Mighty Quinn to rescue for Vins as Ger sees red
ATEAM that doesn’t k now when it’s beaten is a powerful force. St Vincent’s illustrated that point at Cusack Park where, at the end of a marathon week, and in the absence of their two key players, the Dublin champions still prevailed.
Tomás Quinn’s seven points, including a key one late on from the right wing, were most significant in scoring terms.
But all the chat among the couple of thousand who left the ground afterwards was of Ger Brennan’s latest red card.
With Vincent’s already missing Diarmuid Connolly after his red card in Wednesday’s county final replay, Brennan walked to the line in Mullingar after just seven minutes.
He was involved in an off-theball incident with lively Loman’s forward Kelvin Reilly, who was left floored while referee Damian Brazil t ook advice f r om his officials.
The end result was a straight red for Vincent’s captain and AllIreland-winning Dublin defender Brennan , the latest in a chequered disciplinary career for the centre back.
It leaves him and Connolly both suspended for their November 24 Leinster semi- final clash with Meath champions Summerhill.
Against that background, and the fact Vincent’s were playing their third game in a week after a Dublin f i nal replay, and their fourth in 13 days, it was an incredible effort to seize victory.
Quinn missed a couple of kicks and took himself off the frees momentarily but stood up well generally and was a constant outlet in attack, hauling the Dublin champions to success.
‘I’ve played on some good teams and watched some very good Vincent’s teams but this team, hav- ing watched what they did against Ballymun and what they’ve done again today, it’s been fantastic,’ said Vincent’s boss Tommy Conroy. ‘Particularly when we were a point or two down in the second half, a man down, we showed marvellous character.
‘ I thought Mossy Quinn was great inside, took an awful lot of punishment and was still able to kick the scores that we needed.’
Conroy indicated that Vincent’s will appeal Brennan’s red card on the basis that the player was ‘adamant that he didn’t strike’.
Loman’s will kick themselves for not capitalising on Brennan’s absence. Moments after the incident with Brennan, Loman’s forward Reilly was foiled by a brill i ant double save by Vincent’s keeper Michael Savage. Even at that, they led by one with 10 minutes to go thanks to Reilly’s second point of the game. But they failed to match the spirit of 14man Vincent’s and blew a great opportunity.
‘Yeah, there’s no doubt about that,’ agreed manager and former Leitrim boss Declan Rowley, who guided the club to a first county win in 50 years.
‘You’d have to say that it was stacked up for us. If we had a little bit more experience, maybe if we’d been out of Westmeath a couple of years before, we’d have had that experience to drive it on and pull it over the line.’
Vincent’s have been without Connolly and Brennan for much of the year due to their involve- ment with Dublin. So playing without them wasn’t a new thing and they coped well, rarely looking like the side down to 14.
They edged a scrappy first half by 0-6 to 0-4 thanks in part to three frees from Quinn. But backto-back points from Loman’s captain John Heslin after the restart levelled it up at 0-6 apiece.
In a tactical, error- strewn game played i n slippery conditions, they were level twice more with 10 minutes to go.
Heslin was dropping in and out of the Loman’s forward line looking for ball and clipped a neat score. But the closing minutes were dominated by the more experienced Quinn, who nailed a free, a brilliant 45 and then a great point from the right wing.