Dolan’s miss will be talked about forever and a day

LUKE DEMPSEY must sense he has been here before: in the bowels of Croke Park, trying to explain how his team managed to let championship victory over Meath slip from their clutches.

After Mick Curley had penalised Hank Traynore for lifting the ball off the ground, Westmeath’s support must have started dreaming. Dessie Dolan had just sliced over a really difficult sideline ball. A 20 yard free should have posed little trouble.

What happened is now history, soon to be consigned to all the tough luck stories built up in Westmeath over the years of facing their next-door neighbours. In the aftermath though, Dempsey was bursting with pride.

“I am proud of my players,” he said. “At half-time, it didn’t look good for us. And the lads were very disappointed with themselves when they came in here. But from being five points down at half-time, the lads deserve great credit for coming back against a good Meath side.”

What will be talked about forever and a day round Mullingar is Dolan’s missed free. Although some of the Westmeath players and supporters felt the ball went inside the posts, Dempsey accepted the umpire’s decision.

“When you play Meath, you have to expect the game to go down to the last kick of the game. That last kick fell to us, but unfortunately we put it wide. But, nobody blames Dessie. If Dessie hadn’t played so well, we wouldn’t have been in that position.

“He was superb, in the entire first half, he looked like our only dangerous forward. He is a bit down on himself now, but he will pick himself up for the replay hopefully, because we need him to be in top form.

Sean Boylan heaved a massive sigh when he saw the umpire spread his arms. For most of the second-half, Meath were a very poor second best. Had Dolan managed to slot the free over, Boylan would have had no complaints.

“Dessie covered every blade of grass for Westmeath and I think, like so many other players, he was a little bit weary at the end and that probably accounted for the free at the end. But I wouldn’t envy Dessie being in that position, and I feel for him because he played so well.”

It was a strange Meath side, with six players making their championship debut. Boylan was happy, however, with how the younger set of players performed.

“Youth is a great thing. We made the decision to go with these debutantes and they acquitted themselves very well. I think the whole team responded well after we lost Darren Fay.”

The Royals threatened to over-run their neighbours early on. As the game went on, though, Westmeath grew wise to their game-plan and slowly exerted domiance in all the places Meath were in the ascendency during the first half.

“We lost the element of surprise that we had in the first half, after halftime and things were looking dim for us for a long time in the second half,” Boylan admitted. “They created a bit more than us, had more chances to finish the game off than us. But the lads stuck in there and now it’s back to a level playing field next weekend. There won’t be any psychological edge just because we escaped out there.”

Luke Dempsey felt the same old problems hounded his team. They played in phases and although their forwards are much more vaunted than their defence, it was the forwards who let Westmeath down.

“A number of our forwards had an off-day and we did have some great chances to win the game. We hit a few bad wides. I suppose, people would see the forwards as our strongest unit, but it was the opposite way around out there. Our defence was the strongest department, particularly our halfback line.”

Dempsey is adamant there is no regrets and says, his team are looking forward to the replay.

He does have one quibble, though. The choice of venue. As Westmeath have shown, they do enjoy the vast expanses of Croker. But the Leinster Council, in their wisdom, have decided to bring the game to Portlaoise. Regardless of the venue, it promises to be another absorbing encounter in this remarkable rivalry.