Late points ease St. Loman"s to another championship win

St. Loman"s, Mullingar maintained their impressive run in this year"s Westmeath senior football championship with a deserved win over a gallant Ballinagore outfit in the first leg of last Sunday evening"s double-header at Cusack Park, even if the nine-point winning margin somewhat flattered the blue and whites.The winners now look certain to feature in the knockout stages of the championship, while the losers will have a fight on their hands if they are not to return immediately to the intermediate ranks. Overall, the game never reached any particularly high standards, but the Mullingar men always looked the likely winners and they are definitely a side who have improved considerably in 2008, after some lacklustre campaigns in recent years.Ballinagore had the advantage of a slight wind in the first half and they were straight out of the traps with their promising young midfielder, James Durkan, rifling over a terrific point after only 30 seconds. After a poorly-struck free by Paul Martin, Enda Matthews took over the placekicking duties and his 40-metre shot from the ground came back off the Ballinagore crossbar, but Ciaran Kilmurray was unable to poke the rebound home. By the tenth minute, St. Loman"s had edged in front, courtesy of two great points from the boots of Tommy Lambden and Paul Martin.Both sides proceeded to miss chances, including a most untypical effort from Michael Ennis straight into the grateful arms of St. Loman"s custodian, Stephen Gallagher, before Thomas McDaniel found the range to level the contest in the 17th minute. The winners regained the lead with a brace of well-taken points from lively corner forward, Enda Matthews - Ciaran Kilmurray and Paddy Dowdall being the respective providers. In the 20th minute, John Aherne fed Conrad Reilly and the left half forward clearly had a goal on his mind as he bore down on goals, but his shot flashed wide of the target. Another two half-chances of goals for St. Loman"s soon followed but, firstly, Ciaran Kilmurray was adjudged, perhaps harshly, to be in the small square before Conor Lynam"s dangerous high ball arrived and then Enda Matthews pounced on a loose clearance from Dan Gavin, but his first-time shot along the ground was parried by Paddy Maloney, and Matthews fired the rebound wide.Ciaran Kilmurray again did well to set up Enda Matthews for another point in the 23rd minute and, three minutes later, the full forward picked out the inrushing Conrad Reilly who opted to take a point, when a goal was on the cards. Westmeath star, Michael Ennis had been relatively quiet to up to this point, but he chipped in with a brace of very good points as the first moiety came to a close, sandwiched between which Conrad Reilly slotted over his second point. In the first minute of added-time, Eoin Miller, who was now much more prominent in an outfield role than in his original full forward slot, kicked a marvellous long-range point to leave his side trailing at the inverval, on a scoreline of St. Loman"s 0-7 Ballinagore 0-5.Within 45 seconds of the restart, the blue and whites increased their lead with an exquisite finish from Enda Matthews. Just over a minute later, Ballinagore responded with a stylish point from substitute Ian Seery. However, the winners were well in control for most of the remainder of the game and a converted free from Paul Martin, followed by a lovely score from Conrad Reilly, opened up a four-point advantage by the mid-point of the second half. Ballinagore almost got a lifeline when Ian Seery fisted James Durkan"s cross goalwards, but Stephen Gallagher saved instinctively, at the expense of an unconverted "45".A fine solo point by Eoin Miller, in the 16th minute, was to be Ballinagore"s last score of the evening as the winners added six unanswered points in the time remaining. A point by Willie McGovern, within seconds of his introduction, started the scoring spree and Enda Matthews showed he can score from frees as well as open play with a beautifully-judged effort from 45 metres, taken from the ground. Ciaran Kilmurray"s flick from substitute Johnny Plunkett"s lob came back off the upright and the ball was cleared, before Kieran Lynam (who had replaced his brother Conor at half-time) took over in the scoring stakes with three points, the first two being fine scores from play.Late in the game, two brief skirmishes led to a couple of bookings, with Michael Ennis somewhat lucky that his card was yellow, not red. Deep in injury-time, Enda Matthews rounded off match scoring with another pointed free.This was a very satisfactory performance by St. Loman"s, whose mixture of youth and experience is beginning to take shape. Ollie Plunkett, James Davitt and Paddy Dowdall defended well, while John Aherne grafted hard at midfield. Ciaran Kilmurray proved to be a very able target man in an attack where Enda Matthews and Conrad Reilly took their scores with great aplomb, while the introduction of Kieran Lynam undoubtedly bolstered the forward division.Ballinagore were well served by centre half back, Dan Gavin, midfielder James Durkan and Eoin Miller, when moved to centrefield, while Michael Ennis and substitute Ian Seery fared best in a disappointing forward division.St. Loman"s, Mullingar: Stephen Gallagher; Ollie Plunkett, James Davitt, Adam Carroll; David Rushe, Kenny McKinley, Paddy Dowdall; John Aherne, Adrian Charles; Paul Martin (0-2, 0-1 from a free), Tommy Lambden (0-1), Conrad Reilly (0-3); Conor Lynam, Ciaran Kilmurray, Enda Matthews (0-6, 0-2 from frees). Subs: Kieran Lynam (0-3, 0-1 from a free) (for Lynam, half-time), Johnny Plunkett (for Lambden, 33 mins), Willie McGovern (0-1) (for Martin, 48 mins), Niall Finnegan (for Carroll, 60 mins), Senan Russell (for Davitt, 60 mins).Ballinagore: Paddy Maloney; Louis Ennis, Peter Heraty, Pat Heduan; Rory Lynam, Dan Gavin, Peter Deegan; Stuart Gavin, James Durkan (0-1); J.J. Hegarty, David Deegan, Michael Ennis (0-2); Kieran Carey, Eoin Miller (0-2), Thomas McDaniel (0-1). Subs: Ian Seery (0-1) (for Carey, inj, 23 mins), Ciaran Deegan (for Heduan, 29 mins), Jason Winfield (for Hegarty, 44 mins).Referee: Niall Ward (Garrycastle)