Better balanced St. Joseph"s win out in Westmeath derby

The senior footballers from St. Joseph"s, Rochfortbridge qualified for the final of the North Leinster League with a comfortable 11-point win over fellow-Westmeath rivals, Moate Community School, in a game which never reached any great standards in Caulry"s GAA grounds last Thursday afternoon, after the game had been switched from Hogan Park in Moate.There was no shortage of well-known faces in Westmeath footballing circles on the line in Mount Temple, but it was former Kildare and Westmeath player, Cormac Davey who was the happiest after his charges" deserved win over a side which can boast of having the coaching expertise of Des Dolan Jnr, Gary Flanagan and Peter Tormey in its ranks. The winners were never headed and they had a much better spread of quality players on show on the day.St. Joseph"s had the advantage of a slight wind in their backs in the first moiety and, after both sides missed an early opportunity each, the winners" captain, Wayne Fox opened the scoring in the third minute with a fine point from 35 metres. Some three minutes later, the same player set up midfielder Eoin Gorman for a terrific left-footed point from 35 metres. Moate"s Brian Finnerty effected a great block at exactly the right moment and, soon afterwards, Richie Dunne had to be very alert to keep out Mark Conroy"s goalbound effort for the "Bridge lads. By the 11th minute, Moate were on level terms, their best player Kieran Martin pointing two frees, both from around the 30-metre mark.However, between the 12th and 20th minutes, St. Joseph"s rattled over four unanswered points - a fabulous solo effort from Wayne Fox; a 30-metre free from Clive Kiernan; a powerful shot by Paul Lewis and a well-struck effort from 25 metres from towering midfielder, Johnny Bricklands. Some poorly-struck frees by both Andrew Cushen and Kieran Martin (two) prevented the lads in black and red from reducing the deficit and there was no further scoring before the interval, leaving St. Joseph"s ahead by 0-6 to 0-2 at the break.Within a couple of minutes of the re-start, St. Joseph"s effectively sealed their place in the decider. A sweeping move ended with a Wayne Fox point (via the upright) after a mere 40 seconds and, from the resultant kick out, the ball was worked to Mark Conroy, who rounded Richie Dunne and coolly slotted the leather into the empty net. Soon, it could have got even worse for the Moate lads but Paul Lewis shot straight at Richie Dunne after another impressive move by the boys in blue. Kieran Martin added his third point for the losers in the fifth minute, this time from play, the ball whizzing just over the "Bridge crossbar. This was soon cancelled out by a fine score from the lively Jason Cully, to restore St. Joseph"s eight-point advantage.Full back Mark Gorman pulled off a great catch for the winners as Moate came more into the game, but Kieran Martin missed a "sitter" from a close-range free. At the midpoint of the half, energetic right half back, Andrew Cushen came forward to slot over a difficult free and John Gilligan then added a fabulous point from play. Both sides proceeded to miss chances before Eoin Gorman rifled over a wonderful point for St. Joseph"s in the 22nd minute. Jason Cully then worked hard to tack on his second point of the afternoon, before the referee ignored a blatant foul on Eoin Gorman as he bore down on the Moate goalmouth, appearing to give the midfielder an advantage which he failed to avail of. Ironically, the latter player rounded off match scoring with a fortuitous goal direct from a free, which deceived Moate CS netminder Richie Dunne, with two minutes remaining. Hoowever, it was all academic as St. Joseph"s had, in truth, long since secured their place in the final.St. Joseph"s, Rochfortbridge: Paul Coates; Stephen Hannon, Mark Gorman, Eoin Rigney; Sean Deegan, Paul Carey, Shane Brogan; Johnny Bricklands (0-1), Eoin Gorman (1-2, 1-0 from a free); Jason Cully (0-2), Paul Lewis (0-1), Clive Kiernan (0-1, from a free); Cormac Boyle, Wayne Fox (capt) (0-3), Mark Conroy (1-0). Subs: Donal Hickey (for Kiernan, 57 mins), Paul Rabbitte (for E. Gorman, 58 mins), Brian Dignan (for Bricklands, 59 mins), Eoin Gorman (for Hannon, 60 mins).Moate Community School: Richie Dunne; Brian Finnerty, Kevin McGuire, Oisín Robbins; Andrew Cushen (0-1, from a free), John Ledwith, Darragh Malynn; Graham Guilfoyle, Darren Scanlon; James Geoghegan, Kieran Martin (capt) (0-3, 0-2 from frees), John Gilligan (0-1); Odhran McIntyre, Bernard Allen, Simon Gillivan. Subs: David Kelly (for Gillivan, 43 mins), Alan Stone (for Finnerty, inj, 52 mins), Christy Grimes (for McIntyre, 53 mins).Referee: Carthage Buckley (Offaly).