 8. The Wee County once again had the better of the first half exchanges to lead by 0-7 to 0-6 at the break, but within 30 seconds of the restart, David Brooks had struck for the only goal and Westmeath were never headed thereafter.
Louth kept the pressure on and were within striking distance when trailing by two points with 10 minutes remaining. But Westmeath kept their composure and went on to seal a 1-12 to 0-11 victory courtesy of late points from Lorcan Dolan and Dillon McDermott.
With the Gerry Reilly Cup safely secured, Westmeath quickly turned their attention to the Fr Manning Cup final which they had qualified for on the back of blitz-style games against Roscommon, Longford, Leitrim and Sligo. Having registered a 2-6 to 1-3 victory over Sligo in Drumlish, Co. Longford in July, Westmeath had high hopes of handing the Yeats County boys a second defeat in the final at the Longford Slashers grounds. But a fired-up Sligo exacted sweet revenge with a 2-14 to 1-14 victory after extra-time.
Full forward Cristor Davey and goalkeeper Damien Sweeney were the heroes for the Connacht side, who came from four points down in normal time to claim a deserved victory. Davey accounted for both of the winners' goals, while Sweeney denied Westmeath a replay when he produced a brilliant double save in a thrilling finale.
Davey netted early for the winners, who were coached by brothers Tommy and Mark Breheny and senior team captain Charlie Harrison, but the Lake County hit back with points from Ger Leech, David Brooks, Robbie Greville and a goal from full forward Lorcan Dolan to lead by 1-8 to 1-5 at half-time.
Westmeath had extended their advantage to 1-10 to 1-6 before Davey's second major brought Sligo back into it. When Aaron Curley converted a '45 to put Westmeath 1-12 to 2-7 up, they looked set for victory, but two late frees from Ciaran O'Connor forced extra-time for the Yeats County.
Sligo were the better team in extra-time which was played in near darkness as Westmeath began to feel the exertions of their Gerry Reilly Cup final victory over Louth. The winners led by 2-13 to 1-13 at the end of the first period, and maintained their three-point advantage until the end.
Looking to the season ahead, O'Connor is confident that Westmeath can arrest their dreadful run in the Leinster minor championship despite being handed a very tough first round draw away to Dublin.
"It's been said to me that we would be better off losing to Dublin and taking our chances in the backdoor, but there is no reason why we can't beat Dublin. We did it in the Gerry Reilly Cup last year and we can do it again.
"We had John Joe Carberry involved with the under 17 development squad last year (Alan McCormack and Gerry Walker were the other mentors) so we are fully aware of each player's capability. We feel we have the makings of a very good minor team," he concludes.
The successful Westmeath under 16 football squad was: Michael McMahon, Eoghan O'Reilly, Luke Corless, Evan Rourke, Rob Gorman, Mark Brown, Robbie Greville, Aaron Curley, Justin Barrett, Ray Connellan, Shane Murtagh, Andrew O'Sullivan, Ian Hyland, Lorcan Dolan, Dillon McDermott, Mark Keenan, Gary Burke, Gary Greville, Tommy Gallagher, David Brooks, Ger Leech, Shane Dempsey, Killian Daly, Jamie Madden, Sam Moran, Stephen Woods, Adam Gaffney, David Gaye, Keith McKiernan, Emmett Corrigan. Tweet
