It’s semi-final time in the race for the Flanagan Cup and defending champions, St Loman’s are preparing to meet local rivals, Mullingar Shamrocks, in a mouth-watering clash at Cusack Park next Sunday (5pm).
By Paul O’Donovan
The game will be preceded by the meeting of Garrycastle and Coralstown/Kinnegad (3.30pm) – another intriguing contest.
St Loman’s have enjoyed a near flawless championship season thus far and made it through the group stages unbeaten. Since topping their group with a facile win over Maryland, Declan Rowley’s charges have had a five-week break from competitive action, but have busied themselves with some very useful challenge games against the likes of Roscommon side, St Brigid’s, one of the leading club teams in the country.
St Loman’s did lose that encounter, but it will matter little come Sunday and they still possess some of the finest talent around. John Heslin remains their most high profile star and if he repeats the heroics of last year’s semi-final (where he scored 2-16 as St Loman’s denied Garrycastle) the blue side of Mullingar will surely be celebrating.
Heslin aside, St Loman’s will also look to the pacy Paul Sharry, who is versatile but usually deployed at either centre back or wing forward. Midfielder Ciaran Kilmurray is enjoying a good season, too, while Eoin Price’s speed offers another outlet. However, there may still be question marks around their defence and Shamrocks will look to exploit that.
Bernard Flynn’s side had a good win over Tyrrellspass in the quarter-final, which went to a replay, and the introduction of Darragh Daly at full forward was key to the second half come- back. Daly’s physical presence caused havoc for the Tyrrellspass defence and he fisted home one goal and played a key role in other crucial scores.
Lorcan Smyth also found some of his best form to date against Tyrrellspass and he will be a key man on Sunday, while Ciaran Curley impressed at corner forward. The big concern for Shamrocks is that they face into Sunday’s game without Kieran Gavin, who is out for the remainder of the season with an Achilles’ tendon injury.
Overall, while St Loman’s are favourites, they must be more cohesive in defence otherwise Mullingar Shamrocks will be only too happy to spoil the party.
Meanwhile, Garrycastle took the circuitous route to the last four having finished level with St Malachy’s in third place in the other group. It meant a play-off and Dessie Dolan’s charges duly proved too strong for the saints as they set up a rematch with Coralstown/Kinnegad, who they defeated (1-12 to 1-4) in the last round of the group stages.
Both sides will fancy their chances in this one, but former Westmeath ace, Des Dolan is still a classy player at club level and pulled most of the strings as Garrycastle defeated Killucan in the quarter-final. If Coralstown/Kinnegad are to cause an upset here, they must curb Dolan’s influence and that in itself is a considerable challenge. Aside from Dolan, Alex Gardiner is having a good season at full forward and John Gaffey is quite a presence at centre back.
Coralstown/Kinnegad, un-der Tosh McDonnell, will be keen to reach the final and the versatile Ronan Foley is one of their brightest stars. Alan and Darren Giles are quality forwards and they will also look to Ronan Doyle in defence and Niall Kilmartin at midfield.
Momentum is with Garrycastle, though and they seem well capable of reaching another final.
