Stunned Westmeath crash out of Leinster championship
Failing to fire in the first half, Westmeath crashed out of the Leinster senior football championship in bitterly disappointing fashion at Laois Hire O’Moore Park last Sunday, losing to Wicklow by a solitary point.
Oisín McConville’s side may have been relegated to Division 4, but they stunned Westmeath with a stirring first half display to lead by 1-5 to 0-1 at half-time before a scrappy second goal led them to a shock victory and Westmeath are now facing the prospect of a return to the Tailteann Cup.
Manager Dessie Dolan, whose side played against a strong wind in the first half, admitted being disappointed at the outcome. It comes a week after Westmeath won the Division 3 title against Down and copper-fastened their place in Division 2.
“We struggled to break them down and one point at half-time is not enough. The second (Wicklow) goal was a real sucker punch,” he mused.
“The players have given everything and anything I’ve asked of them, they have done. Wicklow deserve a lot of credit. They were the best team and they got the result. Fair play to (manager) Oisín McConville.”
Westmeath must now sit and wait to discover which championship they are in: they need Louth to reach the Leinster final and Down will also have to fail to qualify for the Ulster decider, otherwise Dolan’s men will be in the Tailteann Cup again. That would be a big blow after such a great campaign in the Sam Maguire Cup last year.
"It's very disappointing. Obviously we wanted to get a run in the Leinster championship, but it didn't happen. Right now it's just trying to process that and then we will figure out what's our next move," he said.
Clearly, four successive weekends took its toll on the panel. An injury to midfielder Ray Connellan meant Westmeath fielded a depleted side from the start against Wicklow and their lack of cover in that area left them exposed. It was put to Dolan that Westmeath struggled in the absence of their regular midfielder, while Kevin Maguire was also ruled out.
“I’d agree with that: there's nothing we can do; when lads are injured, they’re injured. There are a few more with him (Connellan). It is what it is: there’s nothing we can do. Just pick the players up. It’s disappointing,” he said.
Wicklow scored one first half goal, but could have had three were it not for a couple of saves from ‘keeper Jason Daly. Dolan was unimpressed with the defending for both Wicklow goals.
“Jason is a great goalie, but the two goals were soft. They were big scores in the game,” he pondered.
The 2004 Leinster winner said it was a day when very little went Westmeath’s way.
It felt a little like nothing was going right: we were trying to get back into it and it wasn’t working out. We struggled to get scores; they could afford to pick us off and they probably got decent opportunities at the other end,” he remarked.
After the previous weekend’s great victory in Croke Park, Sunday was a case of utter dejection for the Westmeath supporters who made the trip to Portlaoise.
“It (the league success) was a great weekend, absolutely. That’s sport. For us, the league was great and progression to Division 2 is important, but certainly you’d like to be getting a run in the Leinster championship, but it’s not to be. There’s another competition; we just have to regroup now and go at it again,” remarked Dolan.
The manager couldn't explain the decision to play against the wind in the first half: “I don’t know, David (Lynch) went for the toss so you can talk to him,” he said when queried on the tactic.