Soft goals a hammer blow as Westmeath crash out

Leinster Minor Hurling Championship quarter-final

Dublin 7-17, Westmeath 2-18

Deflating. Westmeath minor hurlers, after a promising campaign, were completely overwhelmed by Dublin in the Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Hurling Championship quarter-final at sun-kissed Joristown Park, Raharney on Saturday.

Despite a positive first quarter during which Westmeath led the visitors, the home side’s challenge quickly faded and an injury to midfielder Oisín McCauley precipitated a complete collapse. Dublin were ruthless in taking their goal chances, but much of it came from poor defending on Westmeath’s part and their inability to cope with high deliveries, or clear their lines in routine fashion were perhaps the two biggest factors in their demise.

That plus Dublin’s superior physical strength and better first touch. Time and again Westmeath players were first to the ball, but they fumbled when physical pressure was applied and were too easily overturned.

The match was still level after 19 minutes, but Dublin took over in the final 10 minutes of the first half to lead by 3-9 to 0-6 at the break and the game was effectively over at that stage.

Conor Williams’ display was the one ray of hope for the Lake County and his 1-10 haul was quite impressive, albeit his goal came when the Dublin defence deflected his long-range free to the net.

Williams was the only scorer in the first half but five other players joined him in an improved second half return - substitute Cian O’Mara getting a brace; Dillon Burke striking over three points; substitute Mikey Devine grabbing 1-1; substitute MJ Long and midfielder Seán Byrne notching a point apiece.

Devine’s goal came in the third minute of added time at the end and offered only consolation - the Dublin defence blundering on the occasion when Williams’ well struck sideline ball landed in the square, allowing the Castletown Geoghegan man to poke the ball home.

Westmeath’s confidence drained as the goals went in - Dublin’s second major from lively corner forward Seán Culleton underlining their intent. Having lost all of their games in Tier 1, they were determined to put their Tier 2 opponents to the sword in clinical style and that is how the game unfolded.

Corner forward Conaill O’Sullivan whipped home the third goal after Westmeath goalkeeper Niall Brady made a brave initial save and with the gap at 12 points at the break, Westmeath needed a positive start to the second half.

Sadly, the opposite was the case as they conceded a dreadfully poor goal when Rory Flannery played a high ball into the danger area and O’Sullivan punished indecision in the Westmeath defence to find the net.

The fifth Dublin goal also came from a high ball in - Christian Kane pouncing to finish in the 44th minute; Culleton got the sixth after a series of defensive blunders and he completed the rout in the 54th minute after a nice move involving Luke Hayes and Seán Gavigan.

The gap was 14 points at the end but the scoreline is not an accurate reflection of Westmeath’s fine effort at minor level this year.

There were positive results garnered against Wicklow, Antrim, Meath and Offaly. However, stepping up to challenge Tier 1 opposition ultimately proved a bridge too far and hesitant defending proved very costly on the day: Dublin were superior, but not by 14 points and it will take a major improvement for them to win a Leinster title after they were decisively beaten (2-25 to 1-18) by Kilkenny in their previous outing.

Scorers - Dublin: S Culleton 4-2, R Flannery 1-4 (0-3f; 0-1 ‘65’), C O'Sullivan 1-2, C Kane 1-0, L Hayes 0-3, C Kelly 0-2, R Hession, C Fitzgerald, C Condon and R Duffy 0-1 each. Westmeath: C Williams 1-10 (all from frees), M Devine 1-1, D Burke 0-3, C O’Mara 0-2, MJ Long and S Byrne 0-1 each.

Dublin: Hugh Leahy; Darragh Nolan, Paul O’Connell, Diarmuid Fallon; Josh Graham, Rory Duffy, Luke Hayes; Ciaran Fitzgerald, Cormac MacCanna; Corey Kelly, Rory Flannery, Christian Kane; Seán Culleton, Richie Hession, Conaill O’Sullivan. Subs: Seán Gavigan for Hession (41), Cole Condon for Graham (45), Eoin McGuirk for Leahy (46), Dan Ward for Flannery (48), Deimhne Murphy for MacCanna (53).

Westmeath: Niall Brady; Dara Mulligan, Ted Aherne, Dylan Gaffney; Eanna Kiernan, Cian Fleming, Conor Cleary; Seán Byrne, Oisín McCauley; Dillon Burke, Cian McKeogh, Finn Higgins; Conor Maleady, Padraig Monaghan, Conor Williams. Subs: Cian O’Mara for McCauley (inj., 24), MJ Long for Maleady (h-time), Ronan Lawlor for Mulligan (48), Thomas Smith for Gaffney (53), Mikey Devine for Monaghan (55).

Ref: Richie Holland (Kilkenny).