Super-sub Martin propels Westmeath to hard-earned win against Limerick

Westmeath 0-14 Limerick 1-8

By Gerry Buckley

Without ever hitting any great heights, Westmeath maintained their 100 per cent record in Division 3 of the National Football League with a hard-earned three-point win against pointless Limerick, in what was a largely scrappy game played in cold but pleasant conditions at TEG Cusack Park last Sunday afternoon.

Afterwards, winning manager Dessie Dolan told the media that “winning doesn’t necessarily have to be pretty” and longstanding Lake County fans will have more than ample recollection of litanies of defeats to be choosy about how their heroes win. Sunday was far from a ‘pretty’ contest, but the men in maroon and white deservedly won it, thereby continuing their march for promotion to the second tier, albeit with three difficult fixtures remaining.

The Shannonsiders – a Division 2 team last year, lest we forget – have endured a torrid time in 2024, but they still arrived in Mullingar determined to cause Westmeath lots of headaches. And they proceeded to do so. Indeed, it needed, last-quarter heroics by two seasoned campaigners, Ronan O’Toole and Kieran Martin, to eke out the latest brace of league points. The home team had just enough in hand to survive a memorable injury-time goal from the impressive Cathal Downes.

The latter player opened the scoring for the visitors in the fourth minute, at which stage no Westmeath player had actually touched the ball. Ronan Wallace equalised before his opposite number, the highly-rated Iain Corbett, kicked Limerick in front in great style (shortly after Paul Maher had illegally scored a 'goal' with his fist at the same end).

The men in green and white, whose support was minuscule when compared with the recent droves who thronged the same venue to watch their all-conquering hurlers, had oodles of possession and James Naughton doubled their lead at the end of a fine move in the 13th minute.

However, Dolan's wind-assisted troops scored five unanswered points between the 17th and 30th minutes, courtesy of Wallace (a fisted score, moments after the hard-working Kevin Maguire’s touch at the end of a Ray Connellan delivery resulted in the first wide of the contest), Connellan himself (after some trademark trickery from O’Toole), Senan Baker (a free), and one each from the McCartan brothers, Sam and Danny.

Strong-running wing back Barry Coleman almost scored what would have been a great solo goal, but the ever-reliable Jamie Gonoud was on hand to defect the ball out for a ‘45’ which goalkeeper Aaron O'Sullivan converted in style into the teeth of the wind. Nigel Harte, who fared well throughout, was a little unlucky to see his superb defending spoiled by the concession of a free (which Naughton missed for Limerick’s only wide of the first moiety).

Corner back Jim Liston added a point in injury-time (a fly-kicked effort which could easily have been a goal had Sam McCartan not been a distraction). Westmeath’s one-point lead (0-6 to 0-5) at the interval seemed precarious with their opponents due to have wind assistance on the change of ends.

When play resumed, a wide at either ends preceded Westmeath kicking three unanswered points by the 48th minute, courtesy of Harte (after more good work by Sam McCartan), the already very influential sub Martin (following great defending by returning skipper Maguire), and Danny McCartan (a free).

However, Limerick continued to plug away and they halved the gap with scores by Downes (a great long-range effort) and Naughton (a free). Westmeath opted to go backwards with a ‘45’, before David Lynch missed an open goal when teed up by Danny McCartan, the St Malachy’s man thundering a shot off the crossbar from close range when a three-pointer looked certain.

By now, O'Toole was more prominent and he scored a fine point which was cancelled out by Peter Nash’s well-taken left-footed free to leave the gap at just two points (0-10 to 0-8) with 65 minutes on the clock. However, further quality points from O'Toole (two - the second with his fist), either side of a Martin special, settled home fans’ nerves.

Not for long, however, as Jimmy Lee's charges came right back into contention when Downes scored a wonderful goal in the first minute of added-time (a minimum of four had been announced), the centre half forward fielding the ball superbly before swivelling and rocketing the ball past Jason Daly from all of 25 metres.

It needed veteran Martin to complete a hat-trick of quality points to seal the tie and maintain Westmeath’s position of second place in the table behind Down on scoring difference.

Scorers – Westmeath: R O’Toole, K Martin 0-3 each, R Wallace, D McCartan (1f) 0-2 each, S McCartan, N Harte, R Connellan, S Baker (f) 0-1 each. Limerick: C Downes 1-2, J Naughton 0-2 (1f), A O’Sullivan (‘45’), P Nash (f), I Corbett, J Liston 0-1 each.

Westmeath: Jason Daly; Kevin Maguire, Charlie Drumm, Jamie Gonoud; Sam McCartan, Ronan Wallace, Nigel Harte; Ray Connellan, Andy McCormack; David Lynch, Ronan O'Toole, Eoin Mulvihill; Robbie Forde, Senan Baker, Danny McCartan. Subs used: Kieran Martin for Baker (42), Stephen Smith for Forde (42), James Dolan for Mulvihill (55), Conor Dillon for D McCartan (64), Shane Allen for Harte (70).

Limerick: Aaron O'Sullivan; Jim Liston, Sean O'Dea, Paul Maher; Barry Coleman, Iain Corbett, Colm McSweeney; Tommy Childs, Cillian Fahy; James Naughton, Cathal Downes, Peter Nash; Jamie Baynham, Robbie Childs, Emmet Rigter. Subs used: Tommy Griffin for Baynham (59), Eoin Hurley for R Childs (67), Shane Costello for Maher (inj., 70+6).

Ref: John Gilmartin (Sligo).