Clare looking over their shoulder as Fermanagh looms

aron Griffin of Clare. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

AFL Division 3: Westmeath 2-19 Clare 1-17

A battle of the debutantes saw the pendulum eventually swing Mark McHugh’s way as his Westmeath side gatecrashed Paul Madden’s National League bow as Clare manager in Ennis.

Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg only welcomed 1,389 souls but those that came would be thoroughly entertained by the highest scoring Division 3 tie of the weekend.

“I’m very happy with that result,” said new Westmeath boss McHugh. “There are certain grounds around the country that are extremely difficult to get a win out of and this is one of them. Clare have had some serious results out of here and being my first time involved with a team in Ennis, it’s a fantastic ground but also a dangerous place to come so to come away with the two points is fantastic.”

Locked at 0-4 apiece by the 26th minute, it didn’t initially appear to be Westmeath’s day with the wind at their backs, but they would make up for lost ground with a clinical finish to the half. A five-point burst, highlighted by Sam McCartan’s second two-pointer would be accentuated by a last gasp Ronan Wallace rebound goal to soar 1-10 to 0-05 in front of their hosts by the break.

McHugh’s side would actually move nine clear on the resumption before the Banner picked themselves off the canvas. Clare produced a rousing recovery with two-pointers for Aaron Griffin, Mark McInerney, and Eoin Cleary allied to a 42nd-minute goal for corner-back Alan Sweeney to slash the arrears to just two by the three-quarters mark.

However, having seemingly tuned a major corner, Clare would skilfully reverse back around it again as they failed to maintain that momentum according to Madden.

“Overall we were poor and we didn’t play anything like we can and I think mainly a lot of the issues came from bad decision-making and poor turnovers and in the modern game if you turn over the ball, you’re in big trouble,” he said.

“We actually went from being nine points down to getting it back to two, but then did some silly things with the ball and let them [Westmeath] take back control.”

A score of 1-3 without reply from the visitors, including a clinching 62nd-minute goal through substitute Brian Cooney’s rebound from a Sam McCartan point attempt that came back off the upright, re-established Westmeath’s grip on proceedings and allowed McHugh’s side to be able to withstand anything that a relentless Banner could throw at them for the remainder.

“We’ve four points on the board now and more than that, we’ve now five wins from five in 2026, which is the big thing for us after winning the O’Byrne Cup,” McHugh said. “We spoke to the boys earlier about making winning a habit so hopefully we’ve learned now how to win games so it’s a great start for us.”

Westmeath join Down and Wexford in the early promotion race but it’s the opposite for Madden’s Clare of their early basement battle away to Fermanagh in a fortnight’s time.

“We’re in the position we’re in now so it’s a different type of a battle and we just have to start getting points on the board,” Madden said.

“No matter what happens from here on in, the only ones that can get us out of it are ourselves.”

Scorers for Westmeath: S McCartan 0-5 (2tp); R Wallace 1-2; L Loughlin 0-3 (1f); B Cooney 1-0; K O’Sullivan, M Whittaker, R Connellan, TJ Cox 0-2 each; R Forde 0-1.

Scorers for Clare: A Griffin 0-7 (2tp, 1f); E Cleary (1tp), M McInerney (1tp, 1f) 0-3 each; A Sweeney 1-0; B McNamara 0-2; C Murray, J Stack 0-1 each

WESTMEATH: J Connaughton; D Scahill, C Drumm, B Sayeh; B Guerin, T Baker, R Wallace; J Lynam, R Connellan; M Whittaker, S McCartan, K O’Sullivan; S Baker, L Loughlin, D McCartan.

Subs: TJ Cox for Guerin (29), B Cooney for S. Baker (HT), T Molloy for D. McCartan (56), R Forde for O’Sullivan (70), S Allen for Connellan (73).

CLARE: S Ryan; A Sweeney, R Lanigan, M Doherty; D Coughlan, I Ugwueru, C Brennan; B McNamara, D Bohannon; B Rouine, E Cleary, A Griffin; J Rafferty, M McInerney, C Murray.

Subs: C Meaney for Rafferty (47), C O’Dea for Rouine (56), G Murray for C. Murray (61), M Garry for Brennan (62), J Stack for Cleary (67).

Referee: D Murnane (Cork)