Antrim match now firmly in ‘must-win’ category
Gerry Buckley
Many of us making the long trek home from Newry last Saturday night were still shell-shocked after Westmeath had blown a seven-point lead in wind-less conditions at Páirc Esler.
A gutsy Down outfit ultimately emerged as two-point winners in what would have been an entertaining game for the very partisan (and somewhat unsporting) home fans and neutrals present. Ironically, this scribe’s even longer trek home from Páirc Uí Chaoimh some 20 hours later was more pleasant despite a six-point loss by the Westmeath hurlers to unbackable Cork.
The bookies seldom make mistakes, and Westmeath were surely unbackable when they led by 0-10 to 0-3 some 45 minutes into last Saturday’s contest, and seemingly in total control. The Mourne County men clawed their way back before eventually bagging a precious brace of Allianz Football League Division 3 points.
“Football’s a funny old game,” was one of the expressions regularly trotted out by the late, great player-turned-pundit Jimmy Greaves, and Gaelic football can be funny also. Bolstered by a penalty award which a number of very genuine Lake County players felt afterwards should merely have been a free from outside the parallelogram, and roared on by a huge home following, the men in black and red put themselves in pole position to be one of the two teams promoted to Division 2 for next spring.
The bottom line is that Westmeath’s fate is now out of their own hands and, as Dessie Dolan stated after the game, all they can do is focus on getting ten points and see where that brings them. There is a distinct possibility that a bonus for Conor Laverty (or should that be Conor Lazarus?) from last Saturday’s victory is the head-to-head they would have should they end up level on points with Westmeath.
Winning the three remaining games is, of course, a lot easier said than done, and picking up the first two of the targeted six remaining points when Antrim come to Mullingar next Sunday (throw-in 2pm) is far from a gimme. Andy McEntee’s charges are sure to provide lots of headaches for their maroon and white-clad opponents, as their predecessors in saffron and white have invariably done.
The counties have met on 16 occasions since their first league encounter back in 1979. The Glensmen won seven and drew one of the first eight clashes, with Westmeath’s record since almost a mirror image (seven wins and one defeat), albeit previous meetings will have no bearing on next Sunday’s encounter.
As oft trotted out, a number of absolutely key men in the current Westmeath team are the wrong side of the ‘big 30’. Reflecting on the huge stints at either end of the pitch in Newry from two such over-30s, Kevin Maguire and John Heslin, it can be unnerving to contemplate life in the not too distant future without their excellence in defence and attack respectively.
Heslin was unlucky not to draw the match with a late free despite the dreadful home barracking. Maguire was very harshly penalised around the same time after an inspirational run forward. Indeed, David Gough did his Westmeath neighbours no favours last Saturday nights, while again Down have to be commended for their never-say-die spirit in the face of adversity.
Dolan was keen to look ahead to at least four championship matches when he spoke to the media after the game. On current form, Louth are likely to be favourites for the Leinster SFC quarter-final clash, Mickey Harte’s men pulling off a Meath-like win against Meath in Navan on Sunday.
There would surely be a better mindset in the Lake County camp if they approach the championship as a Division 2 team in-waiting. It’s a tall order now after two losses, so a home win is simply essential on Sunday next.
*Westmeath v Antrim - recent meetings
The four league clashes between Westmeath and Antrim this millennium have resulted as follows:
9/4/2000, St Loman’s (Mullingar), Antrim 0-12 Westmeath 1-7
16/2/2003, Belfast, Westmeath 0-15 Antrim 2-7
12/3/2006, Cusack Park, Westmeath 3-10 Antrim 1-12
27/3/2022, Belfast, Westmeath 1-13 Antrim 0-12 (details below).
Scorers – Westmeath: J Heslin 1-5 (0-3f), L Loughlin 0-2, J Gonoud, N Harte, R Connellan, R O’Toole, A Gardiner and R Forde 0-1 each. Antrim: P Shivers and R Murray (1f) 0-3 each, R McCann (2f) and C Murray (1m) 0-2 each, D McAleese and M Jordan 0-1 each.
Westmeath: Jason Daly; Jack Smith, Kevin Maguire, Jamie Gonoud; David Giles, Nigel Harte, David Lynch; Jonathan Lynam, Sam Duncan; Ray Connellan, Ronan O’Toole, Sam McCartan; Lorcan Dolan, John Heslin, Alex Gardiner. Subs used: Kieran Martin for Duncan (inj., 5), Luke Loughlin for Dolan (h-t), Kevin O’Sullivan for Martin (64), Brandon Kelly for Gardiner (69), Robbie Forde for Lynam (70+4).
Antrim: Michael Byrne; James McAuley, Ricky Johnston, Peter Healy; Declan Lynch, Martin Johnston, Dermot McAleese; Michael McCann, Kevin Small; Tomas McCann, Marc Jordan, Ruairí McCann; Ryan Murray, Pat Shivers, Conor Murray. Subs used: Paddy McAleer for T McCann (h-t), Jamie Gribbon for Lynch (57), James Laverty for Johnston (62), Odhrán Eastwood for Shivers (62), Eoghan McCabe for Jordan (64).