SHC: A Gaels goal could have tipped the scales, says O’Toole

With Kevin O’Brien having guided Clonkill to successive senior hurling championship titles, it now falls to Pat O’Toole – in his second stint in the green and gold bainisteoir bib – to try and mastermind an all-too-rare hat-trick of Westmeath Examiner Cup wins.

The softly-spoken manager was understandably relieved after surviving a very tough encounter in last Sunday evening’s semi-final against Lough Lene Gaels, winning 0-16 to 0-12.

“It was anyone’s game with time almost up. We were just lucky we got a couple of scores to pull away,” said O’Toole (pictured above). “In the first half, Luke Loughlin got a few huge points and that just kept us ticking over. He tore away from his markers a couple of times and got great scores.

“It took us a while to settle into the game, it’s as simple as that, and those scores kept us in the game. They were all over us for the first 15/20 minutes. We were lucky to go in just two points down at half-time.”

He added: “It was a matter of getting the heads right during half-time. A lot of people probably thought we would pull away when we went three points up, but they came back near the end.

“The Gaels were well up for that game. We were expecting that type of a challenge today. If you look back on the last few years, the Gaels were never beaten by more than three or four points. They hit the post at one stage and the ball went out for a lineball to us.

“That’s some bit of luck. If they had got a goal at any stage today, who knows who’d be in the final now?”

O’Toole’s substitutions worked very well, especially the introduction of Paddy Dowdall for the second half.

“Yes, Paddy make a big difference when he came in. He got on to a lot of ball. He’s kind of contracted to that type of work now – he did it for St Loman’s last Sunday as well! He had a big influence on the game. He settled things down,” he said with a smile.

Looking ahead to a repeat of last year’s decider, the manager opined: “Castletown-Geoghegan are a very good hurling team. They’ll take beating. There’s no doubt about that. They’ll be mad gunning to beat us now, but we’ll try and give them a good rattle.

“Niall Mitchell is out, but otherwise I think we are fairly OK. He’ll be a big loss. He’s a fine hurler. It’s all about getting the lads heads right and focused. You can’t do any more in the fitness stakes at this stage.”