Penalties required as St Loman's retain Westmeath football crown

With their opponents having missed all of their three kicks, John Heslin scored the insurance penalty to secure an eighth Flanagan Cup in 12 years for his side.

St. Loman's Mullingar's Danny McCartan celebrates after the game with Peter Foy. Pic: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

Westmeath SFC final replay: St Loman's, Mullingar 1-15 The Downs 2-12 (AET) (St Loman’s win 3-0 on penalties) 

It needed a penalty shootout for St Loman’s to retain their Westmeath senior football crown in ideal conditions in Mullingar.

After a cagey opening, Shane Dempsey, who had missed the epic drawn game six days earlier due to injury, opened the scoring with a well-taken goal for the holders in the seventh minute at the end of a probing delivery by Danny McCartan. 

This proved to be the difference between the teams at half-time, St Loman’s ahead by 1-5 to 0-5, with three of The Downs’ scores having come from their mercurial skipper Luke Loughlin, one each from play, a mark and a free.

Andrew Kilmartin and Danny McCartan traded points shortly after play resumed before Loughlin superbly converted from the spot after a foul on Niall Mitchell, to level the scoring. 

There was very little between the teams as the second half progressed, with Loughlin leading the way for The Downs. 

Corner back Eanna Burke almost won the day for the challengers with seconds left in injury time, but they remained tied at 1-10 each thereby ensuring extra time.

The sides had equally shared four points in the first period of extra-time before sub Matthew Cunningham nudged The Downs ahead by 2-11 to 1-13. They still led by a point with time running out, but Ronan O’Toole’s score brought the game to penalties.

It was a disastrous shootout for The Downs with even the excellent Loughlin missing from the spot. 

With their opponents having missed all of their three kicks, John Heslin, who had been quiet by his high standards, scored the insurance penalty to secure an eighth Flanagan Cup in 12 years for his side.

Scorers for St Loman's, Mullingar: J Heslin 0-5 (5f), S Dempsey 1-0, R O’Toole, K Reilly 0-2 each, D McCartan, F Ayorinde (m), S McCartan, TJ Cox, J Geoghegan, S Flanagan 0-1 each.

Scorers for The Downs: L Loughlin 1-5 (1-0 pen, 1f, 1‘45’), I Martin 1-2, A Kilmartin, K O'Sullivan, N Mitchell (f), M Cunningham, P Martin 0-1 each.

St Loman’s, Mullingar: J Daly; D Whelan, D O’Keeffe, O Hogan; K Reilly, E Hogan, S McCartan; J Geoghegan, F Ayorinde; R Sheahan, R O’Toole, S Flanagan; D McCartan, J Heslin, S Dempsey. 

Subs: TJ Cox for Dempsey (inj., 38), K Regan for Sheahan (45), E Gaffney for Ayorinde (51), P Foy for D McCartan (e/t, 5), N Lally for O Hogan (e/t, 10), D McCartan for Geoghegan (e/t, 20).

The Downs: T Martin; P Murray, C Drumm, E Burke; J Moran, C Nolan, O Murphy; J Lynam, C Coughlan; I Martin, A Kilmartin, K O’Sullivan; L Loughlin, N Mitchell, P Martin. 

Subs: O Loughlin for Coughlan (inj., 13), A Shaw for Murray (40), M Cunningham for P Martin (54), D O’Callaghan for Murphy (60+1), O Murphy for Moran (e/t, 5).

Referee: B Pierce (St Mary’s, Rochfortbridge).