Big statement from Wee County
There is no need to spell out the sordid details of what happened in last year’s Leinster final, and it was pleasing to see Louth football people in a joyous post-match mood at HQ.
But manager Peter Fitzpatrick wanted to appreciate the merits of this league win on its own.
“Just do me one favour,” he asked of the assembled media underneath the Hogan Stand. “What happened last year in the Leinster final is over and done with now. Today that was as good as winning any Leinster title. It’s always good to come to Croke Park and win, especially for the Wee County.
“We lost three players to Australia, we lost Shane Lennon to injury but this Louth team will never give up. With ten minutes to go the supporters were the extra man and in fairness to the team they just kept going.”
With promotion to the heady levels of Division 2 already assured, acquiring silverware was an extra boost forFitzpatrick’s charges. The win was a testament to their fortitude. The match appeared to be slipping away from them in the 45th minute as Westmeath pulled 0-11 to 0-8 clear yet Louth grimly stuck to their task. Paddy Keenan propelled their challenge from midfield, where he has formed ahighly-effective partnership withnewcomer Brian Donnelly.
A magnificent long-range free from former Adelaide Crows player Donnelly tied the match and fiveminutes later the opportunistic Ronan Carroll poked home the only goal of the game after an enterprising run by JP Rooney. Carroll enjoyed aproductive evening as he chipped in with 1-3 while substitute Derek Maguire made his mark with two well-struck points.
But it was Louth’s composure in the finale that stood out, as they outscored Westmeath by 0-4 to 0-1 in the closing eight minutes.
It has been a campaign of substantial progress for Westmeath also, as they have arrested the miserable run that saw them plummet from Division 1 to Division 3 in two seasons. They did not close this game in a powerfulfashion yet flourished in the periods either side of the interval. In the 25th minute they trailed 0-5 to 0-2 yet had mounted a remarkable recovery 20 minutes later to lead 0-11 to 0-8.
They ultimately had to face up to defeat but this experience will serve them well in the eyes of manager Pat Flanagan.
“It’s a learning curve for our guys,” he said. “There are an awful lot of them playing in their first competitive game at Croke Park. I’d like to think that we’ve learnt an awful lot from tonight’s game and the next time we’re back at Croke Park we’ll be better able to deal with it.”
Westmeath missed the guile and leadership of their marquee attacker Dessie Dolan, who is in Australia at present. But Flanagan derived encouragement from the performance of youngster Conor Lynam, who kicked 0-5, while dual player Paul Greville also showed up well in the scoring stakes.
“Obviously Dessie has been a revelation in the last few weeks, he scored 22 points in the last three games so he was a big loss. Psychologically he was probably a bigger loss than physically because he was showing the boys what to do, where to go and the younger players were benefiting from that. Conor Lynam to his credit stood up to be counted big time tonight and he fitted into Dessie’s boots.”
Scorers for Louth: R Carroll 1-3, P Keenan 0-3 (1f), B Donnelly (1f), D Maguire 0-2 each, R Finnegan, A McDonnell, A Reid, L Shevlin, P Smith 0-1 each.
Scorers for Westmeath: C Lynam, P Greville 0-5 (1f) each; D Glennon 0-3 (1f).
Subs for Louth: J Carr for G Hoey (ht), D Maguire for Brennan (ht), S Fitzpatrick for McAuley (53), JP Rooney for Smith (59).
Subs for Westmeath: K Martin for Finnan (52), K Maguire for Gaffey (52), S Quinn for Harte (64), M Curley for Sharry (66).
Referee: Rory Hickey (Clare).
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