Dunshaughlin humbled by power St Loman's

Meath champions make tame exit from Leinster Club SFC again

For the eighth time in the last 13 editions of the Leinster Club SFC, the Meath champions fell at the first hurdle as Dunshaughlin were humbled 2-4 to 2-17 by a vastly superior St Loman's Mullingar side in Pairc Tailteann today.

Not since Skryne in 2010 has a Meath champion played more than two games in the provincial championship and it is now 22 years since a Keegan Cup winner went on to win the Leinster crown.

On this evidence that wait will continue for a long time.

There is no doubting Dunshaughlin are the superior outfit in Meath, but the gap between the best the Royals can produce and their main provincial rivals is widening.

Were St Loman's truly 13 points better than Dunshaughlin, or was this just a really bad off day for the Meath champions?

Probably a bit of both.

When St Loman's sensed a weakness, they exploited Dunshaughlin's lower intensity, propensity to over play possession and general ragged play.

This performance was not the free-running, off-the-shoulder, energetic, enterprising football we have come to expect from Dunshaughlin. Instead it was St Loman's who painted a near perfect picture on the magnificent canvas of Pairc Tailteann's manicured pitch.

Fola Ayorinda's sheer physical power and athleticism caused Dunshaughlin countless issues, but those problems were replicated all over the field as Sam McCartan excelled, Danny McCartan impressed and in the closing 15 minutes John Heslin produced an exhibition.

For Dunshaughlin, Aaron Murphy was the only forward to score from play, that's if the Meath's side's opening goal is credited to him as Mathew Costello's shot might have already crossed the whitewash without Murphy's toe-poke.

Centre-back and captain Jared Rushe accounted for Dunshaughlin's second goal, while wing-back Ciaran McCarrick contributed half of his side's measly return of just four points.

It was one of those days for Dunshaughlin where nothing went right for them and as the game steadily flowed away from them their capacity to raise their levels seemed to go with the St Loman's tide.

The early stages saw both sides poke and probe each other, looking for weaknesses and spaces to exploit.

St Loman's appeared to have none, although their early shooting did let them down as they kicked three wides before Ayorinda opened the scoring in the eighth minute.

In the subsequent five minutes Jack Geoghegan, Ronan O'Toole and two from the outstanding Sam McCartan (one '45') pushed St Loman's into what already looked like an unassailable 0-5 to 0-0 lead.

Costello converted a free to open Dunshaughlin's account in the 15th minute, but that was their only point of the half as Danny and Sam McCartan extended St Loman's lead to 0-7 to 0-1 by the 23rd minute.

A well-worked move, one of the few rare passages of good football produced by Dunshaughlin, led to Costello slipping the ball goalwards where Murphy was rushing in to possibly get the last touch.

Instead of boosting Dunshaughlin that score just seemed to sparked extra endeavour from St Loman's as Danny McCartan replied with a point 20 seconds later and Ayorinda weaved his way through the Dunshaughlin rearguard before firing a brilliant goal.

A minute later Ayorinda was at it again as he added another point to seal a 1-9 to 1-1 interval lead for the visiting Westmeath men.

McCarrick pointed inside two minutes of the restart to give Dunshaughlin brief hope, but seven minutes later the McCartan brothers combined magnificently for Danny to fire his side's second goal and end the game as a contest, 2-10 to 1-3.

Rushe did produce a fine finish for Dunshaughlin's second goal in the 43rd minute, but the game was long since gone.

Heslin came into his own in the closing quarter with points from two frees and a mark, while Danny McCartan also added his third point to make it 2-14 to 2-3.

Murphy fisted over the bar with a goal chance on, but it made no difference as Heslin kicked two superb points from play either side of a Sean Flanagan score to wrap up St Loman's victory and send the Meath champions out in tame fashion.

One day you're drinking the wine, the next you're picking the grapes.

St Loman's - Jason Daly; David Whelan, Darragh O'Keeffe, Oisin Hogan; Kelvin Reilly, Eoghan Hogan, Sam McCartan (0-3 one '45'); Jack Geoghegan (0-1), Fola Ayorinda (1-2); Rory Sheahan, Ronan O'Toole (0-1), Sean Flanagan (0-2); Danny McCartan (1-3), John Heslin (0-5 two frees, one mark), Shane Dempsey. Subs - TJ Cox for Dempsey half-time, Kevin Regan for Sheahan 43m, Enda Gaffney for Hogan 45m, Peter Foy for Ayorinda 53m, Conor O'Donoghue for Whelan 55m.

Dunshaughlin - Tim O'Sullivan; Niall Byrne, Darryl McKenna, Ben Duggan; Ciaran McCarrick (0-2), Jared Rushe (1-0), Adam Kealy; Charlie O'Connor, Conor Gray; David Fildes, Ruairi Kinsella, Conor Duke; Aaron Murphy (1-1), Mathew Costello (0-1 free), Luke Mitchell. Subs - Fursey Blake for McKenna 21m, John McDonagh for Kinsella 29m, Fiach Hartigan for Fildes half-time, Neil Byrne for Duggan 44m, Tadhg O Dushlaine for Niall Byrne 63m.

Referee - Anthony Nolan (Wicklow).