Two soft goals decisive as Wicklow shock Westmeath

Wicklow 2-9, Westmeath 1-11

By Gerry Buckley

Just eight days after producing a widely-lauded display in Croke Park to win the National Football League Division 3 title, a well-supported Westmeath team was brought crashing down to earth when they were beaten by a hungrier and very focused Wicklow side in the Leinster championship opener, played in windy conditions in Portlaoise last Sunday.

Yes, both of the goals scored by Oisín McConville’s troops were very preventable, but it would be churlish in the extreme to suggest that the Garden County men did not deserve their shock win. They had their homework done on the pre-match favourites, and they diligently carried out their game plan from start to finish to eke out a victory which belied their status as a Division 4 team in-waiting.

Making excuses would be lame, but the late loss of Ray Connellan – arguably the team’s most consistent player throughout the league – was a huge blow, as Dean Healy was given the freedom of Laois Hire O’Moore Park. Also, it is surely fair to opine that had injured skipper Kevin Maguire been around, the two Wicklow goals might not have been scored – the second resulted from near-comical defending.

Wicklow had the aid of a strong wind in the first half and, unsurprisingly, they dominated for almost the entire period. Kevin Quinn slotted over a needlessly-conceded first-minute free and, following three minutes of ‘keep-ball’ by the losers, the men in blue and gold doubled their lead when Christopher O’Brien curled over a delightful score. Quinn converted his second free in the 11th minute.

Much of Westmeath’s limited possession was already being wasted with loose passing and players being turned over. In the 14th minute, an Andy McCormack ‘point’ was disallowed for ‘steps’. Seven minutes later, Jonathan Carlin was gifted a glorious goal chance for Wicklow, but he was denied by a fabulous save by Jason Daly at the expense of a ‘45’ which John Paul Nolan converted. Dessie Dolan’s charges belatedly opened their account in the 22nd minute when their most influential player in the opening half, the returning Ronan Wallace, teed up Luke Loughlin for a neat score.

In the 26th minute, a Healy delivery – possibly with a point as his target – was touched to the net by Jack Kirwan from close range. On the half-hour mark, Daly again came to his side’s rescue with a great save from Patrick O’Keane, after the Lake County rearguard had been torn to shreds. Westmeath’s sloppy play continued before the impressive O’Brien scored his second point on the contest in the last minute of normal time, to leave Wicklow ahead by 1-5 to 0-1 at the interval. Wind or no wind, it looked a substantial lead.

A heavy half-time shower actually seemed to reduce the strength of the wind, but Westmeath still ate into their opponents’ lead with unanswered points from the boots of Robbie Forde (a free – the award seemed soft), the generally well-marshalled Ronan O’Toole, and Forde (from play after an O’Toole rasper had come back off the crossbar when a goal looked certain). Nolan (who might have goaled) and sub John Heslin traded points, before the outstanding Healy pointed after an indirect free following the referee’s correct decision to stop the game due to a clash of heads.

The Garden County pounced for a vital second goal in the 53rd minute when the Westmeath defence looked on and allowed the ball to hop invitingly in the large parallelogram at the end of a high delivery by Healy, and Nolan was on hand to fist the ball to the net from close range. This put Wicklow ahead by 2-7 to 0-5. However, fresh from his two goals against Down, Jonathan Lynam scored an opportunist goal (after good work by his club colleague Loughlin) to keep his side just about in contention.

Loughlin added a point from a free (moved closer to the target for dissent), but Wicklow kept the scoreboard ticking over when O’Brien completed his points hat-trick and Quinn teed up Healy for his second. That proved to be the winners’ last score, whereas the men in maroon and white added five more points to their tally in a tension-filled final period.

The white flags were raised by Loughlin (who had a goal on his mind, but his low shot whizzed over the crossbar), Sam McCartan, Loughlin (a free, after corner back Tom Moran was black-carded for a foul on The Downs man in the 67th minute), and injury-time frees from Heslin and Loughlin. In the last of the five added minutes, a wide by sub Oisín McGraynor was as good as a point. Seconds later he and his team mates were celebrating a famous – and deserved – victory.

Scorers – Wicklow: JP Nolan 1-2 (0-1‘45’), J Kirwan 1-0, C O’Brien 0-3, K Quinn (2f), D Healy 0-2 each.

Westmeath: L Loughlin 0-5 (3f), J Lynam 1-0, R Forde (1f), J Heslin (1f) 0-2 each, S McCartan, R O’Toole 0-1 each.

Wicklow: Shane Doyle; Tom Moran, Cillian McDonald, Eoin Murtagh; Matt Nolan, Patrick O'Keane, Gavin Fogarty; Dean Healy, Craig Maguire; Darragh Fee, Christopher O'Brien, Jack Kirwan; Jonathan Carlin, Kevin Quinn, John Paul Nolan. Subs used: Jacques McCall for Murtagh (h-t), Gearóid Murphy for O’Keane (inj., 46), Joe Prendergast for Fogarty (66), Oisín McGraynor for McDonald (69), Brian Nesbitt for Maguire (70+3).

Westmeath: Jason Daly; Daniel Scahill, Charlie Drumm, Jack Smith; Conor McCormack, David Lynch, Sam McCartan; Ronan Wallace, Andy McCormack; Jonathan Lynam, Ronan O'Toole, Conor Dillon; Luke Loughlin, Robbie Forde, Stephen Smith. Subs used: Nigel Harte for C McCormack (h-t), John Heslin for S Smith (44), Matthew Whittaker for Dillon (55), James Dolan for J Smith (55), Senan Baker for Forde (67).

Ref: Paddy Neilan (Roscommon).

The game in a nutshell

Man of the match

Dean Healy (Wicklow): In Ray Connellan’s absence, the St Patrick’s man was allowed to boss the midfield area. In addition, he kicked two fine points and set up both goals, with some observers feeling the first of these actually came directly from his long-range punt.

Key moments

Wicklow’s second preventable goal in the 53rd minute put them eight points clear and firmly on the way to a shock win. Ronan O’Toole’s powerful strike hit the crossbar for Westmeath earlier in the second half.

Stats watch

Wides - Wicklow 5 (first half, 2); Westmeath 6 (3).

‘45’s - Wicklow 1 (1); Westmeath 0 (0).

Yellow cards - Wicklow 0; Westmeath 1 – R O’Toole.

Black cards - Wicklow 1 – T Moran; Westmeath 0.

Red cards - None.

Ref watch

Paddy Neilan had a good game. Despite Wicklow’s understandable protests when he blew the game up in the 49th minute when they looked set to score, he was obliged to do so for a clash of heads.

Talking point

Will the real Westmeath team please stand up? Eight days after a fine display against Down in Croke Park, Sunday’s off-colour display was a really massive disappointment.

Next up

Wicklow face Kildare in the Leinster SFC quarter-final next Sunday. Westmeath will probably have to wait until April 28 to know whether they will be competing in the Sam Maguire Cup or the Tailteann Cup.