Westmeath take badly-needed win against Monaghan

Westmeath 1-19 Monaghan 2-11

Westmeath lifted themselves off the foot of the Division 2 table with a vital win over Monaghan at Cusack Park this afternoon.

In a free-flowing first half which contained 17 scores from play, the midlanders ended it 1-10 to 1-6 to the good with Christopher McGuinness and Kieran Martin exchanging goals.

David Glennon and Ger Egan (0-5) kept Westmeath on course and despite a second Monaghan goal from Paul Finlay in the 62nd minute, Pat Flanagan’s men deservedly hung on.

Monaghan's inconsistent league form continued in Mullingar as they fell to their third defeat in five outings, ending the game with 14 men following Colin Walshe's sending-off.

Westmeath delivered their best performance of the campaign to date with all bar one point of their final total coming from play.

Tommy Freeman's late withdrawal due to a hamstring injury saw Monaghan add Stephen Gollogly to their attack, while Westmeath benefited from Denis Glennon's late inclusion - the Tyrrellspass attacker is fit again after time out a back injury.

There was little to separate the sides early on until Westmeath put together a run of four straight points to take a 0-6 to 0-2 advantage.

Eoin Duffy and Paul Finlay had Monaghan on level terms, but scores from brothers Denis and David Glennon, Egan and young midfielder John Heslin put the hosts in good stead.

David Glennon's point could easily have been a goal, he pounced on a fumble from goalkeeper Mark Keogh but his hurried shot went over for a point.

Monaghan regrouped and underlined their desire to record a first away victory of the league run by scoring 1-4 without reply. Their goal was tucked away by McGuinness after substitute David Hughes' shot came back off a post.

After the goal, points from James Turley, Finlay and Eoin Lennon had the scoreline at 1-6 to 0-6 in Monaghan's favour.

Suddenly, it was Westmeath's turn to fire 1-4 without reply. Keogh misjudged a looping shot from Martin and the ball went into the net to give Flanagan's side renewed hope. The touch of good fortune energised the hosts and a brace of points each from Egan and Denis Glennon made it a four-point game at the interval.

It was point for point when play resumed in the second half with Hughes, Egan, Ciaran Hanratty and David Glennon all posting early scores. Egan also had a goal chalked away for a square ball as Westmeath pressed for a second goal.

It never came and the steady stream of points was ultimately enough for this gritty Lake County outfit to prevail. Callum McCormack, Egan and Heslin all raised further white flags to ease Westmeath's relegation worries, moving them level on four points apiece with Meath (fourth in the table), Monaghan (fifth) and Derry (sixth).

The pressure will be on to produce a follow-up performance away to Kildare next weekend, yet Flanagan and his management team can take plenty of positives from today's display when the absence of the All-Ireland-tied Garrycastle players was not felt as much as some expected.

Monaghan gained some consolation in the form of Finlay's goal which cut the margin to just three points with eight minutes remaining, however the red-carding of corner back Walshe left enough space in the Monaghan defence for Westmeath to exploit and get themselves over the finish line.