Minor footballers lose the battle, but not the war

Kildare 2-15, Westmeath 2-7: Westmeath's minor footballers made a solid account of themselves against a physically stronger and in-form Kildare outfit in the Electric Ireland Leinster MFC final earlier this afternoon.

The Maroons, who still go through to an All-Ireland quarter-final, trailed 2-14 to 0-6 after 46 minutes and looked to be on the verge of losing by a cricket score – but Tom Carr's charges made the last 15 minutes their own after some tactical changes.

Luke Loughlin – who, as predicted, started the game despite not being named on the first XV during the week – helped himself to 1-3, but it was Kildare forward Wayne Fitzpatrick who stole the show.

The Monasterevin man picked off six first half points – scores which wouldn't have been out of place in this evening's Leinster senior final – as Kildare built up a 0-8 to 0-3 lead.

Loughlin was on the mark as Westmeath made decent starts to both halves, and with 38 minutes elapsed, a superb point from Delvin/St Paul's man Darragh Clinton appeared to signal a nascent Lake County comeback (0-9 to 0-6).

But seconds later, Kildare skipper Mark Sherry collected a long ball from Paul Mescall, and muscled his way past the Westmeath defence for the Lilywhites' first goal.

This score crippled Westmeath, and including that Sherry goal, Kildare hit 2-5 without reply in the space of seven minutes. Fitzpatrick continued to haunt the Maroons, while a second Kildare goal (scored by Chris Healy) effectively ended the match as a contest.

The Lake County heads didn't drop however, and manager Tom Carr changed his tactics, bringing full-back Isreal Ilunga into midfield, and introducing Rob Hickey and Darragh Lyons to shore up the attack.

Moving Ilunga – who had a controversial red card overturned midweek – had an immediate impact, as Westmeath bossed the final ten minutes, despite losing Clinton to a 52nd minute dismissal.

Inny Shamrocks man Ilunga scored a point, and on 52 minutes, Westmeath were awarded a penalty after Hickey was floored during a good attacking move involving Ilunga and Bryan O'Donoghue.

Luke Loughlin calmly stood up and drove a left-footed shot past Kildare custodian, Sean Dempsey.

14-man Westmeath weren't finished, and cut Kildare's winning margin to eight points, after Andrew McCormack's deflected stoppage time shot found the net.