Westmeath ladies aiming for semi-final spot

Westmeath ladies footballers will go into Saturday’s clash against Louth knowing they need to win to qualify for the semi-final of the Leinster Intermediate Championship.

Michael Finneran’s charges proved too good for Wicklow last Sunday at TEG Cusack Park, winning by four points in the end after the visitors scored a contentious goal deep in injury-time. The officials ruled that the ball crossed the line from a Marie Kealy free before Westmeath ‘keeper Lauren McCormack made her clearance.

“We looked solid except for the late goal, which was probably fortuitous for them. Lauren (McCormack) doesn’t think it went in. But aside from that, we really restricted them to very few chances; I don’t think Lauren was tested apart from that,” observed Finneran.

Westmeath were six points clear at the break and led by 1-8 to 0-4 after 48 minutes before that late Wicklow goal. Their dominance could well have yielded more scores and it’s an area they are likely to focus on as the competition progresses.

“We are creating a lot of opportunities; if we weren’t I’d be more concerned. Overall, I’m happy coming away from the game,” said Finneran.

“It was a championship game and we won it. It’s always going to be hard work, to be honest, and Wicklow played at a good pace and a good intensity, so they made it a right old battle. I’m very happy to get the two points, that’s the main thing, but when you look at the performance, we probably left a lot of scores behind us.”

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With such a healthy lead at the interval, it was easy for Westmeath to assess things.

“It was a case of keep doing as we had been; keep creating the chances. We fancied ourselves to get a couple of goals in the second half, but it didn’t happen. The flow of a game can often change. We’d be disappointed with our return, especially in the second half,” he remarked.

“We had seven attacks at the start of the second half without getting a score, at a time when we should have been keeping the scoreboard ticking over. We were doing 90% of the stuff right: it was maybe just a bit of ball handling, a bit of slickness at the end that was letting us down.

“We took the wrong option at times; there was a bit of that throughout the game. But we have another two points in the bag.”

Finneran was pleased with his side’s collective effort.

“It’s hard work when it comes to defending, but the players are all very keen to track back and help. From that point of view it was good: we moved the ball out of defence very well and it was just maybe in the final third we could have been a bit slicker.”

Johanna Quinn, who recently returned to the side was just one of the shining lights on the day, her experience an obvious fillip for Westmeath.

“She’s a good boost and showed great energy throughout the game. For someone to come into the panel at this stage in the year, to have that kind of level of conditioning, is impressive. Katie Dunne also got some game time,” noted Finneran.

“We have Caoimhe Clarke McMahon who got her first start and Melek (Fagan) got back in. We got Susanna (Buckley) on to the pitch for 15 minutes. There are lots of options: we still have Karen Hegarty and Annie Dolan who didn’t feature at all. So there is good strength in the panel.”

The game takes place in Ballinlough, Co Meath at 5pm after the counties agreed to change on the basis that Louth are playing in the Leinster senior football final on Sunday.