Below-par Ardee Down and out in Leinster

Leinster Senior Club Football Quarter Final

Ardee St Marys 0-12 The Downs (Westmeath) 1-17

Ardee St Mary’s Leinster journey came to a halt on Sunday afternoon as they were outclassed by a the highly impressive Westmeath champions, the Downs.

Building up an early lead, Lar Wall’s side rarely looked threatened as they essentially coasted to victory against a below par St Mary’s whose dream of Croke Park went up in smoke.

They were lacklustre all over the pitch and were punished for any mistakes they made. That was unlike the Midlanders, who made very few errors, and were worthy of their eight-point margin of victory.

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The Westmeath champions came out strong and were four points ahead inside the opening five minutes. After a nice score from Luke Loughlin, The Downs grabbed a vital goal.

Niall Mitchell won a turnover from an Ardee kickout and duly soloed forward at pace. He found the awaiting Kevin O’Sullivan and from close range he buried it home past James McGillick.

St Mary’s were sluggish on the ball, both in their shooting, where they finished with six wides in the first half alone and in their passing. This allowed the men in black and amber plenty of time on the ball and their pacey gameplan was causing havoc among the Ardee backs.

Front and centre to this domination was county star Luke Loughlin, who finished the half with three from play. He was the man they continued to pick out. And whether shooting or turning provider, his solo runs were a constant threat. O’Sullivan was another whose solo runs proved fruitful.

Trying to get Daire McConnon on the ball was vital for Ardee, as he looked a rare man in blue capable of creating opportunities. After weaving his way past two defenders, the Louth sharpshooter got his team on the board on six minutes.

But they then went almost 20 minutes without a score, while a free-flowing Na Dunta hit four from play courtesy of Loughlin, Ian Martin and Andrew Kilmartin.

Maybe this huge gulf in performances was a result of one outfit facing another which has rarely had a moment to rest. The Downs had a four week break since claiming their county title, while St Mary’s had just the one week break. That was after three hard weeks in a row of intense football.

This could have played a role in the Downs seeming so much sharper, as that number of hard games started to finally take its toll on an Ardee team that are usually so full of energy.

The Westmeath champions were faster to every ball and seemed a lot hungrier than their opponents all over the field. With Donal McKenny out, Loughlin was a tough man to nail down. Especially with the almost endless service he was getting during this period.

Ardee did finish the half strong, helped by finally wrestling away some possession around the middle, as Conor Keenan and Kian Moran got forward to help the attack and grab crucial scores. Ciaran Keenan and veteran Darren Clarke also chipped in with late scores.

The problem was they were always staring down a big deficit, as points from Kilmartin, Mitchell and Conor Coughlan kept the Downs well in front. Coupled with so many errors and St Mary’s poor efforts in front of the posts and it seemed like they had mountains to climb.

The Louth champions needed a goal. And it nearly came late in the first half when Ciaran Keenan launched a ball over the top of the Downs defence and picked out an unmarked McConnon.

Unfortunately, he was slow to pull the trigger and the Downs got numbers back, forcing a turnover that saw the home side lead by 1-8 to 0-5 at the break.

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The evergreen Ronan Carroll was brought off the bench once more in the hope of making another game changing performance. He quickly had the Ardee fans rising to their feet, bagging two lovely points.

But they were still making no ground on their hosts, who had tipped over scores in between the Carroll brace to keep the gap at six points. It could’ve been even worse as one of those scores saw Kevin O’Sullivan go high with a one-on-one effort, with the goals at his mercy.

Ardee were keeping tabs with their opponents a lot more in the second half, gaining more possession and having way more time in enemy territory.

They had the firepower to score from anywhere, the problem was they needed goals, something which the Downs proudly rarely concede. It meant a more direct style, pumping ball into the corners in the hope somebody could break through for a goal.

McConnon came closest on two occasions, first off battling across the endline before having his attempt well saved on 55 minutes. The second was well after this tie was beyond Ardee, his effort from range only stopped by the post. This miss showed that it just wasn’t their day.

Their scoring ratio was much better following the half time break, particularly when going for points. They only registered two wides, and one effort short, with the likes of Darren Clarke, Dean Matthews, Carl Gillespie and Conor Keenan all raising white flags.

The problem was without one of those goal chances hitting the target, the Downs were able to keep the gap large by tapping over responses to anything Ardee threw at them. By the final whistle they had created an eight-point cushion that was fully deserved.

It is a tie that Ardee will look back on and be extremely disappointed. They were capable of so much more, but sadly had an off day against a well drilled, extremely fit and highly skilled The Downs, who march on to a date in Croke Park where they will face Ratoath from Meath.

With such young talent coming through at St Mary’s, they need to use this as a stepping-stone. They have shown they can conquer Louth; the hope down around Pairc Mhuire is they maintain their dominance locally, ahead of many more tilts at the provincial crown in the years to come.

ARDEE ST MARY’S: James McGillick; Karl Faulkner, Paraic McKenny, Conor Keenan (0-2); Kian Moran (0-1), Liam Jackson, Carl Gillespie (0-2, 0-1 free); RJ Callaghan, Robert Leavy; Conor Gillespie, Shane Matthews, Tom Jackson, Ciarán Keenan (0-1), Daire McConnon (0-1), Darren Clarke (0-2, 0-1 free). SUBS: Ronan Carroll (0-2) for Leavy (HT), Evan Malone for Mathews (HT), Dean Matthews (0-1) for Tom Jackson (41), Ryan Rooney for Clarke (52), Tiernan Corrigan for Conor Gillespie (57).

THE DOWNS: Trevor Martin; Peter Murray, Mark Kelly, Darragh Egerton; Conor Coughlan (0-3), Joseph Moran, Eanna Burke; Charlie Drumm, Ciaran Nolan; Andrew Kilmartin (0-3), Niall Mitchell (0-1), Kevin O’Sullivan (1-1); Ian Martin (0-3, 0-1 free), Luke Loughlin (0-5), Johnathan Lynam (0-1). SUBS: Dean Egerton for O’Sullivan (46), Dean Clarke Drumm (52), Brandan Murtagh for Kilmartin (57), Dyla Carroll for Lynam (62)m Jack Carroll for Martin (63).
Referee: John Hickey (Carlow)