Giles’ goal crucial as championsare dethroned

Coralstown/Kinnegad 1-20, St Loman's, Mullingar 1-16

By Paul Hughes

Almost a beaten docket until a late surge against Athlone in the round-robin phase just weeks ago, Coralstown/Kinnegad are now 60-odd minutes away from a first SFC win in 29 years after knocking champions St Loman’s, Mullingar out of the championship at TEG Cusack Park on Saturday afternoon.

The holders were on top, if not altogether firmly, until Giles’ 30th-minute strike left them scrambling for parity at the break. Minutes after the restart, the Saints lost Sam McCartan to injury and from that point, they were a shadow of their first-half selves.

With Giles, Ger Leech (0-5) and the hugely talented Josh Gahan (0-2) in form for the Reds, they pulled away without really blazing a trail, leading 1-18 to 1-12 with minutes to go.

St Loman’s briefly had a shot at a late comeback after John Heslin kept them in contention with a pair of two-point frees. But beyond Heslin’s tally of 1-7 and some flashes of excellence from Shane Dempsey, the Blues lacked teeth going forward. They will more acutely rue the goal from Giles, who was given all the space in the world en route to rattling the net.

Coralstown/Kinnegad’s win sets up a mouth-watering encounter against local rivals The Downs in the forthcoming decider, and while they will go into that fixture as underdogs, only the brave will bet against Jack Cooney’s charges annexing the Flanagan Cup for the first time since their maiden success in 1996.

A sure bet, however, is that St Loman’s will be back in contention in 2026, though it is notable that this will be the club’s first time to not appear in an SFC final since 2014 – the end of a remarkable run not seen since Riverstown Emmets’ 12 consecutive finals early in the 20th century.

The Blues bossed the opening quarter and, with two minutes gone, could have raised an early green flag when the inrushing Danny McCartan couldn’t connect with a handpass across the goal from Heslin. Moments later, Heslin opened the scoring, beating Podge Quinn to a high ball from Shane Dempsey and fisting over the bar.

Sam McCartan made it two after seven minutes, showing Ciaran Daly a clean pair of heels before slotting over, and after Darren Giles replied with a decent score off his left boot, Danny McCartan made it 0-3 to 0-1 after a patient St Loman’s build-up.

At the other end, Kinnegad had a half-chance when Daly got his paw to a high ball from Ger Leech, but Loman’s custodian Jason Daly was never troubled. From the kickout, St Loman’s went on the attack and after a terrific solo run, Shane Dempsey shipped left to Heslin, who smashed the ball to the net.

At this stage, Kinnegad looked in dire straits but they responded well with consecutive scores from Ger Leech (a free) and Callum Cruise, the latter pointing after some fine work along the end line by Josh Gahan.

However, St Loman’s looked that little bit sharper going into the final ten minutes of the half, and negated these scores through Dempsey – who pointed after beating his marker with ease – and Jack Geoghegan (after a slick move involving Dempsey and Danny McCartan).

Ger Leech kept Kinnegad in touch with an exemplary two-pointer but in ruthless fashion, St Loman’s went on the attack and derived the same result from play, courtesy of an excellent kick from the ever-dependable Kelvin Reilly.

The Reds weren’t demoralised, however, and went on to boss the final five minutes of the half. On 26 minutes, Dan Leech side-footed over the bar to reduce the arrears to four points, and a minute before half time, Ger Leech halved that deficit with a two-point free.

Suddenly, on the stroke of 30 minutes, Coralstown/Kinnegad hit the front with a goal out of nowhere. Darren Giles, after picking up the ball from Callum Cruise on the 45, surged down the right flank and cut inside, beating Reilly en route. Giles was expected to take his point but with acres of space afforded to him by St Loman’s, he stole a few more yards and rifled a left-footed shot to the net.

The Blues were well and truly rattled but with Cillian Plunkett finding his range, the sides ended the half tied at 1-8 apiece.

