Tang, Athlone and Caulry among victors on weekend of narrow wins

It was a weekend of narrow victories - especially one-point wins - in the Westmeath club football championships.

One of the main talking points of this year's Westmeath SFC has undoubtedly been the form of Tang in Section B. And at Páirc Chiaráin yesterday (Sunday), Keith Higgins' charges edged out Moate All Whites by one point (1-9 to 1-8), a victory which followed their wins over Mullingar Shamrocks and Athlone.

Considering the small catchment area Tang draw their players from, this sequence of wins is highly commendable.

The Tang goal was scored by Adam Neary with Tobby Conteh netting for Moate, who defeated Athlone and Garrycastle in their first two outings.

The win leaves Tang well placed to make the knockout stages but with only two teams advancing from Section B, nothing is certain yet.

Athlone picked up a vital victory and they had to come from behind to do so, edging out Shandonagh on a 0-10 to 0-9 scoreline at TEG Cusack Park. The win eases Athlone's relegation worries and if they can win their last two games, they could even make the knockout stages, depending on other results.

Despite scoring two first-half goals (James Sheerin and Eoin Mulvihill the scorers) and having a six-point lead at the interval, Garrycastle fell to a third straight defeat as Mullingar Shamrocks eventually prevailed by 1-14 to 2-6.

With Garrycastle missing a number of key players, the result deepens their relegation worries with games against Tang and Athlone to come.

In Section A, Caulry claimed their second successive win by defeating Killucan by 0-11 to 0-8 in Shandonagh on Saturday. Senan Baker scored five points and Conor McCormack (despite a recent illness) again made a significant impression off the bench by scoring three points.

The Downs lost out to neighbours Coralstown/Kinnegad (1-12 to 1-6) which means the reigning champions have only one point to show from their three games. But with four of the six teams to go through from Section A, most observers will still expect The Downs to make it. They have games against Tyrrellspass and Caulry to come.

For their part, Coralstown/Kinnegad - for whom Shane Fleming scored six points against The Downs - look likely to finish in the top two of Section A which would mean direct passage to the semi-finals. The Kinnegad men will be hoping to reach their first senior final since 1998, when they lost out to Athlone.

As expected, St Loman's, Mullingar were too strong for Tyrrellspass on Saturday when they won by nine points (1-15 to 0-9), with John Heslin scoring 1-7.

In Section A of the Westmeath IFC, Castledaly pipped Milltown by 0-11 to 0-10 yesterday (Sunday) to claim their second win on the trot. Alan Stone and Adam Turley were influential figures in Castledaly's win.

Ballymore beat St Mary's, Rochfortbridge by 1-9 to 0-10, with dual star Owen McCabe scoring the only goal of the game.

Tubberclair fought back from a half-time deficit of three points to eventually overcome Rosemount by four (0-14 to 0-10) on a wet Saturday evening in Moate. With Tubberclair upping their game in the second half against a determined Rosemount outfit, Eoghan McCabe was to the fore in the scoring stakes from both open play and frees.

In Section B, meanwhile, Maryland got the better of Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall (1-9 to 1-6), with Kieran Martin scoring the goal for the Drumraney men.

Aided by Liam Brennan's goal, Milltownpass picked up their first win when they edged out Multyfarnham in another game won by the minimum margin, 1-10 to 1-9.

Due to the death of Tony Maher, Ballynacargy's intermediate championship game against St Malachy's was postponed until this evening (Monday), in The Downs at 7.30pm.

The trend of one-point wins extended to the Westmeath Junior 1 FC where St Joseph's defeated Moate All Whites (2-9 to 2-8) and Kilbeggan Shamrocks beat Bunbrosna (2-11 to 1-13).