Westmeath side impress in comfortable win against Carlow

Westmeath 3-26, Carlow 2-15

By Gerry Buckley

Team manager Kevin O’Brien even had the luxury of the early withdrawal of some senior players ahead of the Joe McDonagh Cup clash with Kerry the following day as the Westmeath U20 hurlers proved far too strong for Carlow in sun-drenched TEG Cusack Park last Saturday afternoon.

The upshot of this latest very encouraging performance by a young Lake County hurling side is a Leinster preliminary quarter-final clash with Dublin at the same venue next Sunday. It goes without saying that scores will prove much more difficult to execute against any side in sky blue and navy, but coming directly after another high-scoring display by Ian Corrigan’s minor side against Antrim, the future of the small ball game in Westmeath seems bright.

David Williams had a hat-trick of points from open play on the board by the sixth minute, the first of them coming after a mere 17 seconds, with Carlow’s only response a well-taken point by their most consistent player throughout Shane Kelly. Within a minute of Williams completing his hat-trick, Darragh McCormack flicked the ball to the net at the end of a delivery from the outstanding Rian Holding, moments before the latter produced a great block on Tim Brennan.

Kelly and Tadhg O’Neill added points for the visitors before David O’Reilly opened his account at the other end. A Cian Quirke brace (a free and a gifted score from open play) kept the Barrowsiders very much in touch. Williams shot the winners’ first wide in the 14th minute, but his converted free and O’Reilly’s second from play had Westmeath ahead by 1-6 to 0-5 at the end of the opening quarter.

Another successful free by Quirke (who had a mixed afternoon from placed balls) ensued at the other end, but the maroon and white-clad outfit went on to totally dominate the second quarter, scoring 1-7 without reply in the process. The goal was an opportunist effort by O’Reilly in the 23rd minute, after impressive Carlow goalie Kyle Foley had saved Peter Murphy’s original effort, while the points were shared between Williams (three, including two frees – the first of them after Peter Clarke had been unceremoniously fouled by Conaill Fitzpatrick en route to goal), Murphy, Clarke, McCormack, and O’Reilly. Westmeath were firmly in control at half-time leading by 2-13 to 0-6.

Unanswered points from the sticks of McCormack, Williams and O’Reilly (after Foley had foiled McCormack) increased Westmeath’s lead on the change of ends, but Carlow got an unexpected lifeline when Quirke found the net in the 35th minute at the end of a counterattack. However, within a minute O’Reilly doubled his goal haul at the other end after unselfish play by Calum McKeogh and Williams. Sandwiched between the latter reaching double figures via a ‘65’ (after Foley had again thwarted McCormack) and a free (with Eamonn O’Shea fortunate to escape with a yellow card), Kelly tagged on a point for the losers who now trailed by 3-18 to 1-7.

The winners’ management began to withdraw senior panelists at this juncture, with McCormack now taking centre stage in the scoring stakes. The talented Castlepollard man scored four points by the 50th minute (two frees, a superb lineball, and a ‘65’), with Murphy and O’Reilly also raising white flags. Kelly slotted over another free for the visitors.

Despite the sending off of Donagh Murphy (who picked up his second yellow card in the 59th minute), the men in the multi-coloured strip outscored their opponents by 1-7 to 0-2 in the final ten minutes, the well-taken goal coming from sub Jack Kelly with two minutes of normal time remaining. The losers’ points came courtesy of Shane Kelly (four, three of them from play), Murphy (two prior to his dismissal), and sub James Ingram. A point apiece from wing backs Darragh Smith (a free) and McKeogh rounded off Westmeath’s terrific total.

Scorers – Westmeath: D O’Reilly 2-5, D Williams 0-10 (4f, 1‘65’), D McCormack 1-6 (2f, 1‘65’, 1s/l), P Murphy 0-2, P Clarke, D Smith (f), C McKeogh 0-1 each.

Carlow: S Kelly 0-8 (2f), C Quirke 1-3 (2f), J Kelly 1-0, D Murphy 0-2, T O’Neill, J Ingram 0-1 each.

Westmeath: Sean Jackson; David Maloney, Jack Murtagh, Conor Gaffney; Darragh Smith, Brian McCabe, Calum McKeogh; Rian Holding, Ivan Smyth; David Williams, Darragh McCormack, David O’Reilly; Conor Heffernan, Peter Murphy, Peter Clarke. Subs used: Shane Ormsby for Williams (41), Tom Flynn for Gaffney (46), Josh Murtagh for Clarke (46), Liam Carey for O’Reilly (48), John Fry for Holding (51).

Carlow: Kyle Foley; Eoin Doyle, Shane Kirwan, Ciaran Harris; Tadhg O’Neill, Ros Dermody, Eamonn O’Shea; Conaill Fitzpatrick, Ross O’Neill; Tim Brennan, Kevin Kavanagh, Donagh Murphy; Eoghan Doyle, Shane Kelly, Cian Quirke. Subs used: James Ingram for R O’Neill (36), James Maher for Harris (38), Pauric Kavanagh for Eoghan Doyle (43), Jack Kelly for Quirke (48), Seán Buggy for Kirwan (64).

Ref: Owen Beehan (Kilkenny).

Examiner's Eye on the game

Man of the match

Darragh McCormack (Westmeath). The Castlepollard man scored 1-6 and he displayed his great range of skills to very good effect throughout, with his sideline cut right out of the very top drawer.

Key moment

McCormack’s 23rd-minute goal put his side nine points up and firmly on the road to a comfortable win.

Stats watch

Wides - Westmeath 10 (first half, 4); Carlow 6 (4)

‘65’s - Westmeath 2 (0); Carlow 0 (0)

Yellow cards - Westmeath 1 – R Holding; Carlow 4 – E O’Shea, C Fitzpatrick, D Murphy [2]

Black cards - None

Red cards - Westmeath 0; Carlow 1 – D Murphy

Ref watch

A decent afternoon’s work overall for Owen Beehan, albeit he seemed somewhat kind in the choice of his card colour to two Carlow players in separate incidents.

Talking point

After a patchy opening display in Navan, this talented team has begun to show its true form, but only a long-awaited win against a metropolitan outfit next weekend would be a sign of genuine progress.

Next up

Westmeath face Dublin next Sunday in the preliminary quarter-final at 12.30pm in TEG Cusack Park, while Carlow exit the championship.