It was all Kinnegad after the restart, and the Reds posted two wides before regaining the lead courtesy of Podge Quinn, who shot over despite losing his footing. Callum Cruise then extended that lead to two after a neat passing move.

To compound matters for St Loman’s, Sam McCartan pulled his hamstring with 35 minutes gone and was withdrawn, before Kinnegad moved three ahead after Josh Gahan, found in space on the right flank by David Giles, divided the posts.

That lead became four on 40 minutes when Dan Leech evaded a tackle from David Whelan before teeing up Brían Cooney for a point, and they narrowly missed out on going six up when Ger Leech struck the upright with a two-point free.

St Loman’s briefly stemmed the tide, hitting Kinnegad on the break before Jack Geoghegan set up Shane Dempsey for another point, but the Blues had rarely looked like scoring since losing McCartan’s presence through the middle.

On 44 minutes, the increasingly imposing Josh Gahan kicked his second point for Kinnegad and the Reds were doubly buoyed when, at the other end, ‘keeper Jason Macken caught a two-point free attempt from John Heslin. Two minutes later, Brían Cooney stormed through the centre and with Gahan free on the right, opted to go for a two-pointer himself and Kinnegad now led by six (1-15 to 1-9).

The presence of Ronan O’Toole’s gifted left boot was sorely missed by St Loman’s minutes later when a potential two-point free on the terrace side went astray, but TJ Cox reduced the arrears to five with a fine point from the same flank. With 52 minutes gone, the St Loman’s faithful had reason to be hopeful when John Heslin conjured a superb two-pointer from play.

However, Kinnegad were hungry and with four minutes to go, sub Shane Fleming was found in space by Ger Leech in the right corner and shot over from an acute angle. Leech limped off shortly after but with 58 gone, the Reds could still rely on Darren Giles for a crucial two-point free, restoring their six-point advantage.

Heslin converted a brace of two-point frees in an eight-minute period stoppage time to heap pressure on the Reds, but in between those a point from sub Jack Torpey ensured that Kinnegad led by a goal (1-19 to 1-16) deep into time added on.

St Loman’s hankered for a dramatic goal but to save their season but never made inroads, and at the other end, yet another Kinnegad sub, Jack Cole, found his range with a high-pressure free from the left wing to ensure his side’s passage to a second county final in three years.

Scorers - Coralstown/Kinnegad: Darren Giles 1-3 (1 2pt), G Leech 0-5 (1 2pt, 1 2ptf), B Cooney 0-3 (1 2pt), C Cruise (1f) and J Gahan 0-2 each, D Leech, P Quinn, S Fleming, J Cole (free) and J Torpey 0-1 each. St Loman’s: J Heslin 1-7 (1 2pt, 2 2ptfs), K Reilly (2pt) and S Dempsey 0-2 each, S McCartan, D McCartan, J Geoghegan, C Plunkett and TJ Cox 0-1 each.

Coralstown/Kinnegad: Jason Macken; Eoin O’Brien, Danny Woods, Podge Quinn; Eoghan Bracken, David Giles, Josh Gahan; Ciaran Daly Jnr, Brían Cooney; James Maxwell, Ger Leech, Darren Giles; Dan Leech, Callum Cruise, Connor Callaghan. Subs used: Shane Fleming for Callaghan (38), Jack Torpey for Maxwell (46), Jack Cole for G Leech (inj., 56), Ciaran Daly Snr for Quinn (58).

St Loman’s, Mullingar: Jason Daly; David Whelan, Darragh O’Keeffe, Rory Sheahan; Ciaran Smyth, Eoghan Hogan, Jack Geoghegan; Sam McCartan, Seán Flanagan; Kevin Regan, John Heslin, Kelvin Reilly; Danny McCartan, Cillian Plunkett, Shane Dempsey. Subs used: TJ Cox for S McCartan (inj., 35), Oisín Hogan for Smyth (40), Neilie Duffy for Regan (44), Seánaí Bracken for Sheahan (49), Nathan Lally for Plunkett (58), Conan O’Hara for Duffy (inj., 60+1).

Referee: Alan Coyne (Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall).