Loman's take major step
April 30, 2010One of the big stories of last year's senior football championship was St. Loman's qualification for the final after a 41-year lapse.
Long regarded as one of the county's most successful underage clubs, the Mullingar outfit had failed to translate that success onto the senior scene until last year when they finally broke their semi-final hoodoo to reach their first final since losing to The Downs in 1968. Sadly, the outcome was the same on October 4 last when they succumbed to eventual Leinster finalists Garrycastle, but outgoing captain Kenny McKinley is far from downbeat and is convinced St. Loman's chance will come again soon.
"It was a huge step for us to reach the final, especially having lost so many semi-finals over the years," says the 1995 All-Ireland minor winning centre back who, as of now, is retired from playing football.
"It had become a milestone around our necks - people were making out that we had a mental block when it came to winning semi-finals. But the big difference last year was the young players who came into the team. Not only did they freshen things up, they brought no baggage and had no fear of anyone. They didn't respect teams in the same way as some of the older lads did."
He continues: "Unfortunately, things did go our way in the final and we lost to a very strong Garrycastle team. But I have no doubt that the experience will stand to all the lads and they are all eager to make amends this year. We had 93 training sessions last year and if it means doing 103 this year, then so be it. None of them are afraid of putting the hard work in to get what they want."
McKinley is also fulsome in his praise of St. Loman's manager Wally Burke, who he believes has transformed their fortunes since joining them from Roscommon side St. Faithleach's at the beginning of 2008.
"Wally came to us at a time when things were at a fairly low ebb. We were coming off the back of a heavy championship defeat to (Mullingar) Shamrocks, but he quickly got things moving again and got a great response from the younger players in particular.
"We won the Feis Cup and the under 21 championship and also reached the senior championship semi-final in 2008. And we obviously built on that last year by reaching the county final and finishing third in the league," the long-serving defender explains.
Under the management of Burke and his selectors Dave Doolin and Peter Dale, St. Loman's opened their championship campaign with a 0-8 to 1-9 defeat to Tyrrellspass. Denis Glennon proved to be the difference between the sides, racking up 1-6 in a man of the match display.
St. Loman's put that disappointment behind them when they beat The Downs far more comfortably than what the 3-12 to 2-8 scoreline suggests. The Delvin Road club played some of their best football in years to lead by 3-6 to 0-1 at half-time with Kieran Lynam, Paul Sharry and Tommy Lambden accounting for the goals. The Downs scored two goals in as many minutes midway through the second half which put a more respectable look on the scoreboard.
Wally Burke's charges suffered a second setback when they lost to Coralstown/Kinnegad in a seven-goal thriller at Cusack Park. St. Loman's looked set for victory when goals from Conor Lynam, Conor Cochrane and Paul Sharry gave them a five-point cushion with 18 minutes remaining, but their defence creaked badly thereafter as Colm Coyle's Coralstown/Kinnegad roared back to secure a 4-9 to 3-11 win.
The pressure was now on to reach the knockout stages, but Loman's responded with two fine wins over St. Malachy's and Athlone. Conor Cochrane's 17th minute penalty laid the foundations for their 2-12 to 0-10 victory over St. Malachy's while young guns John Heslin and Conor Lynam turned on the style as the Saints defeated 14-man Athlone in a 'winner-takes-all' encounter by 0-16 to 0-11 to set up a quarter-final meeting with Mullingar Shamrocks.
St. Loman's had never beaten their illustrious town rivals in the senior championship under their current guise, and it looked as though the status quo would remain after the sides finished level on 1-7 to 0-10. But the Mullingar Blues finally got that particular monkey off their backs when they powered to a 1-15 to 2-8 victory in the replay, having led by 0-7 to 0-2 at the break. They extended their advantage to 0-12 to 0-4 midway through the second half and despite conceding two late goals, Ciaran Kilmurray's major six minutes from the end sealed an historic win.
If beating Shamrocks was a big deal for Loman's, breaking their semi-final duck was even bigger. An opening quarter blitz and a strong finish were central to their impressive 1-13 to 1-9 triumph over Coralstown/Kinnegad, which avenged their earlier loss to the Meath-border outfit.
The Mullingar side had raced into a 0-4 to 0-0 lead before Wayne Fox opened Kinnegad's account and further scores from Conrad Reilly and Tommy Lambden pushed them further in front. But Colm Coyle's charges rallied late in the first half to trail by 0-6 to 0-9 at the break.
