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Battling Westmeath go down fighting in the summer rain

Wednesday, 14 July 2010

GOING UP IN THE WORLD: David Duffy climbs highest to claim possession for Westmeath. AV2828

Derry 0-13 Westmeath 1-7.

IT HAS been a turbulent year for the senior footballers of Westmeath but they bowed out of the qualifiers in the second round against Damian Cassidy's Derry who will admit that for them it was too close for comfort. They have lost midfielder Joe Diver at a critical stage in the second half, minutes before substitute Callum McCormack came close to finding Westmeath's second goal that would have given them a one point lead with seven minutes remaining. A diving Dessie Dolan used both fists to punch a dropping ball past the Derry goalkeeper only to see his effort end up in the side netting.
Earlier in the half Martin Flanagan had set up Paul Greville and only the combined efforts of goalkeeper Barry Gillis and full back Kevin McGuckin combined, kept his effort from crossing the line.
The sides had been level on four occasions in the opening thirty five but a nine minute spell beginning in the 24th minutes would see the Oak Leaf County return five unanswered points to open a three point lead at the interval. Three more were added after the restart before Martin Flanagan's goal and Dessie Dolan's converted free gave hope to the Westmeath faithful of a revival of their county's fortunes.
However seven second-half wides would leave the Lake County counting the costs by full time with just two points separating the sides. Another talking point was the referee's decision to award a free kick to Derry after Dessie Dolan was judged to have fouled a Derry forward when it was a fifty-fifty ball and Louth had their eighth point with less than two minutes of normal time remaining in the first half.
As the teams lined out Denis Glennon went to midfield alongside David Duffy with Paul Bannon lining out at right half forward and Conor Lynam went to the left full forward position, while Derry played as selected. Paul Greville saw Dessie Dolan available and after a minute and a half the Garrycastle man had opened his account from the left wing into the canal end of Cusack Park.
Twice in as many minutes Derry came back with Mark Lynch converting a free after Cathal McKeever was fouled and Eoin Bradley added from play. Dessie Dolan returned the complement when he set up dual player Greville for Westmeath's second. Bradley was fouled by Kevin Maguire and James Kielt gave the Oak Leafers the lead but when Dessie Dolan was fouled on the left wing the latter made it three a piece.
Derry brought in Declan Mullan to centre back for the injured Gerard O'Kane and Joe Diver was handed his first card for a tackle on David Duffy. When Ger Egan was fouled he took the quick free to Michael Ennis to restore Westmeath's lead.
But the tide would turn and what followed were four Derry points in a row from Mark Lynch (3-1f) and James Kielt (2-1f). Conor Lynam left the field of play with normal time almost up in the half and was replaced by Martin Flanagan, while David Duffy narrowed the gap to three and the scoreboard read 0-8 to 0-5 at the interval.
By now John Keane's knee had given up and the Rosemount clubman made way for Callum McCormack who went into the forwards releasing his fellow clubman Kieran Martin to the defence. Derry returned three unanswered points from a Lynch free kick from a difficult angle, a James Kielt free kick and from Raymond Wilkinson who had made an impressive run along the left wing.
With six between the sides Westmeath needed to take drastic action. Martin Flanagan punched a high ball in by Paul Greville to the net. However Westmeath would miss two 45s and four wides in all before Dessie Dolan pointed a free, when Ger Egan was fouled.
A James Kielt free gave the Northerners more breathing space but Dessie Dolan replied. Donal O'Donoghue was drafted into defence but with a minute and a half of normal time remaining Eoin Bradley soloed and found the winning score.
A high ball in from Doran Harte was caught by the goalkeeper, while Callum McCormack shot narrowly wide as did Michael Ennis.
Afterwards a disappointed manager Pat Flanagan admitted his side failed to attract the rub of the green on the day. "We got the goal and there were a number of opportunities that went in there that could have been scores. It just didn't happen. On another day the three 45s could have went over the bar but the conditions out there were extremely poor. It was one of those days when you would keep trying but we just couldn't knock the wall down."
With Westmeath's year ended there will be concern for John Keane's injury at his club Rosemount, after he limped off at half time. "John has a knee problem and he was struggling with it at half time so we just had to get him out of there because he was struggling when he started to sprint. He didn't want to come off, he wanted to go out again despite the sore knee and that shows the level of commitment these guys have."
Regarding his future the interim manager was making no making any immediate plans. "That is not for today and all of our focus was on the game after losing last Sunday week we put in a huge effort to see could we get a result here today." Flanagan admitted he enjoyed his spell as Westmeath manager. "Absolutely and they are a great group of fellows in there and no matter what they were asked to do in training they did without a moan or a cry. Westmeath people should be very proud of the effort these guys put in and they shouldn't be judged on today's result. I think they should be judged on their efforts, passion, desires and work rate that they put in along with the commitment. They trained three nights per week and for three other days they are in the gym and they deserve a bit more credit than they might get after losing today.
Meanwhile Derek Heavin was released from hospital in Dublin on Friday night after being detained with a serious knee injury after being carried off in the game with Louth in Croke Park. He is expected to be out of the game for anything up to a year.
Derry
Barry Gillis
Brian Og Mc Alary
Kevin Mc Guckian
Dermot Mc Bride
Mark Craig
Gerard O'Kane (Declan Mullan 17 inj Sean Leo McGoldrick 67 )
Charlie Kielt
Joe Diver
Enda Muldoon
Cathal McKeever (Sean Leo McGoldrick 51)
James Kielt 0-5 (4f)
Barry Mc Goldrick
Eoin Bradley 0-2
Mark Lynch 0-5 (3f)
Raymond Wilkinson 0-1
Westmeath
Gary Connaughton
Frank Boyle
John Gaffey
Kevin Maguire (Donal O'Donoghue 66)
Michael Ennis 0-1
John Keane (Callum McCoramck HT)
Doran Harte
David Duffy 0-1
Paul Bannon 0-1
Kieran Martin
Conor Lynam (Martin Flanagan 35 1-0)
Ger Egan (Ian Coffey 67)
Paul Greville 0-1
Dessie Dolan 0-4 (2f)
Denis Glennon.
Referee: M. Duffy (Sligo)
Match starts
Westmeath (first half)
Frees '45s YC RC Wides Gls Pts
13 0 3 0 2 0 5
(second half)
12 3 2 0 7 1 2
Total
25 23 5 0 9 1 7
__________________________
Derry
(first half)
13 0 4 0 4 0 8
(second half)
12 0 4 1 5 0 5
Total
25 0 8 1 9 0 13

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