'Great attitude' among Westmeath players ahead of semi-final against Wexford

Following their finest display of the campaign thus far, Westmeath ladies footballers are through to the Leinster Intermediate Football Championship semi-final, where they will meet Wexford next Sunday in Kinnegad (2pm).

Three first half goals laid the platform for an emphatic win over Louth at Ballinlough GAA grounds last Saturday and manager Michael Finneran was pleased his side showed signs of progress from their victory over Wicklow the previous week. Westmeath will go into next Sunday’s semi-final with momentum behind them.

“They’re in a great place now,” enthused Finneran after Saturday’s win, which follows victories over Offaly and Wicklow. He said they were determined to convert more of their chances on Saturday.

“It was a talking point for us this week, taking those scoring chances. But we were quite confident that once we kept creating them, the scores would come. In the second half we had a good few also, but we kept creating them and we’re very happy with that. It goes like that: some days you finish them and other days your luck isn’t in,” he remarked.

“It was a really good performance overall, their best performance in this group.”

While Finneran agreed corner back Aeysha Roche impressed, he praised the collective resolve shown by his side. Even when the game was won, Westmeath remained completely focused.

“There were a lot of girls who played really well in defence, but Aeysha is a top player and you could play her anywhere. She was excellent,” he observed.

“The thing that stood out for me was the work rate: the blocks were great. Even when the game was won, we were still making blocks four minutes into injury time. There’s a great attitude among the players.”

Finneran said his team will take it one game at a time at this stage and just look to improve on each display. He welcomed the run of fixtures which he feels is helping Westmeath develop.

“We go for gold in the next game and we’ll see then! The other group play tomorrow (Wexford emerged as Westmeath’s semi-final opponents from that game). We will use today and tomorrow to get on top of recovery and get back training on Tuesday night.

“It’s great for players to have game after game: in some ways we’d love to be getting a few weeks to focus on an All-Ireland series, but you can’t complain about having good quality games. We have another good game coming up in the semi-final. It will only bring the team on.”

Finneran was full of praise for Aoife Connolly who earned a bonus point for a superbly converted 45’ in the second half. Indeed, she almost repeated the feat a few minutes later.

“Roisín Leonard from Galway did it a couple of times. It was great. Aoife has been pinging them fairly well for the last couple of weeks and they have been dropping just short. We weren’t expecting it, but she pinged it and in fairness to her, you couldn’t call it a fluke because she had the distance on the next one also,” he remarked.

“She’s a super striker of the ball. I think it’s right that it’s two points because it’s such a rare thing to see.

“Johanna (Quinn, formerly Maher) was good again today and she is a huge addition: she covers the ground and is smart in possession. To bring someone of her experience in at this stage is a huge boost.”

The good news is there were no major injury concerns for Westmeath after Saturday’s victory and they will feel confident of making further progress.