St. Loman's continued to hold the upperhand after the restart, but a controversial penalty, which was converted by Eamonn Fleming, coupled with the sending off of rising midfield star John Heslin on a second yellow card, looked to have tipped the balance in Coralstown/Kinnegad's favour.
But the 14-men of Loman's showed their mettle by responding with a Ciaran Kilmurray goal and qualified for the final on a 1-13 to 1-9 scoreline.
"We recovered well from what was a shaky enough start to the championship," recalls McKinley, who recently passed on the captaincy to Kieran Lynam.
"After three rounds, we had it all to do, but we managed to beat Malachy's and Athlone and that put us through to a quarter-final against Shamrocks. A lot of people thought we had missed the boat after the drawn game, but it was easy to motivate the lads for the replay and we won well. It was a huge win for us because, in the 15 years I've been playing senior for the club, we had never beaten them in the championship.
"We picked up from where we had left off against Shamrocks to beat Kinnegad in the semi-final. The win was doubly satisfying for Wally Burke as Kinnegad were the only team he hadn't beaten since he became our manager."
St. Loman's dreams of taking the Flanagan Cup - named after their president Paddy Flanagan - back to Lakepoint Park were dashed when they crashed to a rampant Garrycastle team by 0-6 to 3-8 in the county final. Failing to put up a serious challenge to their Athlone-based opponents, Loman's were put on the backfoot by three early points from man of the match Dessie Dolan.
Garrycastle's opening goal arrived three minutes before half-time when team captain Gary Dolan set up his cousin James Dolan who fired to the net to give Anthony Cunningham's charges a 1-4 to 0-3 interval lead.
St. Loman's, who missed a host of opportunities in the first half, were severely punished on the restart when Gary Dolan and Alan Daly pounced for two further majors to give Garrycastle a 3-5 to 0-4 lead after 38 minutes.
To their credit, St. Loman's kept battling with county star Conor Lynam slotting over three points, but there was never any danger of Garrycastle letting their big lead slip.
In the week before the final, the streets of Mullingar were bedecked in blue and white bunting and flags, and this later led to suggestions that St. Loman's may have been affected by the 'hype'. But Kenny dismisses this out of hand when he says: "There was a lot of hype beforehand, but I can assure you it didn't get to us.
"What caught us out was our lack of experience. All year, we had the same routine before games and it was upset when the throw-in for the final was put back by 15 minutes. Something like that wouldn't faze Garrycastle, who have buckets of experience and have been the 'Team of the Decade', but it affected us.
"We needed a good start, but instead they were the ones to get it. The first goal was a real hammerblow as it gave them a vital cushion and they were able to go for the jugular after that."
With several members of their senior squad on board, St. Loman's were hotly tipped to retain their under 21 championship crown. But after hammering Athlone in the semi-final, they lost to Mullingar Shamrocks by 0-9 to 1-12 in the delayed final which wasn't played until February.
While admitting that Loman's no longer have the surprise element, McKinley is predicting that they will once again be in the shake-up for senior championship honours in the season ahead.
"We have lost the element of surprise and teams will be a lot more wary of us," he says.
"We don't have a John Heslin waiting to burst on the scene this year. But we do have the experience of having played in a county final and Wally Burke is also committed to us for another year. Joe Matthews, Jimmy Davitt and Jonathan Plunkett have done Trojan work with the under 21s over the past couple of years and I'm expecting more of those younger lads to make the breakthrough this year."
A former Westmeath ladies football manager, McKinley's main focus this year will be on managing Loughnavalley. Intriguingly, though, he is refusing to rule out the prospect of returning to the St. Loman's colours later in the year.
"You never say never in football," the 32-year-old laughs.
"I decided to retire because it would be difficult to combine playing for St. Loman's and managing Loughnavalley. But we'll see how things go. I could change my mind come the championship!"
The St. Loman's team which contested their first SFC final in 41 years was: Stephen Gallagher; Seanie Murphy, James Davitt, Gary Glennon; Kenny McKinley (captain), Paddy Dowdall, Senan Russell; Tommy Lambden, John Heslin; Conrad Reilly, Jonathan Plunkett, Paul Sharry; Conor Lynam, Kieran Lynam, Ciaran Kilmurray. Subs used: Stephen Gilmore, John Ahearne, Emmett Cahill, Willie McGovern and Conor Cochrane. Tweet
