Westmeath boys pay the price

The combined Westmeath Schools juvenile hurling side spurned a glorious opportunity to progress to the semi-final of this season"s Barry Cup in wintry conditions at Moate last Wednesday afternoon. In the end, they failed to take advantage of a strong wind in the second half and lost out by two points to a quite ordinary Kilkenny CBS team. With the Castletown-Geoghegan pitch being waterlogged, this winner-takes-all game was switched at the eleventh hour to Hogan Park, a ground which rarely hosts hurling games. The Moate All Whites pitch was in fine fettle and a gripping contest ensued, even if the standard of hurling was often mediocre. The maroon and whites looked in a great position to advance to the penultimate round when only trailing by two points at the interval, but the home side failed to make use of the elements and, indeed, a face-saving goal from Kieran Glennon only arrived deep in injury-time. Ultimately, the concession of two very soft goals proved too much for the losers who certainly had enough possession to win the game. The Cats had a very strong wind in their backs for the first moiety and it looked ominous for Westmeath when Kevin Kenny goaled after only 90 seconds even if his shot, after a long solo run, lacked real power. Despite their pucks inevitably lacking distance, Westmeath came very much into the game and a converted 25-metre free by Robbie Greville and a fine point under pressure from Kieran Glennon had the margin down to the bare minimum by the 11th minute. Niall Mullins then pointed a difficult free to double the Cats" lead. At the other end, tenacious defending from the likes of Thomas Gallagher, Liam Varley and Adam Scanlon (an Offaly lad) kept the visitors at bay, the backline even managing to keep out what seemed a certain Kilkenny goal in the 17th minute. The remaining scores of the half came on a tit-for-tat basis. Kevin Kenny"s neat effort was cancelled out by a fine score on the run from Robbie Greville. Soon afterwards, Kieran Glennon did well to control the sliotar and find the target but Danny Bolger responded with a terrific score. At the break, Kilkenny CBS" lead looked precarious, with the scoreline reading 1-3 to 0-4 in their favour. However, the age-old GAA adage that "a wind never won a game for any team" was to have a particular resonance for the Westmeath lads as the failure to avail of a range of point-scoring opportunities eventually proved fatal. The nearest the losers came to raising a green flag in the early exchanges came when Kieran Glennon"s shot was kept out by a combination of goalkeeper Darragh Holohan and centre half-back Robbie Fitzpatrick. Kilkenny almost increased their lead when Shane Cuddihy"s effort came back off the woodwork, before Kieran Glennon sent over a great point to lift the home side. Niall Mullins restored the winners" two-point advantage in the 11th minute from around the 25-metre mark. The 13th minute proved to be unlucky for the lads in maroon and white when they conceded a second soft goal, Shane Cuddihy"s weak effort creeping past Robbie Gillen. The same player added a point, some four minutes later, leaving Westmeath with a mountain to climb as they now trailed by two clear goals. To their credit, the losers mounted a wave of attacks but, unfortunately, they failed to find the target, in addition to which Kilkenny CBS netminder Darragh Holohan proved himself to be a budding Ollie Walsh/Noel Skehan. In particular, his save from Luke Loughlin in the 28th minute was right out of the top drawer. Robbie Greville was unsuccessful with goal attempts from two close-range frees, but he did find the range with a point from play in the last minute of normal time. In the third and last minute of injury-time, Luke Loughlin picked out Kieran Glennon who buried the ball past Holohan, but it was a case of too little, too late for a gallant, if wasteful, Lake County outfit. Kilkenny CBS: Darragh Holohan; Eoin McGovern, Conor Cleere, Evan Cody; Vinny Wallace, Robbie Fitzpatrick (capt), Eoin Fennelly; Jack Boland, Ronan Moriarty; Kevin Kenny (1-1), Gary Kelly, Danny Bolger (0-1); Niall Mullins (0-2, 1f), Shane Cuddihy (1-1), Darragh Walsh. Sub: James Lenihan (for Walsh, 40 mins). Westmeath Schools: Robbie Gillen; Finbarr Thompson, Thomas Gallagher (capt), Liam Varley; Ciaran Crentsil, Gary Greville, Adam Scanlon; Thomas Egan, Shane Murtagh; Luke Loughlin, Robbie Greville (0-3, 1f), Adam O"Keeffe; Michael Heeney, Kieran Glennon (1-3), Colin Fitzsimons. Sub: Leonard Gavin (for Heeney, 47 mins). Referee: Barry Kelly (Westmeath).