Westmeath SHC: Killian Doyle delivers as Raharney take honours

Killian Doyle of Westmeath scored 0-11 for Raharney

Raharney 0-21 Castletown-Geoghegan 0-18 

With county star Killian Doyle in top form in attack, Raharney led from start to finish to defeat Castletown-Geoghegan in an absorbing Westmeath SHC final in Mullingar on Sunday.

Aided by a slight breeze, Doyle put Raharney two points clear after five minutes, the second of them from a free. The same player converted two line balls in a fine individual display in the first half, at the end of which his side led Castletown-Geoghegan, runners-up in both of the previous two finals to Clonkill, by 0-11 to 0-6.

Points early in the second half from Joey Boyle and sub James Goonery stretched Raharney’s lead to seven points, but their opponents gradually whittled back the deficit with Neal Kirby and Aonghus Clarke prominent. The latter’s point in the 44th minute had his side trailing by just two (0-14 to 0-12), but that was as close as they could get to their fired-up opponents.

The gap was again just two points with normal time up, but Doyle slotted over a tricky free to give Raharney a three-point cushion. With injury-time almost up, Kirby was denied an equalizing goal by Aaron McHugh.

Scorers for Raharney: K Doyle 0-11 (6fs, 2 lineballs), J Boyle, C Doyle, D Hickey 0-2 each, D Finn, E Cunneen, E Ahearn, J Goonery 0-1 each.

Scorers for Castletown-Geoghegan: N O’Brien 0-6 (4fs), A Clarke, N Kirby 0-3 each, M Heeney, C Murphy 0-2 each, S Clavin, D Lynch 0-1 each.

RAHARNEY: A McHugh; S Quinn, D Finn, J Mulkearns; D Hickey, R Greville, M Glennon; C Boyle, E Cunneen; K Doyle, J Boyle, R Keyes; E Ahearn, C Doyle, E Keyes. 

Subs: J Goonery for R Keyes (h-t), J Shaw for Ahearn (57), C McKeogh for E Keyes (60 + 2), B McGrath for C Doyle (60 + 3).

CASTLETOWN-GEOGHEGAN: K Glennon; A Glennon, N McKenna, J Bermingham; S Clavin, L Varley, C Kane; D Lynch, C O’Brien; N Kirby, N O’Brien, P Maxwell; J Clarke, A Clarke, M Gavigan. 

Subs: C Murphy for Gavigan (36), M Heeney for Maxwell (36), C Jackson for C O’Brien (39), E Quinn for Jackson (60 + 1).

Ref: J McGrath (Turin).