Westmeath senior football team manager Dermot McCabe. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Tailteann Cup Group Three
Westmeath 0-26 (0-3-20) London 1-10 (1-0-10)
By Gerry Buckley at McGovern Park, Ruislip
Westmeath put a sluggish opening quarter display behind them to ultimately ease past the challenge of London in glorious conditions in McGovern Park, Ruislip, the 2022 Tailteann Cup champions thereby securing their second straight victory after an unlucky winless Allianz Football League Division Two campaign.
London were undoubtedly the better side in the opening quarter, aided by a slight breeze. A point from Conal Gallagher in the fifth minute was followed by a well-worked goal three minutes later when Kristian Healy teed up Ciaran Diver, who palmed the ball home from point-blank range.
Westmeath opened their account courtesy of Matthew Whittaker in the 14th minute, but they still trailed by 1-3 to 0-2 midway through the half. Luke Loughlin, scorer of an astonishing 1-17 a week earlier against Antrim, became more involved in Westmeath’s attacking moves and he contributed four points in the opening half as the favourites shot the last six points to lead by 0-8 to 1-3 at the interval.
That scoreline was quite harsh on the Exiles, who had played every bit as much good football on show as their guests.
Brandon Kelly, replacing injured skipper Ronan Wallace, doubled his fisted points tally within 20 seconds of the resumption of play, and Westmeath piled on the scores with stand-in captain Sam McCartan particularly impressive with two one-pointers prior to a delightful two-pointer, all in quick succession midway through the third quarter.
Ray Connellan, the star of the show in the championship loss to Kildare prior to his withdrawal through injury, showed no ill effects when he produced a trademark catch within seconds of being sprung from the bench. A Loughlin free was the winners’ 13th point without reply in the 43rd minute, before Michael Maher’s side ended a barren 27 minutes with quickfire points from a ‘45’ by sub Paddy Dolan and a remarkable angled score by their most consistent forward Healy. However, Dermot McCabe’s troops still led by 0-15 to 1-5.
The issue was never in any real doubt at this juncture as Westmeath’s superior class began to tell. They never really threatened to score a goal, but they still kicked a further brace of two-pointers in the closing stages via Eoghan McCabe (play) and Loughlin (a free).
The Lake County ended up with 11 different scorers as they eased their way to a double-scores win which further confirmed their status as one of the favourites for the tier two championship.
Scorers for Westmeath: L Loughlin 0-9 (1 2pt, 1 2ptf, 2fs), S McCartan 0-5 (1 2pt), M Whittaker, E McCabe (2pt), B Kelly 0-2 each, K O'Sullivan, D McCartan, S Smith, R Connellan, T Baker, R Forde 0-1 each.
Scorers for London: C Diver 1-1, K Healy, S Rafter (1f) 0-3 each, C Gallagher, P Dolan ('45'), E Walsh 0-1 each.
Westmeath: Conor McCormack; David Giles, Sam Smyth, Jamie Gonoud; Joe Moran, Nigel Harte, Sam McCartan; Kevin O’Sullivan, Eoghan McCabe; Matthew Whittaker, Danny McCartan, Brandon Kelly; Luke Loughlin, Stephen Smith, Robbie Forde.
Subs: Ray Connellan for D McCartan (42), Tadhg Baker for Harte (48), Jack Geoghegan for Kelly (57), Kieran Martin for S McCartan (60), Lorcan Dolan for Forde (65).
London: Andrew Walsh; Daire Rooney, Sean Taylor, Ciaran McCarrick; Eoin Walsh, Conal Gallagher, Matt Moynihan; Tighe Barry, Liam Gallagher; Joshua Obahor, Conor O’Donohue, Kristian Healy; Shay Rafter, Ruairí Rafferty, Ciaran Diver.
Subs: Paddy Dolan for O’Donohue (44), Nathan McElwaine for C Gallagher (52), Oran Hilley for Rafferty (60).
Referee: Barry Tiernan (Dublin).
