O'Connell points Walterstown to narrow victory

Corn na Boinne

Walterstown... 0-12

Blackhall Gaels... 2-5

Ruth Chambers

Narrow it was but narrow it shouldn’t have been. Walterstown’s victory over Blackhall Gael’s in the final round of the group stages of the Corn na Boinne was a slender one but such was their dominance in Kilcloon, they should have been well out of sight before the interlude.

Nonetheless, the Blacks left Blackhall satisfied after picking up their first victory of 2024 and one man left more satisfied than most.

With nine points to his name, Walterstown’s Barry O’Connell grabbed all bar three of his side’s scores in this third round encounter and put in a top drawer performance to boot.

Indeed, Walterstown were much improved compared to their showings against Oldcastle and Duleek-Bellewstown in the previous rounds with O’Connell and Conor Farrelly both putting in tremendous shifts. And they weren’t the only ones either.

In the middle of the park both Mark Foy and the experienced Conor O’Sullivan dominated and in defence Conor Lenehan, Eoghan McCague and Breandan McGuinness were all to the fore.

The latter did concede a first half penalty, that was tucked away by Luke Jennings, but he redeemed himself well for the remainder.

However, it was the Blacks’ work-rate all over the park that really and truly ground out this victory for them as they now head in to their A League Division 2 campaign, which gets underway in the middle of the month.

Walterstown showed just one change to the team that started against Duleek the Thursday before with O’Sullivan coming in to the starting XV.

He lined out at midfield, instead of Alan Wall, who moved to centre half back and McGuinness to full back in the absence of Jack Wilson.

They began on a bright note when O’Connell opened his account just two minutes in but the home side made a swift response soon after to restore the early parity.

Two without response from O’Connell, one from a free kick left Walterstown 0-3 to 0-1 to the good in the ninth minute but that lead was very soon eradicated when McGuinness gave away a penalty.

Up stepped Jennings and he mad no mistake with his left footed shot, firing it passed young Caoilinn O’Brien in the Walterstown net.

Walterstown were dominant in possession and chances were anything but few and far between. However, converting them proved difficult and as a result this game remained on a knife edge right up until the long whistle.

A brace from former Meath minor man Neil McGinley and another from O’Connell ensured Walterstown had their noses in front at the break 0-6 to 1-2.

The latter picked off where he left it in the first after the turnaround and tagged on two more points to give his side a three point advantage early in the second but it was cancelled out by a second Blackhall goal on 39 minutes, which left the sides deadlocked once more.

Heading in to the last quarter the Blacks were actually one in arrears but young Fionnan O’Connor raised a white flag on 46 minutes to level it up and it remained level as the game headed for a close.

Then O’Connell converted the late free and gave his side a one point victory.

SCORERS: Walterstown - Barry O’Connell 0-9 (4f), Neil McGinley 0-2, Fionnan O’Connor 0-1.

Walterstown - Caoilinn O’Brien; Eoghan McCague, Breandan McGuinness, Aron McLoughlin; Conor Lenehan, Alan Wall, Ciaran Cox; Conor O’Sullivan, Mark Foy; Fionnan O’Connor, Barry O’Connell, Jack Doyle; Adam Quinn, Neil McGinley, Conor Farrelly. Subs: Conor McEntee replaced A Quinn 37 mins, Olly Maloney replaced Jack Doyle 46 mins.