Longford Slashers just fail to catch Garrycastle

24.10.10 | Leinster Club SFC | Garrycastle (Westmeath) 0-13 Longford Slashers 1-9 | By Padraic O'Brien

The lack of a real cutting edge in attack cost Longford Slashers dearly as they just failed to catch Garrycastle and only a solitary point separated the sides in the finish as the Westmeath champions held out to emerge victorious in a close encounter at Cusack Park, Mullingar on Sunday last when a draw would probably have been the fairest result.

The class of Dessie Dolan was the main difference between the sides with the former All-Star firing over a total of eight points (five frees) in playing a major role in the Garrycastle triumph and the Athlone club can now look forward to another home tie against Mattock Rangers (Louth) in the quarter-final of the Leinster Club Senior Football Championship.

Minus the services of injured duo Philip Dobson and Brian Farrell, Slashers went into the first round clash in the role of the underdogs against a vastly experienced Garrycastle outfit who had lost out to Portlaoise in last year's provincial decider and thus were strongly fancied to cross the first hurdle even without the long term injured Gary Dolan.

But they had to battle extremely hard for the win as the usual Slashers tactic of operating wing forward Trevor Clendenning as an extra defender worked well in closing down the opposing attack.

Garrycastle had to depend heavily on Dessie Dolan for the vital scores against a stubborn Slashers defence and particularly outstanding was wing back Paul Kelly who was forever in the thick of the action in surging forward at almost every opportunity. Dolan and Kelly were the stand out players in the midlands derby that was a tense affair and the Longford champions produced a fine display in almost springing a surprise.

However, the shrewd Slashers team manager Denis Connerton will be bitterly disappointed with the unlucky defeat and the sky-blues had a chance to force the game into extra-time when they were awarded a free close to the sideline in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

Colin Smith stepped up to take the pressure kick but did not make the proper contact with the ball which drifted well away from the posts to the sound of the final whistle.

It was a very close call for Garrycastle who will have to improve considerably to make a serious challenge for the Leinster title and might well have lost but for the number of wrong options that were taken by Slashers, particularly when the going got tough late in the game. On two occasions Stephen Phillips was penalised for handling the ball on the ground while a number of frees dropped short during the course of the tight contest.

Slashers failed to build on the goal they grabbed in the 26th minute of the first half when the alert Colin Smith finished the ball to the corner of the net after a point attempt from Paul Kelly came back off the crossbar.

That lucky break left the visitors leading by 1-4 to 0-4 but Garrycastle showed a lot of character in recovering so quickly from this setback, firing over four points in a row to hold a slender 0-8 to 1-4 lead at the break.

Dessie Dolan provided the inspiration in landing a terrific point under pressure from near the sideline and another excellent effort followed from midfielder Seanie O'Donoghue before Paul Dillon broke through to blast the ball over the bar when a goal chance was on.

In the 30th minute deadly Dolan converted a free but Slashers squandered a clear-cut chance of the equalising point when a Mark Smith free dropped short just before the half-time whistle.

That proved to be a costly miss and while Garrycastle got the opening score of the second half when Dessie Dolan landed a terrific free from near the sideline, a couple of frees taken by the Smith brothers dropped short before Mark made amends with a glorious long range point that delighted the Slashers supporters in Cusack Park.

Slashers then kicked a wide and while Dolan was on target from another free, Paul Kelly and Sean Flynn combined to create the room for Mark Smith to kick another super point from play in the 44th minute.

But moments later they had a very lucky escape when corner-back Gareth Ghee came to the rescue when clearing a shot from the clean through Rory McGowan off the line and the same player followed up to fire the ball over the bar even though the umpires signalled a wide.

However, referee Maurice Deegan showed no hesitancy in awarding the score as Garrycastle restored their two-point advantage but the so determined Slashers side were hanging in there and their perseverance was rewarded with a brace of points from frees converted by Mark and Colin Smith, the latter on target in the 51st minute following a foul on the always prominent Trevor Clendenning.

Slashers were back on level terms and a shock win was looking a real possibility but almost immediately Garrycastle substitute Shane Mulvihill shot over the bar to put his side back in front and Dessie Dolan (free) clocked up his eighth point in the 56th minute.

But Slashers never gave up the fight and after Colin Smith wasted a free in playing the kick short to Stephen Phillips who let the ball slip from his grasp, Smith was on target from a free in the second minute of stoppage time to narrow the gap to the minimum of margins and Garrycastle were very relieved indeed to hear the sound of the final whistle.

At one stage of the first half Garrycastle had looked in command when they led by 0-4 to 0-2 with their opening score coming from wing back Mark McCallon with less than a minute gone and the other three were registered by Dessie Dolan which included a couple of excellent efforts from play.

Mark Smith (free) got the opening score for Slashers in the 7th minute and then Paul Kelly landed a well struck long range point. Both sides were guilty of missed chances in the first half but Slashers eventually got going and a brace of points in quick succession from Mark Smith (free) and David Sheridan (who fisted the ball over the bar) left the sides all square after 24 minutes of play.

Then came the Colin Smith goal which should have inspired Slashers to greater things but instead it turned out to be a wake up call for Garrycastle as they enjoyed their best spell of the game and those four points between the 27th and 30th minutes proved to be a decisive factor in swinging the issue back in favour of the Westmeath champions.

GARRYCASTLE: Cathal Mullin; James Dolan, John Gaffey, Alan Fox; Mark McCallon (0-1), Karl Henson, Doran Harte; Seanie O'Donoghue (0-1), Aidan Browne; David O'Shaughnessy, Dessie Dolan (0-8, five frees), Rory McGowan (0-1); Alan Daly, Paul Dillon (0-1), Paddy Mulvihill.

Subs:- Justin McAteer for A Daly (28 mins); Shane Mulvihill (0-1) for S O'Donoghue (half-time); Enda Mulvihill for A Fox (41 mins); James Duignan for P Dillon (47 mins); Donovan Hermbusche for R McGowan (62 mins).

LONGFORD SLASHERS: Gordon Hourican; Dominic Glennon, Barry Gilleran, Gareth Ghee; Peter Brady, Dermot Brady, Paul Kelly (0-1); Niall Mulligan, David Sheridan (0-1); Trevor Clendenning, Colin Smith (1-2, points from frees), Adrian Murphy; Mark Smith (0-5, three frees), Stephen Phillips, Sean Flynn.

Sub:- Martin Tarmey for A Murphy (41 mins).

Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois).

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