Westmeath and Athlone IT both beaten in O'Byrne Cup
THERE was little local joy in the second round of fixtures in the 2013 Bord na Mona O'Byrne Cup held last night (Wednesday). After starting the campaign with victory over Athlone IT last weekend, Westmeath suffered a 2-12 to 0-12 loss against Laois in Portlaoise, while Athlone IT were beaten by Offaly, 3-11 to 1-9, at Gracefield. Veteran full-forward Padraig Clancy did much of the damage against Pat Flanagan's Westmeath, notchiong 2-3, as Laois revived their O'Byrne Cup hopes following a loss to Offaly on the opening weekend. Clancy found the back of Gary Connaughton's net twice in the second half and that proved the main difference between the two teams. The home side shaded a closely fought opening 35 minutes and held a slender 0-6 to 0-5 interval advantage. Westmeath manager Pat Flanagan made eight changes to the team that beat Athlone IT by 12 points on Sunday, and they found themselves five points in arrears in the 45th minute (after Clancy's first goal). The Lake County reduced the deficit to two points but Clancy made sure of the win for Justin McNulty's charges when palming into the Westmeath net in the last minute. Ciaran Curley, of Mullingar Shamrocks, top-scored for Westmeath with four points. Denis Corroon, Paul Bannon, Kelvin Reilly, Philip Sheridan and David 'Dude' McCormack also contributed to Westmeath's tally. The Westmeath team was without the influential Dessie Dolan and Denis Glennon, as Flanagan gave opportunities to several new faces. Offaly pulled away from Athlone IT in the second half of their encounter. The Faithful County were just a point ahead at the break but extended the lead with points from ace forward Niall McNamee and Peter Cunningham. The Westmeath college equalised with a Colm O'Brien goal in the 41st minute but that turned out to be as good as it got for Martin McCabe's side, with Emmett McDonnell's men replying in clinical fashion with goals from Cunningham, Brian Connor and Eoin Carroll. Westmeath now need to beat Offaly on Sunday (Cusack Park, 2pm) to have any chance of topping the four-team group and reaching the semi-finals. Athlone IT's campaign will come to an end when they travel to Portarlington to play Laois on Sunday (2pm).