Westmeath find a way to outlast Kildare and book Leinster final spot
Injured Westmeath footballer Luke Loughlin celebrates on the sideline in the closing stages. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
The injury to Luke Loughlin, the team’s top scorer and talisman, was supposed to kill them. Two Kildare goal chances in the first half, when the Lilies were moving 0-7 to 0-3 clear with Ben Loakman and Eoin Cully running riot, could have been fatal. And when Alex Beirne pointed with 15 seconds left to send the game to extra time and Kildare bounced off the pitch and Westmeath sucked in all the oxygen they could, it looked like they were dead already.
Yet this morning it’s Mark McHugh and Westmeath who are preparing for a Leinster final, while Kildare will look back on a missed opportunity and Down have been booted back down to the Tailteann Cup into the bargain, their heroics against Donegal now inconsequential to their championship journey.
“We heard the word during the week that Luke had a bad injury, and it was disappointing,” Mark McHugh said afterwards.
“But when the news broke, people said ‘now Westmeath can't win it.’ No disrespect to Luke and he knows this; he's an amazing footballer and he's a big part of our squad. But that's an insult to a lot of players, that we’re a one-man team. Kerry's not a one-man team and they’ve David Clifford. The collective has always been greater.” Collectively, they found a way. Just about.
Twice Brían Cooney went for goal from a very tight angle to the left of the Park Avenue end goal.
His first, towards the end of the first half, was a sensational shimmy and strike that left Tommy Gill on toast and the net dancing. His second, in extra-time, was parried by Cian Burke, but the ball floated up and Brandon Kelly was there to palm it into the net.
Kildare recovered from the first hammer blow, but emotionally they were spent after the second.
“We met this morning and we asked the question, ‘This day two weeks, do we want to be playing Dublin or do we want to be playing Leitrim?” McHugh declared.
“I know we didn't get up from Division Three, but we put ourselves with that top tier in Ireland and we want to be playing the best teams. Kildare and Meath, these last few weeks, they’ve run us to the pin of our collar but I do think we were the better team in both games,” he added.
It wasn’t the case in the first quarter when Jason Daly and Danny Scahill had to make crucial saves to prevent Cully and Darragh Kirwan from finding the net.
Then Ray Connellan started to come into his own against Kevin Feely, who had been dominant, and Westmeath scored 1-5 on the bounce, crowned by Cooney’s sensational goal.
From four down, Kildare were back on level terms after a minute of the second half (1-8 to 0-11) but their finishing was a cancer, and the metastasis was visible. Every errant shot drew larger groans from the Kildare faithful, and even louder jeers from Westmeath supporters, who had the vast majority of the 12,086 crowd behind them.
“Our conversion of chances, we went from 60% I think in the first half to 47% in the second half to 40% in extra time,” bemoaned Kildare boss Brian Flanagan.
“I felt we were very much on top in that opening 15-20 minutes and the two goal chances that we left behind would have put real daylight between us. Unfortunately when you don't take them chances, you know a team like Westmeath are eventually going to get a foothold”.
The wide count (14-13) only told some of the story. So many of Kildare’s misses were simple, uncontested shots from ideal positions. Two orange flags from Sam McCartan kept Westmeath’s noses in front but they were visibly tiring.
Shane Allen landed the lead score after 68 minutes but such was Westmeath’s fatigue that when they won a free 60 metres out with less than a minute remaining, they didn’t back themselves to retain the ball and instead Danny Scahill, under management instruction, punted it long.
Kildare won it back, worked it upfield to Alex Beirne and the returning Naas attacker did the rest.
They bounced off the field, like a death row inmate that just got a reprieve. As it turned out, it was a stay of execution. The return of Kevin O’Sullivan, Shane Corcoran and Whittaker added energy to McHugh’s side and Kelly’s goal confirmed that rumours of their demise were greatly exaggerated.
: B Kelly (1-4), S McCartan (0-5, 2tpf), B Cooney (1-0), R Connellan (0-2, 1f), S Baker (0-2), S Corcoran (0-1), K O’Sullivan (0-1), T Baker (0-1), S Allen (0-1), R Wallace (0-1), C Drumm (0-1), R Forde (0-1), E McCabe (0-1).
: E Cully (0-4), D Kirwan (0-4), B Loakman (0-3), A Beirne (0-3, 1tpf), D Swords (0-2, tp), J Robinson (0-2), T Gill (0-1), K Feely (0-1), C Bolton (0-1), B McLoughlin (0-1f), C Moran (0-1).
: J Daly; D Scahill, C Drumm, C Dillon; M Whittaker, S Allen, S McCartan; B Cooney, R Connellan; K O'Sullivan, R Wallace; T Baker; B Kelly, S Baker, S Corcoran.
Subs: S Ormsby for Whittaker (15), R Forde for O’Sullivan (51), D McCartan for S Baker (55), I Martin for Corcoran (60), E McCabe for Allen (69), O’Sullivan for McCabe (FT), Corcoran for Martin (FT), A Treanor for Dillon (FT), Whittaker for S McCartan (77), J Duncan for T Baker (83), McCabe for Ormsby (88).
: C Burke; R Burke, M Dempsey, H O'Neill; B Byrne, E Lawlor, J McGrath; K Feely, B Gibbons; C Bolton, D Kirwan, T Gill; B Loakman, D Swords, E Cully.
Subs: B McCormack for O’Neill (half-time), A Beirne for Loakman (45), B McLoughlin for Swords (51), J Robinson for Bolton (59), C Moran for McGrath (66), P Spillane for Gill (FT), C Dalton for R Burke (76), J Harris for Lawlor (79), Loakman for McCormack (86).
: Martin McNally (Monaghan)
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
