After 90 minutes of end to end football, our senior footballers secured their spot in the Leinster Final on May 17th in Croke Park.
Mark McHugh’s men proved it wasn’t just luck when they overcame Meath 2 weeks ago in Tullamore, when they did it again in true fashion against Kildare on Sunday.
Kildare nudged ahead first but Westmeath never let the gap get beyond their reach, finding a purple patch in the middle of the first half with scores from our full forward trio all helping to keep the scoreboard ticking. On the half hour mark, Coralstown/Kinnegad’s Brían Cooney rattled the net with an absolutely fantastic goal to put us ahead going in at the break.
The second half was a hard watch, as it was never clear who was going to take the spoils. The sides exchanged scores and never the gap go beyond 3 points. With 68 minutes played, Shane Allen kicked the winner, or so we thought, until Alex Beirne threw his team a lifeline.
Extra time was to come and in a lively first 10 minutes, we clocked up 1-02 after a goal from Brandon Kelly to give us a 4 point lead at the break; 2-18 to 0-22. The first 5 minutes was quiet in the second half of ET but Robbie Forde, Eoghan McCabe and finally Brandon Kelly kept us ahead and it was clear it was Westmeath’s day.
News during the week that our experienced forward Luke Loughlin would be out with injury for the remainder of the year meant the lads all knew they had to step up the plate. With 13 different scorers on the day showing the depth of this team and skill throughout. We wish Luke the very best in his recovery.
Westmeath: Jason Daly; Daniel Scahill, Charlie Drumm, Conor Dillon; Matthew Whittaker, Shane Allen, Sam McCartan; Brían Cooney, Ray Connellan; Kevin O’Sullivan, Ronan Wallace; Tadhg Baker; Brandon Kelly, Senan Baker, Shane Corcoran.
Subs: Shane Ormsby for Whittaker (15), Robbie Forde for O’Sullivan (51), Danny McCartan for S Baker (55), Ian Martin for Corcoran (60), Eoghan McCabe for Allen (69), O’Sullivan for McCabe (FT), Corcoran for Martin (FT), Adam Treanor for Dillon (FT), Whittaker for S McCartan (77), Jack Duncan for T Baker (83), McCabe for Ormsby (88).
Scorers (13) for Westmeath: Brandon Kelly 1-4, Sam McCartan 0-5 (2tpf), Brían Cooney 1-0, Ray Connellan 0-2 (1f), Senan Baker 0-2, Shane Corcoran 0-1, Kevin O’Sullivan 0-1, Tadhg Baker 0-1, Shane Allen 0-1, Ronan Wallace 0-1, Charlie Drumm 0-1, Robbie Forde 0-1, Eoghan McCabe 0-1
