Joe McDonagh Cup – Westmeath 1-29 Meath 0-14 – By Gerry Buckley at TEG Cusack Park
Westmeath retained their place in the Joe McDonagh Cup with a comfortable win against neighbours Meath in ideal conditions for hurling in Mullingar, the Royal County men now doomed to the Christy Ring Cup for 2025.
Despite Westmeath going two points ahead with just 75 seconds on the clock, the sides were tied at 0-7 apiece at the end of the opening quarter. Four of the home team’s seven points came from their impressive U20 corner forward David O’Reilly. The lively James Murray nudged Meath ahead for the first time in the 19th minute and the teams were level again at 0-9 each with 21 minutes elapsed.
Westmeath pounced for four unanswered between the 22nd and 25th minutes, two of them from the stick of former All Star nominee Killian Doyle (including one free). Meath continued to plug away with Nicholas Potterton on song from frees. Their last point came in the very last action of the first half from centre half back James Kelly, his long-range shot hopping over the crossbar. Westmeath led by 0-16 to 0-13 at the break.
Meath totally failed to replicate their early form in the second half, only scoring one point in the entire 36 minutes’ action, the score coming from midfielder Sean Geraghty in the 50th minute. Much of their shooting was dismal as they chalked up 10 wides, and 16 in total.
For their part, Westmeath kept the scoreboard ticking over with David Williams, Darragh Clinton and O’Reilly on song in the full forward line. Doyle was accurate from placed balls and he also scored some fine points from play, including one majestic score in the 55th minute. Clinton pounced for the game’s only goal midway through the half when he poked the sliotar to the net from point-blank range after great approach work by O’Reilly.
Westmeath were one of the favourites for Joe McDonagh Cup honours before the competition began and will now be relieved to have avoided the ignominy of relegation to the third tier of the championship. Their match next Saturday against finalists Laois will be a dead rubber.
Scorers for Westmeath: K Doyle 0-8 (3fs, 1‘65’), D Clinton 1-4, D O’Reilly 0-6, D Williams 0-4, P Clarke, R Greville 0-2 each, T Doyle, A Clarke, O McCabe 0-1 each.
Scorers for Meath: J Murray, N Potterton (3f) 0-3 each, T Shine, K Gorman 0-2 each, S Ennis, J Kelly, E Óg Ó Donnchadha, S Geraghty 0-1 each.
Westmeath: N Conaty; C Gaffney, T Doyle, J Bermingham; D Egerton, A Clarke, C McCormack; P Clarke, K Regan; O McCabe, K Doyle, R Greville; D Williams, D Clinton, D O’Reilly.
Subs: N Mitchell for McCormack (39), E Keyes for K Doyle (62), A Craig for Egerton (65), C Doyle for McCabe (67).
Meath: C Ennis; M Burke, S Whitty, D Shine; S Ennis, J Kelly, K Gorman; S Geraghty, N McLarnon; J Murray, T Shine, M Horan; S Quigley, E Óg Ó Donnchadha, N Potterton.
Subs: R Byrne for McLarnon (HT), D Healy for S Ennis (50), D Murtagh for Quigley (58), S Martin for Horan (61), E Devine for Geraghty (63).
Referee: J Clarke (Cavan).
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