Leinster Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final

Westmeath 0-13 Offaly 0-12

By Declan Rooney at Cusack Park

Offaly were unable to finish off a brilliant second-half comeback as Westmeath held on to claim a memorable win thanks to late scores from Kieran Martin and James Dolan at Cusack Park.

Four times in the last 16 minutes Offaly closed the gap to one point, but they were unable to draw level at any stage as Westmeath’s six-point first-half cushion proved sufficient.

Niall McNamee had a chance to level the game and force a replay three minutes into added-time, but his free from 55 metres sailed well wide, which confirmed Westmeath’s spot in the semi-final where they will take on Kildare.

Offaly, who had Graham Guilfoyle and Nigel Dunne black carded, now face London in the qualifiers.

With a strong wind behind their backs in the opening half Denis Corroon finally broke the deadlock in the ninth minute with a great score from the right for Westmeath.

Heslin started at corner-forward for Westmeath and was picked up by Sean Pender from the off, but the home side soon made the most of Heslin’s physical advantage when he gathered Killian Daly’s long ball and drew the foul, and he converted the free after 13 minutes.

In the 14th and 16th minutes the St Loman’s man pointed from play thanks to the same route-one tactic, this time John Connellan provided the accurate deliveries for a 0-4 to 0-0 lead.

Those three points prompted Pat Flanagan to swap Eoin Rigney onto Heslin and to call back Johnny Moloney into a sweeping role and that dried up the scores for the home side. And finally at the other end of the park Offaly got their act together as Dunne tapped over a free, before Bernard Allen found some space inside to add Offaly’s second point in the 20th minute.

With Eoin Carroll and Niall Smith growing into the game Offaly’s charge continued and the direct running of Guilfoyle cut the lead to a point and he drilled over a fine score from distance.

But as the half elapsed Offaly’s error count ramped up, while Westmeath continued to make the most of their possession. And the home side kicked the last five points of the half, two of which came from Paul Sharry and Connellan for a 0-9 to 0-3 half-time lead.

Westmeath could have wrapped up the win early in the second-half but four poor wides into the breeze almost cost them. Dunne got Offaly up and running again after the break, but a couple of crucial blocks from James Dolan denied Offaly scores.

Despite losing Guilfoyle to a black card, Offaly – led by the outstanding Peter Cunningham – landed five of the next six points to move to within a point of Westmeath, but crucially Heslin kicked his only score of the half to open out a two-point lead with 15 minutes remaining.

Dunne twice pointed for Offaly, but each point from Pat Flanagan’s side was matched at the other end and when Dolan scored late on it was the point that proved the difference.

Scorers for Westmeath: J Heslin 0-5 (2f), J Connellan 0-3, P Sharry 0-2 (1f), D Corroon, K Martin, J Dolan 0-1.

Offaly: N Dunne 0-6 (5f), P Cunningham 0-2, G Guilfoyle, B Allen, N McNamee, J Moloney 0-1.

Westmeath: D Quinn; K Daly, F Boyle, J Gonoud; J Dolan, A Stone, K Maguire; D Corroon, G Egan; D Lynch, J Connellan, C McCormack; P Sharry, K Martin, J Heslin.

Subs: J Egan for Lynch (39), B Sayeh for McCormack (56), D Daly for J Egan (64), P Fagan for K Daly (65), L Dolan for Connellan (67).

Offaly: A Mulhall; S Pender, E Rigney, B Darby; N Darby, P Cunningham, J O’Connor; E Carroll, N Smith; G Guilfoyle, N Dunne, M Brazil; B Allen, N McNamee, J Moloney.

Subs: A Sullivan for Guilfoyle (44 BC), N Bracken for Brazil (53), S Doyle for Allen (60), C Donohue for Dunne (71 BC).

Referee: P O’Sullivan (Kerry).