'Pollard defeat Raharney

Castlepollard 2-10Raharney 1-11In what was undoubtedly the only decent contest of the entire weekend in the Westmeath senior hurling championship, Castlepollard and Raharney served up an entertaining hour in Cusack Park on Saturday evening last, with 'Pollard scraping through to the winners' section by a two-point margin.Ironically, Raharney's 'punishment' for defeat has presented them with what many will feel is a quite straightforward route to a county semi-final, with Ringtown (particularly if short the services of US-bound Niall Kilcoyne), Brownstown and St. Brigid's likely to be well within the Deelsiders' compass. However, that is for another day, but a proud club like Raharney, albeit quite understrength on the day, will not be happy to have lost to their age-old rivals Castlepollard, who were full value for their narrow win.'Pollard raced into an early two-point lead, with scores from Shane Egan (a fine score under pressure) and Aaron Farrell (a great long-range shot). However, the men in blue and white were on level terms by the seventh minute, courtesy of a brace of points from Conor Jordan, the first an opportunist effort coming after his side almost got in for a goal and the second from a 30-metre free. Castlepollard then got a major boost when Stephen Bardon blasted home a penalty, after the lively Kevin Brazil was fouled in the large parallelogram. It got even better for the men in the blue jerseys with a gold hoop when Brazil fired home a second three-pointer in their next attack. Alan Doyle steadied the Raharney ship with a neat point but, shortly after missing a '65', Stephen Bardon struck a fine point from play for the winners. After Barry Kennedy (who endured a very rare scoreless hour) had a shot saved by Andrew Doyle, Kevin Brazil was unable to flick the rebound to the net. Raharney replied with a point apiece from John Shaw and Conor Jordan (a free), before the latter player was overly-casual from another scoreable placed ball. Sandwiched between a brace of converted frees from Kevin Brazil, the impressive Andrew Dermody scored a wonderful point under pressure for Castlepollard. A classy score from John Shaw rounded off first-half scoring, with Andrew Dermody unlucky at the other end not to increase his side's lead in the last action of the half. At the break, the scoreboard read: Castlepollard 2-6 Raharney 0-6.With exactly a minute elapsed in the second moiety, Conor Jordan produced a great catch when back helping his defence cope with a huge Stephen Bardon free. Scrappy play dominated the ensuing exchanges and it was not until the 11th minute of the half that the scoreboard operator was troubled, Derek Murray increasing 'Pollard's lead. Conor Jordan responded with a converted free from 50 metres and substitute Padraig Connaughton soon added a neat point from play. Andrew Dermody restored Castlepollard's two-goal cushion with his second point of the evening. The tit-for-tat scoring continued with two Conor Jordan frees being cancelled out by a point apiece from Stephen Bardon (a free) and substitute Glen Flynn (his shot going over via the woodwork).A mini-skirmish ensued, but the referee issued no cards, before another fine free from Conor Jordan left Raharney trailing by five points, with five minutes of normal time remaining. In the first minute of added-time, John Shaw's attempt to blast home a goal from a 30-metre was blocked by a massed 'Pollard defence, but Padraig Connaughton flashed home the rebound, to set up a dramatic finish. However, a loose pass forward from Alan Giles was to prove costly and Castlepollard held out for a deserved triumph.The draw for the next round in both sections was made immediately following James McGrath's final whistle. Castlepollard have a daunting opener in the winners' group when they will face reigning champions and pre-championship favourites, Clonkill. For their part, Raharney will attempt to get their campaign back on track with a losers' group tie against another team who normally don blue and white, Brownstown, evoking memories of many great clashes between the sides, back in the 1980s particularly.Castlepollard: Colin McCormack; Jamie Ward, John P. Murray, Donal Devine; Martin Egan, Darren McCormack, Aaron Farrell (0-1); Stephen Bardon (1-2, 1-0 from a pen, 0-1 from a free), Derek Murray (0-1); Shane Fagan, Shane Egan (0-1), Kevin Gavigan; Andrew Dermody (0-2), Barry Kennedy, Kevin Brazil (1-2, 0-2 from frees). Subs: Glen Flynn (0-1) (for Gavigan, 41 mins), Stephen Boylan (for Fagan, 48 mins).Raharney: Andrew Doyle; Mark Conroy, Peter Mullen, Donie Carey; Declan Mullen, Chris Flanagan, Alan Giles; Tony Doyle, Dave Flanagan; Shane Leavy, Conor Jordan (0-7, 0-6 from frees), John Shaw (0-2); Dan Riggs, Brendan McKeogh, Alan Doyle (0-1). Subs: Robbie McKeogh (for P.Mullen, 10 mins), Padraig Connaughton (1-1) (for D.Flanagan, 36 mins).Referee: James McGrath (Turin).