Westmeath deny Offaly to set up clash with Kilkenny

A crucial save by ’keeper Fiona Keating stymied an Offaly fightback in last Saturday’s Leinster Senior Camogie Championship quarter-final at St Rynagh’s GAA grounds, Banagher, where Westmeath took the spoils by the narrowest of margins.

The Cullion custodian denied lively Offaly full forward Sarah Harding with a strong save as Diarmuid Cahill’s side prevailed to secure a semi-final clash with Kilkenny next Saturday (TEG Cusack Park, 12.30pm).

Keating and her colleagues were delighted with the victory and having already retained their position in Division 2 of the league, they are aiming to build for a good championship campaign.

“We finished the first half strongly; we got 2-1 really quick, in the space of about five minutes, and that really turned the game in our favour.

“Then we came out in the second half, scored an early point and just really fought hard.

“The defence were brilliant and the forwards worked really hard also to stop Offaly emerging with the ball. It was a really good team effort from us,” said Keating.

Westmeath’s main target is the intermediate championship, but the victory on Saturday at a higher level is a timely boost.

“We’re delighted to get the win: we stayed up in the league and our goal then was to tackle this game in the lead-up to the intermediate championship and really lay down a marker for the weeks ahead,” said Keating.

Westmeath had to be alert when a resurgent Offaly applied strong pressure in the second half, after the Lake County had established a six-point lead.

“Offaly were trying with the long ball in near the end and we were just able to manage it and deal with it. We have gone through a lot of scenarios at training and we just wanted to win the ball and stop them from gaining any kind of momentum. It worked well,” noted Keating.

FOCUSED

Tipperary’s Diarmuid Cahill has certainly made an impact as manager of the Westmeath side after he came on board prior to last year’s championship campaign.

“Diarmuid came in with some really good ideas last year, but we didn’t have a lot of time to implement them.

“It was such a quick turnaround to get into championship mode, but we have had a good couple of months training at this stage and we are starting to see that hard work paying off in games,” said Keating.

After a satisfactory league campaign, followed by Saturday’s win, things can only get better for Westmeath.

“The goal was to maintain league status, so we were happy. But when we were playing the games, we felt we could have nearly got to the league final. Kerry and Meath got there, and we have them in the championship coming up. We have played two games against them which will stand to us. We were satisfied to maintain our status and we’re focused on the intermediate championship now,” remarked Keating.

Looking ahead to the semi-final, Keating said Westmeath can approach the game in a positive frame of mind.

“We have played Kilkenny a few times over the years and we have had mixed results. But we have nothing to fear.

“We can just go and play our game, do what we have been working on in training and anything can happen.

“It’s a home game for us in TEG Cusack Park and we’re hoping to see a packed stadium,” she added.