Error-ridden performance means 'back door' for Westmeath

By Gerry Buckley -- For the third year in succession, Westmeath have failed at the penultimate round of the Leinster senior football championship and, while the humiliation experienced against Dublin a year ago was thankfully not repeated, there is no doubt that Louth are fully deserving of their place in the provincial decider for the first time in half-a-century, after an unflattering two-point win over a Lake County side, who were guilty of an inordinate number of unforced errors throughout an often mediocre-standard game, played in ideal conditions at Croke Park on Sunday evening last.A strange atmosphere prevailed in the moments leading up to the second match in last Sunday's double-header at GAA headquarters, with almost every Dublin fan having vacated Hill 16 and the stands to drown their sorrows and very few victorious Meath supporters hanging on to see which of their neighbours they would be facing on July 11. Indeed, given the Royals' power-packed display in dethroning the metropolitans, the reward for the winners come 7.15 pm approximately seemed dubious before the game commenced, a couple of minutes after the scheduled time of 5.50. It has to be said that the game was generally very tame in comparison with the first semi-final, with Louth failing to replicate their wonderful display against Kildare and Westmeath also dropping in standard from their very timely win over Wicklow. Peter Fitzpatrick's charges led from start from start to finish and, despite Martin Flanagan's wonderfully intuitive goal in the 65th minute giving the small band of maroon and white-clad fans belated hope of an unlikely win, the Wee County clung on for a fully-merited success. The unconfined joy on the faces of red and white-clad fans (who by far outnumbered the midlanders) after Syl Doyle blew the final whistle showed exactly what the ending of a 50-year famine meant to the winners.J.P. Rooney was wide for Louth after 90 seconds, but his colleague Brian White opened the scoring shortly afterwards when he converted a 20-metre free from the ground, after Donal O'Donoghue was penalised for overcarrying the ball. Within a minute, the Wee County doubled their advantage, the first of many misplaced passes in the game from Doran Harte resulting in a patient Louth build-up, with team captain Paddy Keenan (who added to his growing reputation throughout the contest) rifling over a fine left-footed point. A poor punt forward from Denis Glennon (who never came close to showing his true ability in the game) enabled Louth to counterattack and Shane Lennon (who was already causing Donal O'Donoghue quite a few headaches) was afforded lots of time to open his account. Indeed, a foul by O'Donoghue on Lennon led to the winners' fourth point, courtesy of a well-struck 45-metre free from Brian White, moments after skilful play from Des Dolan was halted by a fine challenge by John O'Brien.Westmeath eventually opened their account in the ninth minute, a terrific move ending with a delightfully-curled point from 30 metres by Des Dolan. Moments later, over-elaboration by his Garrycastle team-mate Doran Harte almost set up Adrian Reed for a possible Louth goal. In the tenth minute, the gap was down to two points, Paul Greville (who was unquestionably the losers' outstanding player on the day) reacted well to tap over his first point, after Denis Glennon hit the upright from an eminently-kickable free, awarded from where the ball had landed after Kieran Martin was fouled as he kicked it forward. Some two minutes later, Adrian Reed teed up the strong-running Paddy Keenan for a goal chance, but the skipper elected to take a point, to put Louth ahead by 0-5 to 0-2. Shane Lennon soon spurned an even better goal opportunity, his effort coming off the upright, and when a great crossfield pass by Paul Greville set up the youthful Ger Egan for a fine point at the midpoint of the first moiety, in truth, the men in maroon and white were flattered to be a mere two points in arrears. Egan then undid some of his good work with a loose pass which enabled his opposite number Adrian Reed to solo through virtually unopposed for a slick Louth point. By contrast, much of Westmeath's play was laboured, but Paul Greville was one of the few who generally took correct options and his quickly-taken free set up the hard-grafting Paul Bannon for his side's fourth point in the 21st minute.The Lake County then suffered a big blow when a clearly-distressed Derek Heavin was stretchered off after a long delay receiving treatment to a serious knee injury, John Smyth taking the long-serving Castledaly man's place. With seven minutes of normal time remaining in the first half, Westmeath registered their first wide, Des Dolan being the guilty party. A minute later, a hitherto-subdued Denis Glennon made his first meaningful impact when he took John Smyth's pass and whipped over a fine point from 30 metres. At the other end, Francis Boyle, who had a decent game all through, showed his worth with some fine defending. Weakly-struck shots, with his right and left foot respectively, by Des Dolan failed to trouble Neil Gallagher in the Louth goal. In the 34th minute, Shane Lennon chipped in with his second point after a fine catch. A particularly poor wide from Denis Glennon soon followed before the winners notched their eighth point deep into injury-time, courtesy of a tap-over left-footed free by Colm Judge, made all the easier by needless dissent from Doran Harte whose pleading on behalf of Francis Boyle saw the referee move the ball closer to goal. Des Dolan and Paddy Keenan exchanged wides in the dying moments of the half, at the end of which Louth were not at all flattered to