McConville hails 'phenomenon' Healy as Wicklow shock Westmeath

Star man Dean Healy finished in Portlaoise with a tally of 1-2. 

Wicklow manager Oisin McConville, left, and kitman Declan Doyle celebrate at Laois Hire O’Moore Park. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Leinster SFC Round 1: Wicklow 2-9 Westmeath 1-11 

Oisín McConville had a feeling that a performance like this was coming from Dean Healy.

Against Antrim in Round 7 of the National League, even in defeat, Wicklow manager McConville felt Healy gave a near perfect display.

"It's rare I've seen a performance like it, from any inter-county player," said McConville. "And look, this game is not going to get the headlines but today was Championship football so that gives people an opportunity to see Dean at his best again. He's a phenomenon, he really is."

Healy finished up in Portlaoise with 1-2 - if you give him Wicklow's 26th minute goal following his long delivery from the left wing that seemed to evade everyone and hit the net - and he played in the ball for the killer second goal too.

Yet those were still only footnotes in an all-action display from the veteran St Pat's man who seemed to be involved in everything good that Wicklow did between the two 45s on a landmark occasion.

That individual excellence and two decisions which went against Westmeath, namely to play against the wind initially and to concede the Wicklow kick-out to the underdogs, all added up to a 1-5 to 0-1 half-time lead for Wicklow.

When John Paul Nolan struck their second goal in the 53rd minute, they led by eight points and relied on that cushion to repel the anticipated Westmeath final quarter revival.

"I said to Dean after the Antrim match, that as far as leadership is concerned, regardless of what you say or what the verbals are throughout the game, real leaders lead by what they do on the pitch," said McConville, summing up father-of-two Healy's brilliance.

"He didn't come in until a bit later on this year. We were panicking because he's got other commitments, he's got other things going on in his life. We're so glad to have him. He leads from the front all the time."

Where Wicklow go from here is anyone's guess. They will play Kildare in the Leinster quarter-finals next weekend and while they lost to the Lilywhites by 10 points last summer, they will be meeting what looks like a troubled team.

Even if they do lose, after just beating the 2022 Tailteann Cup champions, surely Wicklow can have genuine aspirations of challenging for that title themselves?

"Yeah, if we can play like that, if we can turn up like that and if our attitude is like that each weekend," said McConville. "But there's another side to us and we've seen that earlier on in the year. We don't want to go back to that."

Wicklow defended deep initially and launched blistering wing-assisted counter-attacks with two points each for Kevin Quinn and Christopher O'Brien and Healy's fortuitous goal.

Even without key men like captain Kevin Maguire, midfielder Ray Connellan, John Heslin and James Dolan - the latter two eventually came on - in their lineup, and just a week after winning the Division 3 league title, this was poor stuff from Westmeath.

They were better after the break and needed to be as they were chasing a 0-1 to 1-5 interval deficit. They picked off three points in a row after the restart but Wicklow's second goal, from Nolan, was the game's decisive moment. Healy's long delivery bounced in the danger area and Nolan punished that poor defending by fisting to the net, 2-7 to 0-5.

Jonathan Lynam, fresh off two goals in the Division 3 final, struck another three-pointer for Westmeath in response and they also hit the game's last five points.

Wicklow were down to 14 at that stage following Tom Moran's black card for pulling down Westmeath top-scorer Luke Loughlin. But the minnows hung on with Sam McCartan's 74th minute shot at goal bravely blocked.

Wicklow scorers: JP Nolan (1 45), D Healy (1-2 each); C O'Brien (0-3); K Quinn (0-2, 1 free).

Westmeath scorers: L Loughlin (0-5, 3 frees); J Lynam (1-0); J Heslin (1 free), R Forde (1 free) (0-2 each); R O'Toole, S McCartan (0-1 each).

Wicklow: S Doyle; T Moran, E Murtagh, M Nolan; D Healy, P O'Keane, C McDonald; C Maguire, J Kirwan; J Carlin, D Fee, G Fogarty; JP Nolan, K Quinn, C O'Brien.

Subs: J McCall for Murtagh (h/t); G Murphy for O'Keane (46); J Prendergast for McDonald (59-61, blood); Prendergast for Fogarty (66); O McGraynor for McDonald (69); B Nesbitt for Maguire (73).

Westmeath: J Daly; J Smith, C Drumm, D Scahill; R Wallace, D Lynch, S McCartan; A McCormack, J Lynam; C McCormack, R O'Toole, C Dillon; L Loughlin, R Forde, S Smith.

Subs: N Harte for C McCormack (h/t); J Heslin for S Smith (44); J Dolan for J Smith & M Whittaker for Dillon (55); S Baker for Forde (67).

Ref: P Neilan (Roscommon).