Westmeath left to rue soft goals as Rossies romp to easy victory

Roscommon booked their place in the semi-finals of the Nancy Murray Cup last Saturday evening by virtue of a comfortable 19-point win over neighbours Westmeath.On a bright and sunny day in Athleague, both teams seemed fairly evenly matched from general play. But it was the concession of extremely soft goals that proved to be Westmeath"s downfall in the end.The result now means that Westmeath need to win their final group game and hope that other results go their way if they are to have a hope of reaching the semi-finals.Westmeath got off to the worst possible start on Saturday. Just 12 seconds had elapsed when Roscommon"s centre-forward Annette McGeeney gathered in possession on the 65, skipped around a challenge and sent a shot for a point that dipped short and under the crossbar for the game"s first goal.By the 5th minute, that lead had been stretched to five points with scores coming from Cait Kenny and Claire Curley.Pamela Greville finally got Westmeath up and running with a point from a free on nine minutes, but this was quickly cancelled out by another Cait Kenny point after some nice play by Claire Curley.Joanne Walshe and Kelly Hopkins traded scores for their respective sides on 12 and 17 minutes before a Pamela Greville free put four between the sides with 21 played.Westmeath were finally getting into their stride and were showing themselves to be every bit as good as their opponents. But, so far, their finishing had been less than clinical and that, coupled with a couple of important saves from Roscommon goalkeeper Caroline Connaughton, this meant that the home side were always able to keep their opponents at arm"s length.And on 24 minutes Roscommon pulled away again. Kelly Hopkins took a short free to Annette McGeeney who shot for a point but again saw her effort drop short.This time Westmeath "keeper Deirdre McInerney batted the ball down well only to see corner-forward Sinead O"Brien drive the ball to the net from the ground - an opportunist goal.Caitriona Regan floated over a nice score for Roscommon on 29 minutes but then just 60 seconds later it got considerably worse for Westmeath. Another Kelly Hopkins free was, this time, dropped in around the square and after a bit of a goalmouth scramble, Cait Kenny literally walked the ball into the net - a scrappy goal but one that now saw Roscommon take an 11-point lead.Westmeath reduced it to ten just before the half-time break with a Pamela Greville point, her first and only from play, but the writing was on the wall for the visiting team. It was going to take a massive effort to turn over the half-time deficit.Unsurprisingly, Westmeath made changes for the second-half as Amy Dunne, Sarah King and Muireann Scally were all introduced.And for a fleeting moment there looked to be some hope as Pamela Greville got the opening score of the half after five minutes, as well as seeing her shot for goal a couple of minutes before saved expertly by Caroline Connaughton.Not only that but Roscommon corner-back Marie Glennon-Kelly was shown a straight red card on 35 minutes. It was unclear what it was for, but what was clear was that the home side would have to play out the remainder of the game with just 14 players.It hardly mattered, though. By the 40th minute, the game was well and truly over as Roscommon"s ruthless touch in front of goal put the game beyond Westmeath.After a Claire Curley point on 37 minutes, Roscommon had their fourth goal when Deirdre McInerney allowed the sliotar to slip between her legs and into the path of Sinead O"Brien, who tapped the ball home to an empty net.And from the very next puck-out, the ball was sent right back toward the Westmeath goal. McInerney rushed from her line in an attempt to avert the danger, but instead it was O"Brien who beat her to it, flicked the ball past her with her hurl and slammed it home to another empty net.Roscommon now held a 16-point advantage. There was no way back for Westmeath. Sixteen became eighteen after further points from Cait Kenny before Pamela Greville got Westmeath"s final point of the day.The remainder of the game was a procession toward Roscommon victory with Annette McGeeney and Claire Curley wrapping up the day"s scoring to leave the final score at 5-10 to 0-6 in favour of Roscommon.SCORERS - ROSCOMMON: Sinead O"Brien (3-0), Cait Kenny (1-3, 2f), Annette McGeeney (1-2), Claire Curley (0-3), Kelly Hopkins (0-1, 1f), Caitriona Regan (0-1).WESTMEATH: Pamela Greville (0-5, 3f, 45"), Joanne Walshe (0-1).ROSCOMMON: Caroline Connaughton, Marie Glennon Kelly, Niamh Connolly, Caitriona Morris, Grainne Egan, Donna Kelly, Catherine Rogerson, Patricia Lennon, Niamh Coyle, Kelly Hopkins, Annette McGeeney, Caitriona Regan, Claire Curley, Cait Kenny, Sinead O"Brien. SUBS: Gertie Dowd for Kelly Hopkins (32 mins), Carmel Killeen for Sinead O"Brien (52 mins), Ciara Moran for Catherine Rogerson (55 mins), Audrey Morris for Annette McGeeney (57 mins), Joanne Beattie for Caitriona Morris.WESTMEATH: Deirdre McInerney, Emma Martin, Sandra Greville, Liz Shaw, Eileen Murphy, Kate Glynn, Aishling Conatty, Dinah Loughlin, Andrea Martin, Deirdre Donovan, Pamela Greville, Lisa Burke, Joanne Walsh, Annette Heffernan, Denise McGrath. SUBS: Amy Dunne for Denise McGrath (HT), Sarah King for Aishling Conatty (HT), Muireann Scally for Lisa Burke (HT), Maria Smyth for Dinah Loughlin (37 mins), Louise Connor for Deirdre Donovan (48 mins).REFEREE: Dermot Connelly (Galway).