Graphic picture: Putting your head on the line for the county cause!

This picture sums up nicely the lengths someone will go for the county cause!

Warren Casserly has plenty of people wincing after he posted this photo on the snapchat social media site in the wake of Westmeath’s U21 hurlers pulling off one of the biggest hurling shocks in recent times – by beating Kilkenny 1-11 to 0-12 in a Leinster championship quarter-final at TEG Cusack Park last night.

Casserly was forced off midway through the second half but not before he had scored the only goal of the game as his side defeated the hurling kingpins to record a famous victory in hugely dramatic circumstances.

He put his head on the line for his team, literally, and has a deep gash to show for it as our picture graphically shows.
“We got the win anyway,” he said on snapchat, appearing in celebration photos after the game sporting a massive bandage.

With the Cats widely tipped to progress to the semis, Westmeath hoped to carve out as good a result as they could – and instead, gave Kilkenny an exhibition in just how far Westmeath hurling has come in recent years.

The outcome was one of the most important results in the history of the small ball game in Westmeath, if not the most important.

Adrian Moran’s troops led 0-9 to 0-8 at half time, with Delvin’s Darragh Clinton converting seven frees and Kilkenny left in awe of a spirited home side.

Ciaran Doyle (Raharney) and Liam Varley (Castletown-Geoghegan) also tagged on crucial scores from play.

The major breakthrough came early in the second half, when Castlepollard’s Warren Casserly poked Killian Doyle’s delivery home from close range to make it 1-9 to 0-9 in Westmeath’s favour. The tenacious midfielder later went off to get bandaged up for a nasty head injury.

The Cats – last year’s defeated Leinster finalists – always kept within touching distance, but couldn’t draw on enough of their trademark verve and ruthlessness to stem the Maroon tide.

Clinton finished the game with eight points as Westmeath faced into six minutes of injury time 1-11 to 0-12 ahead.

Lives flashed before the eyes of the vocal and sizeable Lake County support when Kilkenny were awarded a last-gasp penalty, but in dramatic fashion, this potentially match-winning puck was missed by sub Andrew Gaffney.

The sound of the final whistle cued wild celebrations from the home support, and a place in the last four for the Maroons.

Westmeath panel
Sean Maher (Castletown-Geoghegan); Alan Cox (Delvin), Conor Shaw (Brownstown), Mick Heeney (Castletown-Geoghegan); Joe Rabbitte (Castlepollard), Liam Varley (Castletown-Geoghegan), Robbie Gillen (Cullion); Warren Casserly (Castlepollard), Killian Doyle (Raharney); Niall Mitchell (Clonkill), Liam Cassidy (Castletown-Geoghegan), Darragh Egerton (Clonkill); Jack Galvin (Cullion), Ciaran Doyle (Raharney), Darragh Clinton (Delvin). Subs: Conor Bracken (St Oliver Plunketts), Darragh Qamar (Lough Lene Gaels), Paddy Lynam (St Oliver Plunketts), Peadar Scally (Clonkill), Ian Kilcoyne (Ringtown), Fionn Dowd (Southern Gaels), Darren Giles (Raharney), Paddy Doody (Castletown-Geoghegan), Sean Flanagan (St Oliver Plunketts).

Scorers
D Clinton 0-8 (8f), W Casserly 1-0, L Varley (f), K Doyle, C Doyle 0-1 each.