Simonstown supporters looking for another win

Simonstown Gaels supporters will be making the journey to Mullingar on Sunday hoping for another winning performance from their team.

Both Simonstown Gaels manager Colm O'Rourke and his St Loman's counterpart Luke Dempsey could be accused of reading from the same text book ahead of next Sunday's eagerly awaited Leinster Club SFC semi-final at Cusack Park, Mullingar, 2pm.

Both managers will be looking for improved performances next Sunday, in comparison to what their respective teams produced in the quarter-finals against Starlights (Wexford) and Mullinalaghta (Longford).

From that perspective, it's reasonable to conclude that a cautious approach will be adopted although hosts St Loman's will probably be expecting to advance to the decider at the expense of a Meath side that only achieved a first provincial victory in the club's history just over a week ago at Wexford Park.

Simonstown full-back Stephen Moran is surely not relishing the prospects of trying to curtail St Loman's full-forward John Heslin who scored 2-6 in the Westmeath SFC final victory against Tyrrellspass.

St Loman's won that game by 3-13 to 0-14 and in the Leinster Club quarter-final against Longford champions Mullinalaghta Heslin, who works for Teagasc in Grange, added another 1-6 in a hard-earned 1-12 to 1-11 victory at Pearse Park.

However, Simonstown have consistently produced improved performances throughout the Meath SFC culminating with that two in-a-row achievement against Summerhill.

The team has matured in a solid unit capable of digging out results and that quality should stand them in good stead in the heat of battle at Cusack Park.

Goals may be crucial next Sunday, but that's an area where St Loman's could struggle as they will be facing one of the top men in Meath between the posts in Simonstown's Robbie Burlingham.

Burlingham's ability was evident last Thursday night at Dunganny as Simonstown Gaels advanced to the A FL Div 1 final with a 0-12 to 0-9 victory over Summerhill.

Burlingham handled confidently throughout and produced a superb penalty save with the last action of the game.

Broadening out the discussion it would be reasonable to suggest that the Simonstown man could be a ready replacement for county netminder Paddy O'Rourke who has opted out of the panel.

The Simonstown manager acknowledged Burlingham's ability after last Thursday night's narrow victory.

“Robbie has been saving penalties for us for the last few years, he was the club's player of the year last year and I'd say he's going to be close to it again this year,” stated the Gaels boss.

“We could have done without this game against Summerhill as we have some players who are nursing a few injuries and it would have suited us better not have the game. But, once it was fixed we played, we are not the type of club that wouldn't play, we'd just get on with it.

“We played St Loman's in a challenge before the quarter-final of the Meath championship in the summer and they gave us a good beating.

“We know exactly what they're capable of. Hopefully we will have learned something from that defeat and will be better this time around.

“I have no doubt that we can improve our performance from the last round against Starlights.

“We have been controlled in most of our games this year, but we lost control against Summerhill tonight, we were six points up and should have been able to see the game out without having to depend on Robbie making that late save.

“It could turn out to be a good lesson for us again and I think you will see a different Simonstown when we go to Mullingar on Sunday,” he added.

Dempsey, who was a candidate for the Meath senior football manager's position in 2011, is anticipating a big test from Simonstown and readily admitted that his team will also have to find some improvement on that quarter-final performance.

“We won’t get away again with a lot of the display in the opening three-quarters against Mullinalaghta,” he stated.

“It was quite a slow start, but that was more to do with the fact that they had already played Éire Óg of Carlow.

“They were out of the blocks very, very quickly with the wind, it was hard to win any kick-outs, but we got there in the end. I know a good bit about Simonstown.

They are a very experienced, athletic, tall, strong, physical team with great pace - very different from Mullinalaghta.

“They are very strong in the middle with Shane O’Rourke and James Kilcullen who used to play for both Mayo and Sligo. He is a huge man.

“We held on very well near the end against Mullinalaghta, that was probably the most pleasing thing about the win.

“If we can bring that spirit for the full game against Simonstown, we are in with a great chance.

“I know Colm well, he is a great football man. Ironically, the man who is doing the training, strength and conditioning work with them is Johnny Mills, a really good friend of mine from the time we worked together for Westmeath,” stated Dempsey without divulging whether he had the inside track on the Meath champions.