SFC final: Favourites St Loman's wary of Tyrrellspass challenge

Gerry Buckley

All roads lead to TEG Cusack Park next Sunday afternoon as the holders of the Flanagan Cup, St Loman’s, Mullingar, put their title on the line against a club which has perennially challenged for the blue riband of Westmeath football for the past two and a half decades.

Ironically, that same period has coincided with the emergence of Luke Dempsey as a massive contributor to the rise in the Lake County’s football status nationwide.

Tyrrellspass face the considerable task of outwitting the Mullingar-domiciled teacher if they are to regain the trophy they last won under the stewardship of current Offaly manager Pat Flanagan nine years ago.

For his part, Dempsey, while accepting that his side are entitled to the favourites’ tag, is very aware of the quality in the Tidy Town outfit. The Kildare man stated:

“Tyrrellspass have beaten us both years that I have managed St Loman’s and there is very little between the two teams. We are hot favourites based on the two semi-finals when they just managed to defeat Athlone, but the wind was a lot stronger for that first game of the double-header than it was in ours (an impressive victory against Killucan), and that made shooting very tricky. Many Tyrrellspass shots tailed just wide. The semi-finals were two very different matches.

“If you look at this year’s Laois championship, Stradbally were given very little chance but they stopped Portlaoise from a ten in a row, despite coming from what was perceived to be the weaker semi-final. There was very little between next Sunday’s teams in the final three years ago when Declan (Rowley) managed St Loman’s to beat Tyrrellspass.

“We have lost a few important players since, and it needed a lot of work to shape the team again. They have fine players in the likes of Ger Egan, Denis Glennon, Dean McNicholas and Jamie Gonoud, while Darren Quinn has an excellent kick-out. Finals take on a life of their own and we will have to be at our best to win.”

Wearing the bainisteoir’s bib in the opposing dugout will be a player who represented his county initially under Luke Dempsey, St Malachy’s stalwart Alan Mangan.

The man affectionately known far and wide as ‘Buddha’ had the small matter of his wedding to look after last Thursday in County Clare. However, Joe Daly, a staunch Tyrrellspass club man and a senior selector this year gave his thoughts to the Westmeath Examiner last week.

Daly conceded that his side was lucky to defeat Athlone in the penultimate round but he lauded the late match-winning goal by previously-unsung hero, Val Sizychas, thus:

“I was delighted for Val as he is very dedicated and spends all his spare time practising in the football field. We didn’t play particularly well but Athlone have quality players, the pressure was on us and we still got through to the final.”

The former Westmeath senior team coordinator (under three managers) accepts that the respective semi-final displays have Gaels far and wide opining that there will only be one winner next Sunday – St Loman’s.

“I can’t argue with that logic. They are a formidable outfit. John Heslin and Paul Sharry, among others, are top class players, while Luke (Dempsey) is an excellent manager and a proven winner,” Daly stated.

So how can St Loman’s be stopped? Daly replied: “It is very hard to pinpoint any weaknesses in their team. We can’t let them get on the front foot and we need to be still in contention with ten minutes to go. If we only score what we did in the semi-final (1-8) it won’t be enough, but in fairness we conceded very little also (1-6).

“Overall, we will have to up our game. St Loman’s are very well-balanced. Alan (Mangan) is in his second year with us and nobody can doubt his passion and commitment. He brings a lot of quality to training and does a lot of hours behind the scenes. I have no doubt that he will be a very successful manager in the long-term.”

Among the new additions to the Tidy Town backroom team this year is John O’Brien. The former Westmeath and Leinster defender famously held aloft the Flanagan Cup in 1999 when the Holy Grail was finally achieved by the men in sky blue and navy.

Joe Daly was very hopeful that title number four can be garnered at approximately 5 pm on Sunday when Jim Rock sounds the final whistle: “Finals are there to be won, and we are not turning up to make up the numbers.”