Slicker Saints crown year with Feis Cup victory

A rousing sixty minutes of football, played in absolutely atrocious conditions, brought closure to the Feis Cup competition for 2008 as a spirited and committed St. Lomans side had just too much craft for an off-colour and understrength Tyrrellspass side, who playing on home turf. Devoid of the services of the Glennon brothers, Denis and David and with Martin Flanagan kept in reserve until early in the second period, Pat Flanagan"s charges could little by way of a serious challenge to the Mullingar Saints who revelled in the testing conditions. Indeed, it was a brave decision by match official, Liam McDaniel to allow the game to proceed as a waterlogged pitch left the safety of players in question.Indeed, the very tricky conditions led to some over physicality on the part of players from both sides, with the match official flashing a number of yellow cards over the hour. At least one Tyrrellspass player was lucky to escape a more serious sanction following an incident with a St. Lomans forward. To the credit managed to defy not just conditions but the physical challenge imposed by Tyrrellspass as they swept to victory.Their fluency was in marked contrast to the home side which lacked cohesion throughout the park. Solid in defence where James Davitt was a controlling influence, ably assisted by Paul Leonard, Paddy Dowdall and David Rushe while Tommy Lambden and Senan Russell bossed the more experienced pairing of Adrian Corcoran and David Murphy for much of the encounter.But it was up front that the Saints really won the war. They had forwards who knew where the posts were and were not afraid to have a go. Certainly there were signs of encouragement with Conradh Reilly, the Lynam brothers, Kieran and top scorer, Conor, along with Conor Cochrane and Paul Sharry all showing well.Tyrrellspass, for their part, lacked that drive in front of goal and all of their scores came courtesy of placed balls, including a "45 and Stephen Gallagher"s citadel was rarely troubled. Barry Murphy hardly put a foot wrong over the hour with Alan Rigney offering most support. David Murphy had his moments in midfield but it was upfront where the Tidy Town side showed most deficiency. For all their endeavours, Gavin Hoey and Philip Sheridan, later redeployed to a more familiar half back role, could not gain any foothold and it was left to the marksmanship of place kickers, Ger Egan and John Corcoran to keep the scoreboard ticking over.Flying startThe Saints set out their stall early and inside the opening eleven minutes they had imposed themselves, with Conradh Reilly, Conor Lynam, from a free, and Reilly again, after Kieran Lynam"s effort had been brilliantly blocked down, all raised white flags.Even at this early stage, tempers were fraying and it took stern words from Liam McDaniel to keep matters in check. St. Lomans added to their tally in the 13th minute when Conor Lynam floated over his second free after Tommy Lambden had been impeded. The home side were finally roused when Ger O"Toole was unceremoniously grounded by Donal McGovern and true to form, John Corcoran tapped over the 20 metre award.The lead was halved when Ger Egan kicked the first of his four points following a foul on Paul Henry but almost immediately, a roving David Rushe sallied forth from his half back position to pump over a splendid point from a Conor Lynam pass. Back came Tyrrellspass and in their best spell, they registered a brace of points. Indeed they came close to finding the net on 27 minutes when a desperate St. Lomans defence were happy to scramble the ball to safety. A free ensued with Ger Egan converted but it was scant reward while John Corcoran rounded off his side"s first half tally with a free.As the game drifted into stoppage time there was still one last opportunity for the Saints and a splendid move from defence to offence, linking Paddy Dowdall, Conor Lynam and Conor Reilly was capped with a fine point from the centre half forward. That left St. Lomans guarding a slender two point break at the interval, 0-6 to 0-4 but one felt they still had more to offer.DisallowedA window of opportunity appeared to have presented itself for the home side in the opening moments of the second period when Adrian Corcoran sailed above the Saints defence to box a well place free from brother, John, to the Lomans net. However, the midfielder was adjudged to have been in the small parallelogram ahead of the ball and goal did not stand.Points were exchanged by St. Lomans Paul Sharry and John Corcoran, from a "45, before Martin Flanagan made his anticipated entrance. When Ger Egan capitalised on a St. Lomans indiscretion to fire over another minor, there was just a point in it and, briefly, the prospect of a really competitive final quarter beckoned. But St. Lomans rose to the challenge and points from midfielder Tommy Lambden, picking up a Paul Martin lay-off, and Conor Lynam, from a free after Lambden had been impeded, but daylight between the sides.As the game reached the 50th minute, points from Conor Lynam and Ger Egan, from a free, ensured the margin remained at three points but when Daryl O"Toole advanced confidently he found Paul Sharry in space and he duly fired over. The Saints wing back was instrumental in his side"s twelfth point when he again did the spadework before setting up Conor Lynam on this occasion and the silverware was as good as in the bag.And just to ensure there was no slip up, St. Lomans put the icing on the cake two minutes short of the hour when a probing ball from Senan Russell was knocked into the path of Paul Martin by a determined Paul Sharry and the robust full forward despatched the leather with aplomb beyond a helpless Darren Quinn.At the game"s conclusion, it was left to St. Loman"s captain, James Davitt to accept the spoils from the Chairman of Westmeath Football Board, Mr. Des Maguire.Scorers: St. Lomans - C. Lynam 0-5, C. Reilly 0-3, P. Martin 1-0, P. Sharry 0-2, D. Rushe and T. Lambden 0-1 each. Tyrrellspass - G. Egan 0-4, J. Corcoran 0-3.St. Loman"s, Mullingar: Stephen Gallagher; Donal McGovern, James Davitt, Paul Leonard; David Rushe, Paddy Dowdall, Daryl O"Toole; Tommy Lambden, Senan Russell; Conor Lynam, Conradh Reilly, Paul Sharry; Kieran Lynam, Paul Martin, Conor Cochrane. Subs. Seanie Murphy for D. McGovern, Shane Flynn for C. Cochrane, Gerry Farrell for P. Sharry, Timmy Murphy for K. Lynam.Tyrrellspass: Darren Quinn; Alan Rigney, Barry Murphy, Terence O"Brien; Shane Arthur, Trevor John Gonoud, Paul Henry; Adrian Corcoran, David Murphy; Cathal Daly, Gavin Hoey, Philip Sheridan; Ger Egan, John Corcoran, Ger O"Toole. Subs. Martin Flanagan for P. Henry, Eoin O"Neill for TJ Gonoud, Sean Bagnall for S. Arthur, Brian Slevin for G. Hoey, Declan Feery for P. Sheridan.Referee: Mr. Liam McDaniel, Kilbeggan Shamrocks.