Harte praises Westmeath as Kildare await in Friday's final

Legendary Tyrone man, Mickey Harte, who is joint manager of the Offaly senior footballers alongside Declan Kelly, heaped praise on Westmeath following Saturday’s O’Byrne Cup semi-final victory (5-10 to 2-8) at TEG Cusack Park.

Kildare beat Dublin, 1-22 to 1-13, in the other semi-final and will have home advantage for this Friday's final at St Conleth's Park, Newbridge (7.30pm). The game will also be televised live on TG4.

Harte said: “Westmeath are flying, they're very fresh, up for the game, up for the fight. They tore us apart in the first half and we're in a very comfortable position. And then we battled well at the start of the second half and got a bit of a glimpse of maybe getting close, but then they just turned on the burners again and we couldn't live with them.

“I have to have total credit to Westmeath. We did our very best there to get back into that game, but they had other intentions and they can be quite proud of how they played.”

Offaly waited 18 minutes for their opening score of the match.

“We created a lot of chances in the game, but our return from those chances was not enough to be living in the company that we were in. I just have to say, I take my hat off to Westmeath. They're flying, they're fresh and they're hungry for goals. Whoever's meeting them next need to watch out,” remarked Harte.

Offaly produced a gritty fightback in the second half to get within three points of the home side, but the Lake County responded with two goals in quick succession.

“They hit us for two goals in the space of a minute, or near enough. They got the first one and I think, from the resulting kick-out, they put another in the net; it may have been Danny McCartan. They were key scores,” noted Harte's colleague, Declan Kelly, former manager of St Loman's, Mullingar.