lead by 0-8 to 0-5.Westmeath started the second half with the versatile Michael Ennis at full back in an attempt to curb Shane Lennon's influence and they got off to a great start with Paul Greville kicking a great point from almost 50 metres, with only 15 seconds on the clock. David Duffy should have reduced the deficit even further when set up by a quickly-taken Des Dolan free, but it was another midfielder, Louth's Brian White, who was next on target with a well-worked point in the third minute. Kieran Martin then joined the growing list of Westmeath players delivering 'hospital' passes, but the losers still managed another score in their next attack, Ger Egan teeing up Paul Greville for his hat-trick of points. A very poor effort at a point by John Smyth ensued, before half-time sub Paraic Smith left Donal O'Donoghue (now operating at centre half back) for dead and duly put the winners into double figures. Two misplaced passes by Doran Harte were indicative of his disappointing display and the Lake County's only two-time All-Star, John Keane was then brought into action to bolster a porous defence, which he did to considerable effect as the game progressed. Louth went four points ahead in the 12th minute courtesy of a 40-metre free from Brian White, but Westmeath got right back into contention when a long delivery from John Smyth was knocked down by Des Dolan to the inrushing Denis Glennon who was fouled by a combination of Louth defenders in the large parallelogram (none of whom, incidentally, was the player then yellow-carded, Dessie Finnegan). Paul Bannon replicated his fine spot kicks in the league by dispatching the ensuing penalty with aplomb past Neil Gallagher.However, Louth were soon three points to the good, through fine points from the inspirational Paddy Keenan and substitute Derek Maguire, within a minute of his introduction, sandwiched between which Kieran Martin was unlucky to see his effort shave the post on the wrong side from a Westmeath perspective. Paraic Smith then had a 'point' disallowed because Shane Lennon's pass was deemed to have been a 'throw'. Martin Flanagan was brought on to replace a strangely out-of-sorts Conor Lynam, before Louth struck for an all-important goal, great approach play from Kevin Maguire teeing up the lively Colm Judge who planted the ball past the despairing duo of Gary Connaughton and Kevin Maguire. A Westmeath player was then decidedly lucky that the match officials missed an offence which could have resulted in a red card. Paul Greville (with a tap-over free) and Mark Brennan (a fine score from play under pressure) then traded points. Denis Glennon could easily have been awarded a second penalty but the referee waved play on. However, an unanswered 1-2 between the 28th and 31st minutes brought the losers to within a point. Sandwiched between a point apiece from Paul Greville (a free) and Denis Glennon (from play after a great surge by Michael Ennis), Martin Flanagan rolled back the years with a vintage goal, after a trademark shimmy when he received the ball from a great long delivery from Paul Greville. However, Glennon's point was to be Westmeath's last throw of the dice and a composed point from Colm Judge rounded off match scoring in the 32nd minute, following a stray handpass from Westmeath sub Damien Healy. Westmeath had a couple of late chances but indecision by John Smyth in a great position proved fatal. In the end, there was no denying Louth a famous and richly-deserved victory. Meath are likely to be almost unbackable favourites to end a nine-year wait for the Delaney Cup next month. However, Louth's great hunger is sure to bring out a massive effort from Paddy Keenan and his merry men come July 11th. For their part, Westmeath must regroup for a very tough Qualifier assignment against Derry a day earlier. Memories of a disappointing All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to the Oak Leaf County six years ago is sure to spur on the many players who still remain from Westmeath's Leinster-winning side of 2004. Unfortunately, Father Time has caught up with some of these, while a number of promising players need to learn from the plethora of mistakes made last Sunday if the All-Ireland champions from 1993 are to be stopped in their tracks. However, given the disastrous year-and-a-half that preceded this year's championship, there is no doubt that Pat Flanagan has brought on his charges quite significantly in a very short period of time and his side deserve the backing of far more Westmeath Gaels in Cusack Park come Saturday week than those who headed up the N4 last Sunday, recession or no recession. Final score: Louth 1-15, Westmeath 2-10.Louth: Neil Gallagher; Eamonn McAuley, Dessie Finnegan, Ronan Greene; Ray Finnegan, Michael Fanning, John O'Brien; Paddy Keenan (capt) (0-3), Brian White (0-4, 0-3 from frees); Andy McDonnell, Mark Brennan (0-1), Adrian Reed (0-1); Colm Judge (1-2, 0-1 from a free), Shane Lennon (0-2), J.P. Rooney. Subs: Paraic Smith (0-1) (for McDonnell, half-time), Derek Maguire (0-1) (for Rooney, 52 mins).Westmeath: Gary Connaughton; Francis Boyle, Donal O'Donoghue, Kevin Maguire; Michael Ennis (capt), Kieran Martin, Doran Harte; David Duffy, Paul Bannon (1-1, 1-0 from a pen); Derek Heavin, Conor Lynam, Ger Egan (0-1); Paul Greville (0-5, 0-2 from frees), Des Dolan (0-1), Denis Glennon (0-2). Subs: John Smyth (for Heavin, inj, 23mins), John Keane (for O'Donoghue, 46 mins), Martin Flanagan (1-0) (for Lynam, 54 mins), Tommy McDaniel (for Egan, 61 mins), Damien Healy (for Martin, 64 mins).Referee: Syl Doyle (Wexford).Footnote. A minute's silence was observed prior to the throw-in in memory of recently-deceased Gaels, Paddy O'Brien (Navan) and Peter Farrell (Drogheda).