Williams on song as Gaels reach third successive final

Lough Lene Gaels 2-18, Raharney 2-17

By Gerry Buckley

The margin may have been the narrowest possible on the scoreboard at the end of a gripping match, but the general post-match consensus was that Lough Lene Gaels undoubtedly deserved their win against Raharney in last Sunday afternoon’s Westmeath senior hurling championship semi-final at a well-attended TEG Cusack Park, in what were reasonably pleasant conditions for the time of year.

The upshot of the latest in a long line of uncompromising battles between two longstanding rivals is that the Collinstown men now march on to a third successive Westmeath Examiner Cup decider. As was the case in 2024, they will face Castletown-Geoghegan in this year’s final, and they will certainly not lack motivation in their quest to regain the blue riband trophy in Lake County hurling after a 23-year wait.

The Deelsiders’ two goals came in the third and last minute of the contest, and they always seemed to be playing catch-up against Joey Williams’s troops. However, the losers will regret some untypical misses from placed balls in the second half and they could easily have forced extra-time had they been given another minute or two after Eoin Keyes’ late batted strike to the net, but time was up and referee Alfie Devine was correct with his timekeeping.

Lough Lene Gaels had the aid of a very useful wind blowing towards the scoreboard end of the ground, and their veteran forward Derek McNicholas opened the scoring with an opportunist point with just over a minute elapsed. John Shaw’s charges responded in the best possible fashion some two minutes later when a cleverly lobbed pass from Ciaran Doyle picked out Cormac Boyle who duly whipped the sliotar to the net.

The ‘Yellow Bellies’ replied in style by rifling over four unanswered points by the tenth minute, all from well-taken frees by David Williams. A solo point from Eoin Keyes, an intuitive point from Devin Hill, and a converted free by Killian Doyle restored Raharney’s lead (1-3 to 0-5) with 13 minutes on the clock.

In the 16th minute, the impressive Shane Williams teed up McNicholas for a fine goal. Two successful Killian Doyle frees levelled the contest again, but the winners quickly tagged on three fine points from play from the sticks of Shane Williams, Tommy Doyle, and Marcus Kennedy. Free-takers Doyle and Williams twice traded points from placed balls, sandwiched between which David Hickey scored a fine angled point for the men in blue and white. A classy point apiece from play by David Williams and Marcus Kennedy (in injury-time) left the Gaels ahead by 1-12 to 1-8 at the interval.

Directly from the resumption of play, a trademark burst from Eoin Keyes teed up Hill, but he was hooked when he looked likely to find the net. At the other end, McNicholas was denied a second goal by a great save from Aaron McHugh. However, the losing goalie was soon dispossessed having left his goal-line, and David Williams made the most of the situation by firing a low shot to the unguarded net. Eamon Cunneen (open play) and David Williams (a free) exchanged points, as did the latter (another free) and Doyle (it proved to be his only score from play). Another Doyle free left Raharney trailing by 2-14 to 1-11 at the end of the third quarter.

In the 47th minute, a Doyle free found Cunneen but he was denied a three-pointer by a great save from Noel Conaty at the expense of a surprisingly unconverted ‘65’. The sides equally shared six points during the ensuing ten minutes. The scores came via two David Williams frees and one from play by Aaron Kennedy for the winners, and two Killian Doyle frees – he also mishit another – and Cunneen for their opponents.

The ‘twin towers’ of Tommy ‘Jogger’ Doyle and Eoin Daly were causing headaches for the Raharney defence at this juncture, but all that Lough Lene Gaels could muster in the closing seven minutes was another David Williams free in the third minute of added-time (a minimum of five was signalled). The Deelsiders plugged away with points from Killian Doyle (two frees), either side of a neat score from sub Rob Coyne. Shortly after an inspirational catch from Philip Reilly, Keyes’ last-gasp goal at the same end was superbly taken. However, time had run out for Raharney and the final whistle blew some 30 seconds later.

Scorers – Lough Lene Gaels: D Williams 1-12 (11f), D McNicholas 1-1, M Kennedy 0-2, S Williams, T Doyle, A Kennedy 0-1 each.

Raharney: K Doyle 0-11 (10f), E Keyes 1-1, C Boyle 1-0, E Cunneen 0-2, D Hill, D Hickey, R Coyne 0-1 each.

Lough Lene Gaels: Noel Conaty; Daire Daly, Dan Higgins, Daragh Qamar; Philip Reilly, Micheál Daly, John Egan; Brendan Doyle, Shane Williams; Derek McNicholas, David Williams, Thomas Kennedy; Aaron Kennedy, Tommy Doyle, Marcus Kennedy. Subs used: Eoin Daly for T Kennedy (h-t), Jason Malone for Egan (h-t), Warren Williams for A Kennedy (60).

Raharney: Aaron McHugh; Conor McKeogh, Jamie Mulkearns, Luke Darby; David Hickey, Rory Keyes, Gary Greville; Cormac Boyle, Robbie Greville; Callum McKeogh, Killian Doyle, Eamon Cunneen; Devin Hill, Eoin Keyes, Ciaran Doyle. Subs used: Darren Finn for Darby (inj., 42), Eoghan Ahearn for C Doyle (48), Brian McGrath for McKeogh (48), Rob Coyne for Hickey (56).

Ref: Alfie Devine (Castlepollard).