Wasteful Raharney eventually shake off 14-man Castlepollard

Raharney 2-14, Castlepollard 0-11

Gerry Buckley

Despite shooting a whopping 18 wides – many of them in the ‘poor to the very poor’ category – Raharney’s senior hurlers still had enough in hand to defeat Castlepollard by a nine-point margin in TEG Cusack Park last Sunday afternoon, the losers shell-shocked by going a man down just over a minute into the contest.

The upshot of this very disappointing fourth round robin tie in the race for the Westmeath Examiner Cup is that a to-date under-performing Deelside outfit are guaranteed at least a semi-final slot, while ‘Pollard will need to defeat another side certain to be in the last three, Lough Lene Gaels, in their fifth game to have any chance of avoiding the drop to the senior ‘B’ ranks in 2026.

Some of the small crowd present had barely taken their seats when they were greeted by the sight of a disconsolate Eoin English walking towards the dugout after the referee had sent him off for an illegal challenge on Devin Hill (who needed medical treatment before he could resume). Killian Doyle converted the resultant wind-assisted free.

To their great credit, the 14 men in blue and gold refused to drop their heads and actually edged in front by the seventh minute courtesy of a point apiece from Andrew Dermody and Darragh McCormack (a quality score) as rain began to fall to make conditions trickier. Two minutes later, fine play by Eoin Keyes teed up Ciaran Doyle who skillfully whipped the sliotar to the net from close range to put John Shaw’s troops into the lead, and they were never headed thereafter.

Point exchanges ensued between McCormack (a ‘65’) and Rory Keyes (from long range), McCormack (a fabulous score) and his opposite number Killian Doyle (despite being pressurized). A brace from Allan Devine (a free and open play), either side of Eoin Keyes butchering a great goal chance at the other end, drew Eamon O’Connor’s men level (0-6 to 1-3) with 19 minutes elapsed, a remarkable situation given their numerical disadvantage and playing into the teeth of a very useful wind.

However, despite a worrying level of profligacy, the men in their changed white and blue strip still pounced for 1-4 without reply during the remainder of the first moiety. Killian Doyle (from play, seconds after he had untypically under-hit a free) and Callum McKeogh both pointed before Eoin Keyes almost replicated his earlier goal miss in the 28th minute but, on this occasion, he managed to barely scramble the ball over the goal line (the three-pointer awarded after the referee consulted his two umpires at the scoreboard end of the ground). The Doyle twins – Killian (a free) and Ciaran (play) – both pointed in injury-time. Raharney led by 2-7 to 0-6 at the interval, and the wide count read 10-3.

Raharney increased their advantage to double figures by scoring the opening three points of the second half via Ciaran Doyle and Eamon Cunneen (two) by the 37th minute, with Castlepollard shooting three wind-assisted wides during the same period. The losers were nothing if not spirited and they responded with four unanswered points from the sticks of McCormack (a free), Darragh Tierney (two) and Devine (one) to leave the deficit at two goals (2-10 to 0-10) at the end of the third quarter.

Killian Doyle and Devine (frees) traded points, with the latter unluckily picking up a match-ending injury while taking his puck. This misfortune was the final straw for the committed losers, and Raharney went on to seal a far from inspirational win with late points from play by McKeogh (two) and Ciaran Doyle. Aaron McHugh made a great catch with time almost up as ‘Pollard went in search of a face-saving goal.

Scorers – Raharney: C Doyle 1-3, K Doyle 0-5 (3f), E Keyes 1-0, C McKeogh 0-3, E Cunneen 0-2, R Keyes 0-1.

Castlepollard: D McCormack (1f, 1‘65’), A Devine (2f) 0-4 each, D Tierney 0-2, A Dermody 0-1.

Raharney: Aaron McHugh; Pearse Weir-Norris, Jamie Mulkearns, Darren Finn; Luke Darby, Rory Keyes, Gary Greville; Ciaran Doyle, Callum McKeogh; Joey Boyle, Killian Doyle, Devin Hill; Eamon Cunneen, Eoin Keyes, Eoghan Ahearn. Subs used: Joe Mulvaney for Hill (temp, 3-8), Michael Doherty for Boyle (h-t), Joe Mulvaney for Ahearn (45), David Hickey for Cunneen (53), David Weir for C Doyle (60+2), Cormac Boyle for Mulvaney (inj., 60+4).

Castlepollard: Barry Dowdall; Sean Lancaster, Ciaran Fagan, Mark Lancaster; Eoin English, Darragh Tierney, Paul Dermody; Conor Gaffney, Conor Sheridan; Ciaran English, Darragh McCormack, Allan Devine; Joe Rabbitt, David Higgins, Andrew Dermody. Subs used: Aaron O’Leary for C English (h-t), Alex McCormack for Rabbitt (39), Brian Gilchrist for Sheridan (39), Matthew Reilly for Devine (inj., 52).

Ref: Barry Nea (Clonkill).