Huge task as Westmeath aim to catch Tyrone red-handed
By Gerry Buckley
My first – and assumedly last – live television appearance came when I was interviewed by Mark Cagney on his morning show on what was then called TV3, a few days before the second round qualifier between Tyrone and Westmeath in the All-Ireland senior football championship back in 2008.
In hindsight, it was somewhat surprising that the game against Tyrone was considered newsworthy, albeit Westmeath had already comfortably won away matches against Longford and Offaly (in Leinster) and Tipperary (in the ‘back door’), with the only championship loss that summer by a mere two points at the hands of Dublin in Croke Park in the Delaney Cup semi-final (either side of Paul Caffrey’s team defeating Louth and Wexford by 13 and 23 points respectively).
Indeed, ‘Pillar’ opined after a very hard-won game that he felt the bookies’ generous odds on the Lake County had been “disrespectful to a very good team”. And he was right, and also lucky that the wonderful talents of Martin Flanagan were not available to Tomás Ó Flatharta for that penultimate round clash, the hugely gifted Tyrrellspass man having been injured in Tullamore during the quarter-final.
Nonetheless, Michael Ennis’ intuitively-flicked goal past Stephen Cluxton helped the men in maroon and white to a highly commendable 0-13 to 1-8 defeat in an almost-packed Jones Road venue (the days of tens of thousands of sky blue and navy-clad fans attending games other than the All-Ireland final now seem to have come to an end). Oh, to have had the genius of Flanagan to add to the attack – a second Leinster title was a very distinct possibility.
The upshot of my live chat with the affable Cagney was that I predicted Westmeath would push Tyrone all the way in Healy Park. As it happened, I was spot on and – while, as ever, emphasising that there is no separate GAA book on sale anywhere with records of ‘moral victories’ – the unfortunate red-carding of both Damien Healy and Doron Harte (neither of whom would be considered remotely ‘dirty’ players), allied to a late goal miss by none other than Dessie Dolan, helped the Red Hand County outfit to win by a flattering four points (0-14 to 1-7).
Again Ennis was Westmeath’s goal-scorer. The Ballinagore man would not have been remotely out of place in the All Star team that year on which Gary Connaughton and John Keane were selected.
I strongly suspect that the referee, Padraig Hughes from Armagh, has not received too many Christmas cards with Westmeath postmarks over the ensuing years. Likewise, some prominent Tyrone players who diced with unwritten sportsmanship ‘rules’ that frustrating afternoon. And, to add insult to injury, Mickey Harte’s men went on to win a third Sam Maguire Cup in six years in September 2008 (41 years earlier, Meath had been the last Sam winner-in-waiting to knock Westmeath out en route to ultimate success).
On a lighter note, the Westmeath coordinator at the time, Joe Daly, has often recounted to me an amusing tale of that Omagh experience. Overnighting in the Tyrone capital, the Tyrrellspass man and another very popular member of the Westmeath backroom team, Gilbert Carey (who sadly passed away last August), decided to try out the bus journey to Healy Park on the Friday night. With the driver of the bus – clearly labelled as carrying the ‘Westmeath senior football team’ – unsure of the route, Gilbert stopped a passer-by and asked for directions, prompting this (understandable) response: “You’re going to be very early for the game boss. Sure it isn’t starting till tomorrow afternoon!”
Fast forward to 2023, and another ‘so-near-and-yet-so-far’ encounter against a major Ulster team, this time with the Iarmhí bainisteoir bib on him, looks like it will come back to haunt the aforementioned Dessie Dolan. Those of us present in the resplendent BOX IT Athletic Grounds in Armagh a few short weeks ago – and it would not take me long to individually name the Westmeath ‘crowd’ present on that heart-breaking Saturday afternoon – were left shell-shocked after a really terrific performance by the visitors came to absolutely nothing.
A leading national sports journalist was very dismissive of the latter effort, and also Westmeath’s subsequent display against Galway in a recent column. “Armagh never really looked like losing” was his take on the first game, while he felt the second round clash in TEG Cusack Park a week later “had a challenge match feel to it”.
These one-liners clearly came from a man who was not present at either game. Yours truly was at both, and can categorically vouch that Armagh most certainly looked like losing until they scored a fortunate 67th-minute goal, while the Tribesmen will seldom face a tougher ‘challenge match’ than their flattering eight-point win in Mullingar.
The reality is that Westmeath have played very well for one-and-three-quarters out of two games. It goes without saying that playing ‘very well’ and more will be needed to topple the All-Ireland champions of two years ago in Cavan next Sunday (throw-in 4pm), and Westmeath may need to win by four points in order to advance to the knockout stages, depending on the outcome of the simultaneous game in Carrick-on-Shannon between Galway and Armagh.
It is one hell of a tall order for Dolan’s talented troops, who will be short the services of Sam Duncan and possibly others through injury. But it’s certainly not an impossible task. After all, Westmeath owe Tyrone a four-point defeat from 2008!
Flashback to 2008
July 26, Omagh, Tyrone 0-14 Westmeath 1-7
Tyrone: John Devine; Ryan McMenamin, Justin McMahon, PJ Quinn; Davy Harte (0-1), Conor Gormley, Philip Jordan; Ryan Mellon (0-1), Enda McGinley (0-2); Brian Dooher (0-2), Brian McGuigan, Tommy McGuigan (0-6); Martin Penrose (0-1), Sean Cavanagh, Colm McCullagh. Subs: Colm Cavanagh for S Cavanagh, Owen Mulligan for McCullagh, Joe McMahon for Penrose, Ryan Mulgrew for C Cavanagh, Damien McCaul (0-1) for Quinn.
Westmeath: Gary Connaughton; Frank Boyle, Kieran Gavin, John Keane; Michael Ennis (1-0), Derek Heavin, Damien Healy; Donal O’Donoghue, Martin Flanagan (0-1); Dessie Dolan (0-3), John Smyth (0-1), Doron Harte; David Glennon, Denis Glennon (0-2), Alan Mangan. Subs: Dermot Bannon for Mangan, David Duffy for David Glennon, Fergal Wilson for Bannon, Simon Quinn for Smyth, Willie Murtagh for Boyle.