Glennon goal helps Westmeath to first points of league season against Antrim

Glennon's goal gave Westmeath their first league points of 2024 with a deserved six-point win over Antrim in front of a small crowd in wet and windy conditions in Mullingar.

Westmeath's David Williams tackles Conor Boyd of Antrim.

Allianz Hurling League Div 1: Westmeath 2-18 Antrim 1-15

“The result represents progress, but the performance probably doesn’t”, was Joe Fortune’s take on proceedings, as an opportunist goal from former Galway player Davy Glennon in the 60th minute helped his Westmeath team to pick up their first league points of 2024 with a deserved six-point win over Antrim in front of a small crowd in wet and windy conditions in Mullingar.

Wind-assisted Westmeath raced into an early three-point lead courtesy of a David Williams free, and scores from play by David O’Reilly and Eoin Keyes. Free-taker Conal Cunning soon opened the visitors’ account , but Westmeath were still three points to the good (0-6 to 0-3) when top scorer Williams, who had scored a whopping 2-12 against Tipperary in the last round, converted a 12th-minute ‘65’. Cunning took too long to set himself up for a ‘65’ on the quarter-hour mark and the referee threw in the ball.

The gap was down to the bare minimum when Fortune’s charges scored a fortuitous goal from the stick of Keyes in the 23rd minute. His point attempt from an acute angle ended up with Antrim goalie Tiernan Smyth spilling the sliotar over the line under no great pressure. The visitors quickly responded with a goal of their own when Niall McKenna, who had earlier been denied a three-pointer by the acrobatics of Noel Conaty, batted the ball to the net from close range at the end of a Scott Walsh delivery. The home team finished the half strongly to lead by 1-12 to 1-8 at the interval. Remarkably, the Glensmen shot no wides in the first half.

Half-time sub Peter Clarke increased Westmeath’s lead with a quality point soon after the change of ends. Williams slotted over another free which was quickly cancelled out by recently-introduced Antrim sub Eoin McFerran. The winners’ lead was three points (1-15 to 1-12) when impressive sub Glennon found the net on the hour mark, after a Williams free into the wind had dropped just short.

Former All Star nominee Killian Doyle was lively also when sprung from the bench and he chipped in with two points from play. In truth, Westmeath never looked like being overturned in the closing stages despite the best efforts of Darren Gleeson’s troops. A late rally forced them to try unsuccessfully to manufacture a face-saving goal in injury-time.

After an awful opening game in Salthill, Westmeath now seemed primed to be real contenders for the Joe McDonagh Cup, while Antrim will need huge improvement if they are to be competitive in the Leinster championship.

Afterwards, Fortune opined: “We were better against Tipperary and Limerick than we were today. The lads themselves demand high standards. Antrim are still in the Liam MacCarthy and we aren’t. It’s not easy competing at the top level. We have Dublin next Saturday to wrap up the league, but it’s all about the Joe McDonagh Cup and the tough teams we have to play in that competition.” 

Gleeson had only 21 players togged out but was keen to avoid excuses despite having lost a number of key players from last year. He stated: “Once you have 15 lads crossing the line, you expect them to give everything they have, and they did so today. We had U20s trying to learn their trade. Hopefully injuries will clear up in the weeks ahead.” 

Scorers for Westmeath: D Williams 0-8 (5f, 2 65s), E Keyes 1-2, D Glennon 1-1, D O’Reilly, K Doyle 0-2 each, P Clarke, R Greville, J Boyle 0-1 each.

Scorers for Antrim: C Cunning 0-7 (5f), N McKenna 1-1, C McCann, N O’Connor, E Campbell 0-2 each, E McFerran 0-1.

Westmeath: N Conaty; D Egerton, T Doyle, C Gaffney; J Gillen, K Regan, J Bermingham; R Greville, S McGovern; N Mitchell, D Williams, O McCabe; E Keyes, J Boyle, D O’Reilly. Subs: A Craig for Gillen (32), K Doyle for O’Reilly (h-t), P Clarke for McGovern (h-t), D Glennon for Keyes (52), M Daly for McCabe (66).

Antrim: T Smyth; P Duffin, R McCloskey, P Burke; S Walsh, R McGarry, N O’Connor; E Campbell, E Óg McGarry; R McAteer, R McMullan, N McKenna; C Cunning, C McCann, F McCurry. Subs: C Boyd for McGarry (45), E McFerran for Walsh (45), C McGarry for McMullan (54), A Bradley for McAteer (58).

Referee: S Hynes (Galway).