2006 Leinster Junior Club Championship First-Round

Caulry coast to victory

Caulry 0-11

St. Kevin's 0-06

Caulry made the long trip to Philipstown a successful one last Sunday as they convincingly overcame their Louth counterparts St Kevin’s in the Leinster Club JFC.

The Mount Temple/Baylin side claimed the Westmeath junior football title with a dramatic win over Milltown just seven days previously - but they tore St Kevin’s apart from the very start.

Indeed, the final score flattered the Louth side, who could easily have been totally out of the game inside the opening ten minutes. Ultimately, the poor finishing of Caulry meant that a goal at any stage would have put the Philipstown men right back in the tie. But that would have been an injustice as the Westmeath men were full value for their win. They certainly made hard work of it, though.

A total of 15 wides was an alarming statistic for Caulry, but the fact that they hit just 11 scores from 33 shots summed up just how bad things could have got for the home side if their opponents had taken their shooting boots with them.

The visitors may have struggled in terms of finishing but they had few other problems. They defended stoutly and won almost everything in midfield and can take great credit for their overall display which was watched by a large visiting support.

To say it was made easy for them would be something of an understatement, however. Despite opening the scoring after just 21 seconds, St Kevin's never found their groove and simply couldn't get into their normal style of play.

Mark Boylan - a star performer for St Kevin’s in the Louth junior final - was virtually anonymous in the full-forward line as the service up to him bordered on appalling. Time and time again, St Kevin's gifted possession back to their opponents as they constantly created unneeded pressure on themselves. Indeed, it came as no great surprise that their six scores came from six different players as they lacked any real threat in attack.

In contrast, Caulry always looked dangerous going forward with the midfield duo of Gary Flanagan and Peter Smyth providing the driving force as Alan Carroll, Johnny Dolan and Anselm Fitzgerald offered good off-the-ball running throughout.

The home side couldn't have asked for a much better start as Mark Boylan slipped Michael Grogan through for the game's opening score. It quickly emerged that this was a false dawn, however.

With four wides already on the board, Caulry finally got off the mark in the eighth minute when Flanagan picked out Nicky Killane, who dropped a fine effort over the crossbar. Johnny Dolan then made amends for another miss with two scores inside a minute as he twice got the better of his marker Derek Flanagan, to put his side 0-3 to 0-1 ahead on 14 minutes.

The scores were starting to come a lot more freely now for the visitors with a Smyth free and points from Carroll and Fitzgerald helping them pull five points clear.

Aidan Dunning’s side should have been celebrating a goal on 21 minutes but Peter Smyth fired straight at goalkeeper Bernard Wogan as a good chance went abegging. Bart Landy and Niall Treadwell both fired wides in rare St Kevin's attacks either side of another Killane point at the other end.

Carroll then fisted over a minute before the break to put his side seven points clear, but a stoppage time free from Liam Boylan gave his side some hope of a turnaround in the second half as St Kevin's trailed by 0-8 to 0-2 at the break.

Carroll added to Caulry’s lead within five minutes of the restart when he collected Smyth’s short free to fire over, but the visitors should have been further clear at this stage after three early second-half wides.

A close-range free from Mark Boylan and a further point from his brother Gareth left five points between the sides on 39 minutes. A goal at that stage for Kevin's would surely have put the cat among the pigeons.

It was Caulry who again should have found the net, however, with Carroll drilling wide when well placed before another series of misses from Dolan, Fitzgerald and Flanagan.

A Fitzgerald free briefly gave his side a six-point cushion once more but St Kevin's kept themselves in touch with Landy firing over off the post to leave it 0-10 to 0-5 with ten minutes remaining.

Substitute Willie Buckley could have put the result beyond doubt for the visitors soon after when he crashed a shot off the upright, before Derek Flanagan got the better of Damien Dolan at the other end to reduce the deficit to four points on 54 minutes.

At that stage a bad miss from Tom Boylan proved costly for St Kevin's with a free from Fitzgerald giving Caulry their comfortable five-point cushion back again.

To their credit, Anthony Smith's side refused to give up and, four minutes into stoppage time, midfielder Niall Treadwell rattled the underside of the crossbar with a 25-yard drive that had the beating of goalkeeper Edward Egan. The ball rebounded to safety, however, as St Kevin's bowed out at the first hurdle and Caulry marched on.

SCORERS - Caulry: A Carroll 0-3; A Fitzgerald 0-3 (2f); N Killane, J Dolan 0-2 each; P Smyth 0-1f.

St Kevin’s: D Flanagan, G Boylan, M Grogan, B Landy, M Boylan (f), L Boylan (f) 0-1 each.

CAULRY: Edward Egan; Damien Dolan, Johnny Buckley, Brian Mullarney; Ernie Buckley, Jody Malynn, Anthony Malone; Gary Flanagan, Peter Smyth; Mark Malone, Mark Fitzpatrick, Anselm Fitzgerald; Alan Carroll, Nicky Killane, Johnny Dolan. Subs: Willie Buckley for J Dolan, 49 mins; Mark Rigney for N Killane, 53 mins.

ST KEVIN’S: Bernard Wogan; Derek Flanagan, Jeffrey Meehan, Andrew Campbell; Alan Gregory, Ian Wogan, James Boylan; Niall Treadwell, Gareth Boylan; Liam Boylan, Mark Crawley, Michael Grogan; Brian O’Neill, Mark Boylan, Bart Landy. Subs: David King for B Landy, 22 mins; Tom Boylan for A Campbell, 43 mins; David Smith for B Landy, 60 mins; Paddy Matthews for J Boylan, 63 mins.

Booked: N Treadwell; M Boylan; A Gregory; D Flanagan; J Boylan.

REFEREE: Gary McCormack (Dublin).

Extracted from the Westmeath Independent Archives, 8th November 2006