Casey haul proves decisive as Plunkett's reach semi-final
St Oliver Plunkett's 1-14, Carlow Town 2-6
By Kieran Murphy
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Críostóir Ormsby of St Oliver Plunkett’s gets in his puck despite the attempted block from Ruairi Dunbar of Carlow Town, in Saturday’s Leinster IHC game at Netwatch Dr Cullen Park.Image 2 of 7
Conor Bracken keeps his colleague Donnacha Maguire nice and cool as tempers flared a little in the second half.Image 3 of 7
Zach Aherne holds on to the ball despite the tackle of Peter Lynch from Carlow Town.Image 4 of 7
Paddy Lynam, St Oliver Plunkett’s, gives Carlow Town’s Brandon Cassidy a thumping shoulder during the second half.Image 5 of 7
Eoin Meehan, St Oliver Plunkett’s, takes a shoulder from Lazzy Meaney, Carlow Town.Image 6 of 7
Padraig Casey, St Oliver Plunkett’s, tries to break free from the tackle of Carlow Town’s Conor Lawlor.Image 7 of 7
Nathan Cornally, St Oliver Plunkett’s, and Matthew English Hayden compete for a high ball in the first half.Westmeath Senior B Hurling champions, St Oliver Plunkett's advanced to the semi-final of the Leinster Intermediate Championship when they proved too strong for the Carlow intermediate champions at Netwatch Cullen Park on Saturday.
The Mullingar men will host Castletown of Laois in the Leinster semi-final on Saturday week.
Both sides finished with thirteen players and while there was a bit of needle in it, this was far from a dirty game.
The visitors, who led by a solitary point at half-time, started well with Paddy Lynam raising a white flag on two minutes. Padraig Casey added another point and Karol English replied for Carlow Town with an eighth minute free.
At this stage, Oliver Plunkett's looked set to pull away. When Tomas Turks shrugged off the challenge of Carlow Town full-forward, Cathal Ryan, and cleared with ease, it underlined their determination to keep control.
On ten minutes, a long delivery from the home side was collected by Peter Lynch who drew the foul and a penalty. The experienced English made no mistake rifling the sliotar to the top right-hand corner. The Westmeath side still looked to be holding the initiative but much of what they did well in defence came to nothing as they dropped several balls into the safe hands of Carlow Town net-minder, Sean Buggy.
On 14 minutes St Oliver Plunkett's lost Aaron Craig to a straight red card after he tangled with corner-forward James Ingram. The Mullingar side were unhappy with the dismissal. While Carlow Town added another point through an English free the 14 players enjoyed the better of the exchanges in the second quarter. As well as registering six second half wides the eventual winners still added four more points to lead 0-6 to 1-2 at the break. The lead point was a beauty as Eoin Meehan picked out Casey on the left and from 50 metres out the ball flew over the black spot.
Six minutes into the second half two Casey frees and a point from Thomas Meehan eased St Oliver Plunkett's clear. The home side were now in deep trouble and their cause was all but lost when Conor Lawler received a straight red card for a clumsy and dangerous looking challenge.
Casey converted the resultant free and when Carlow Town lost the ball in an attacking situation, Plunkett's worked the ball out of defence where Sean Hayes was on hand to score a fabulous point from inside his own half.
Home frustration led to a yellow card for a Carlow Town mentor and their opponents continued to turn the screw. Casey looked certain to go for a certain point from a 20-metre free but his effort flew low and left just inside the post for what was for all intents and purposes the winning goal with more than a quarter of the game to go.
With the contest stagnating, Carlow Town lost Lazzy Meaney to a second yellow on 45 minutes. It wasn’t until the 47th minute that the home side scored their first point from play through Peter Lynch. English converted another free but that was cancelled out by a sweet strike from substitute, Cathal Craig.
Both number eights, Brandon Cassidy for Carlow Town and Lynam swapped points. That man Casey also converted a '65' which acted as a reminder to the home side that this was not going to be their day. Lynam also picked up a second yellow which evened the amount of players on each side.
The second Carlow Town goal put a better look on the scoreboard when visiting goalkeeper, Greg Gavin dived to his right to save a rocket from English. With backs and forwards looking to gain possession, Matthew English Hayden, got the vital touch and forced the ball over the line.
Two minutes of injury time were announced and once again Carlow Town attacked. This time, down the right with Ingram looking for another goal. He was denied by an alert defence and when the ball hopped loose and wide the game was up.
It was the kind of contest where there was no doubt about who were deserving winners but Carlow Town kept their visitors honest throughout and made them work for their win.
Scorers - St Oliver Plunkett's: P Casey 1-9 (1-7fs; 1 '65'), P Lynam 0-2, T Meehan, C Craig and S Hayes 0-1 each.
Carlow Town: K English 1-4 (1-0 pen; 4fs), M E Hayden 1-0, B Cassidy and P Lynch 0-1 each.
St Oliver Plunkett's: Greg Gavin; Mike Weir, Zach Aherne, Tomas Turks; Aaron Craig, Seán Hayes, Liam Casey; Paddy Lynam, Donnacha Maguire; Eoin Meehan, Padraig Casey, Nathan Cornally; Thomas Meehan, Rory O’Brien, Brian Farrell.
Subs: David Gavin for Farrell (36), Cathal Craig for Cornally (46), Críostair Ormsby for O’Brien (48), John Fry for Carey (58).
Carlow Town: Sean Buggy; Conall McGuire, Conor Lawlor, Dylan De Burca; Matthew English Hayden, Adam Nolan, Harry Delaney; Brandon Cassidy, Lazzy Meaney; Alex Delaney, Karol English, Shane McCarthy; James Ingram, Cathal Ryan, Peter Lynch.
Subs: Ruairi Dunbar for McCarthy (38), Dylan McGrath for Ryan (46).
Referee: Kevin McDonnell (Dublin).