Westmeath hurler, Killian Doyle.
Joe McDonagh Cup Round 3
DOWN 3-19 WESTMEATH 1-25
By Gerry Buckley
Down and Westmeath played out a pulsating draw in the Joe McDonagh Cup in misty conditions in Ballycran, the result keeping Down’s slight hopes of reaching the final alive, while ending Westmeath’s.
Westmeath started the game very brightly and they had five unanswered points on the board with just six minutes elapsed, two of them coming from David O’Reilly. The dominant visitors led by 0-9 to 0-3 with a quarter of an hour elapsed when Killian Doyle was gifted a goal chance which he took with aplomb.
In the 18th minute, Tom McGrattan brought the Mourne County men right back into contention with a well-taken goal. Much of the play was scrappy at this juncture, but Down now had more possession than in the opening quarter and good work by Daithí Sands teed up McGrattan for his second three-pointer in the 32nd minute to leave the bare minimum between the sides (1-12 to 2-8). Killian Doyle had been accurate from frees until he was replaced by his twin brother Ciaran just ahead of half-time, and the Lake County led by 1-15 to 2-10 at the interval.
A great brace of points from play by the outstanding Pearse Óg McCrickard had the home team ahead for the first time (2-13 to 1-15) in the 42nd minute. Down led by three points when McGrattan completed his hat-trick in fine style in the 44th minute and the lead yo-yoed thereafter with some terrific scores at either end.
The evenly-matched teams were tied (1-24 to 3-18) at the end of the regulation 70 minutes, and a minimum of three minutes’ additional time was announced. McCrickard looked to have won the day for Down with another successful free, but Westmeath’s veteran full back Tommy Doyle cleverly rescued a point for his team – their first of a disappointing campaign – with time almost up.
Scorers for Down: P Óg McCrickard 0-13 (9f), T McGrattan 3-2, P Savage 0-2, D Hughes, D Sands 0-1 each.
Scorers for Westmeath: K Doyle 1-7 (6f), D O’Reilly 0-5, D Williams 0-4 (2f), K Regan, D Clinton, C Doyle (1f) 0-2 each, A Clarke, O McCabe, T Doyle 0-1 each.
Down: Stephen Keith; Matt Conlan, Conor Cassidy, Dara Mallon; Caolan Taggart, Ruairí McCrickard, John McManus; Donal Hughes, Liam Savage; Pearse Óg McCrickard, Eoghan Sands, Tom McGrattan; Daithí Sands, Finn Turpin, Tim Prenter. Subs: Phelim Savage for Prenter (16), Tom Murray for McManus (20), Barry Trainor for Mallon (35+1), Paul Sheehan for Turpin (69), Marc Fisher for McCrickard (70+3).
Westmeath: Noel Conaty; Johnny Bermingham, Tommy Doyle, Conor Gaffney; Aonghus Clarke, Darragh Egerton, Aaron Craig; Peter Clarke, Kevin Regan; Niall Mitchell, David Williams, Owen McCabe; David O’Reilly, Killian Doyle, Eoin Keyes. Subs: Jamie Mulkearns for Conaty (inj., 10), Ciaran Doyle for K Doyle (35+1), Charlie McCormack for A Clarke (50), Darragh Clinton for Keyes (55), Jack Gillen for McCabe (67).
Ref: James Connors (Donegal).
