Round-up: Electric Ireland Leinster MFC
Trevor Giles, shaking hands with Kerry senior manager Jack O'Connor, is in charge of the Meath minors. Photo by Stephen Marken/Sportsfile
Electric Ireland Leinster MFC preliminary quarter-finals
Westmeath 1-14 Carlow 1-12
Meath 6-23 Wicklow 0-5
By Paul Keane
Aaron Connaire and Dean Kelly led by example as Westmeath turned a sticky situation into a terrific win in Tubberclair, securing their Electric Ireland Leinster MFC quarter-final place.
And Mick Dillon's side will be joined by neighbours Meath in the quarter-finals after Trevor Giles' young Royals comfortably took care of Wicklow in Aughrim.
Westmeath's reward for coming from behind and grabbing the win is a clash with Kildare next week while Meath will hope to take the momentum from their big win and carry it into a date with Offaly.
Westmeath had to show real grit to see off Carlow this evening as they trailed by seven points at half time.
Visiting Carlow were 1-9 to 0-5 up at that stage thanks in part to Eoghan Treacy's 15th minute goal and four points from Alex Doyle.
There was also a perfectly executed two-pointer from Cormac Murphy off his left boot which opened the scoring for Carlow and laid the platform for them.
Westmeath dug deep after the break and Connaire's goal just four minutes after the restart was a big score, hauling them right back into it.
Connaire then added a two-pointer in the 43rd minute to reduce the deficit to just two points, 1-10 to 1-8.
The sides were level at 1-11 apiece with 10 minutes to go and a two-pointer from Dean Kelly, followed by a Connaire point, nudged Westmeath two points clear at the death.
There was drama in the final moments when Carlow's Adam Joyce hit the post with a goal opportunity.
Meath were too good for Wicklow in Aughrim and were inspired by rising star Milo Stafford who helped himself to a hat-trick of goals and 3-3 in total.
Cormac McKenna struck the opening goal for a Meath side that finished third in Group 1.
After narrow losses to Louth and Kildare, Meath closed out their group campaign with a 6-22 to 0-7 win over Laois and brought that confidence with them to Wicklow where they raised another six green flags.
Cormac McKenna scored the first of Meath's goals, followed by a Stafford penalty conversion and a third from Conn Brennan. Stafford's second goal came late in the half as Meath soared 4-7 to 0-3 clear at half time.
Stafford completed his hat-trick after the break and substitute Dara Loughran also found the net while captain Harry McGuirk impressed with 0-8 and was one of 11 Meath scorers overall.
Sean Corrigan, Harry Butler and Joe Keeshan scored points for Wicklow who had previously topped Group 3 with three wins from three.
