Joe McDonagh Cup: Carlow triumph again
Carlow senior hurling team manager Pat Bennett. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Joe McDonagh Cup
Carlow 4-20 Westmeath 1-23
By Gerry Buckley at TEG Cusack Park
Despite shooting a whopping 18 wides, Carlow still maintained their 100 per cent record in this year’s Joe McDonagh Cup with a fully deserved six-point win against Westmeath in idyllic weather conditions in Mullingar.
The Barrowsiders got off to a great start when Conor Kehoe found the net after just 35 seconds. They went on to lead by 1-2 to 0-2 after six minutes, but Westmeath, victors over London in their opening game in Ruislip six days earlier, responded well with former All Star nominee Killian Doyle adding to his two points in the opening minutes with a great goal.
The point scoring was virtually tit-for-that over the ensuing quarter of an hour, during which Sean Jackson pulled off a brace of great saves from Paddy Boland and Donagh Murphy respectively (the second at the expense of a ‘65’ which the ever-reliable Marty Kavanagh converted).
Kevin O’Brien’s troops led by three points (1-9 to 1-6) with 22 minutes on the clock, but 1-1 from Kavanagh - the point from a free - edged the visitors ahead. Eoin Keyes almost got in for a goal in the 27th minute, but he was denied and David Williams slotted over the resultant ‘65’. The lead continued to change hands, but the sides were on level terms at the interval, Westmeath 1-13 Carlow 2-10.
Westmeath started the second half brightly and they led by 1-16 to 2-11 after five minutes’ action. However, Pat Bennett’s charges always posed a serious goal threat and they raised their third green flag in the 41st minute via Chris Nolan. Eoin Keyes equalised from a tight angle, and the sides were still tied (1-19 to 3-13) midway through the second moiety.
The winners’ fourth goal came courtesy of James Doyle after some sloppy Westmeath defending in the 57th minute, and Carlow always looked the more likely winners thereafter with the home team gifting them some points. In particular, wing back Fiachra Fitzpatrick had a field day and ended up with five points from play.
A minimum of four minutes’ added-time was signalled with Westmeath trailing by six points, but their attempts to manufacture a goal came to nothing.
Scorers for Carlow: M Kavanagh 1-8 (0-5f, 0-1‘65’), F Fitzpatrick 0-5, J Doyle, C Kehoe 1-1 each, C Nolan 1-0, E Kealy, D Murphy 0-2 each, J Nolan 0-1.
Scorers for Westmeath: D Williams 0-7 (4f, 1 ‘65’), K Doyle 1-3, E Cunneen, S Williams 0-3 each, D McCormack 0-2, J Kearney, A Shaw, P Murphy, K Regan, E Keyes 0-1 each.
Carlow: Brian Tracey; Paul Doyle, Dion Wall, Jack McCullagh; Fiach O’Toole, Kevin McDonald, Fiachra Fitzpatrick; Jon Nolan, Ciaran Whelan; Paddy Boland, Marty Kavanagh, James Doyle; Donagh Murphy, Conor Kehoe, Chris Nolan.
Subs: Evan Kealy for Boland (48), Jake Nolan for Murphy (51), Conaill Fitzpatrick (65), John Michael Nolan for Kehoe (70+1).
Westmeath: Sean Jackson; Shane Williams, Conor Shaw, Naoise McKenna; Jack Gillen, Johnny Bermingham, Rory Keyes; Andrew Shaw, Peter Murphy; Eamonn Cunneen, David Williams, Kevin Regan; Darragh McCormack, Eoin Keyes, Killian Doyle.
Subs: Mark Cunningham for A Shaw (52), Jack Kearney for Murphy (56), Darragh Egerton for Bermingham (inj., 59), Josh Coll for Regan (62), Adam Bate for Gillen (67).
Referee: Peter Owens (Down).
