Westmeath capture All-Ireland U20 'B' title after epic final

Westmeath 1-15, Monaghan 1-15

(after extra-time; Westmeath win 3-1 on penalty kicks)

By Gerry Buckley

Oh what a night! Westmeath’s U20 footballers edged out a fine Monaghan side after a titanic battle in glorious conditions at an atmospheric Kinspan Breffni Park in Cavan on Wednesday night, Kenny McKinley’s young charges ultimately winning the Liam Connor Cup for the All-Ireland ‘B’ championship after a nerve-racking penalty shootout.

The mere fact that the sides were separated by just a point at half-time and were level at full-time in regulation play, in addition to parity at half-time and full-time in extra-time, says it all. Two well-coached and totally committed outfits were virtually inseparable.

Love them or hate them – and the general consensus would appear to strongly favour the latter viewpoint – penalty shootouts are now part and parcel of the GAA’s condensed programme, and it was the men in maroon and white who showed more composure to eke out a wonderful victory.

A Finn Duffy goal kept Westmeath in touch at half-time at which stage they trailed by a point, 1-7 to 1-6, and it was close and tense throughout. It was 1-10 apiece at the end of the third quarter, a wonderful two-pointer by Shane Corcoran keeping the Lake County's hopes alive.

It finished 1-13 apiece, Ronan Murray with a superb two-pointer for Westmeath in the 52nd minute and penalties were required to separate the teams. It was 1-15 each after two periods of extra-time, Oisin Shortall and Shane Corcoran with the Westmeath scores during that keenly contested spell.

Westmeath kept their composure better, failing just once from four spot-kicks, while Monaghan missed three, the first of them well saved by Luke Nicholson who was injured in the shootout (see sequence below).

The post-match celebrations on the Kingspan Breffni Park pitch among success-starved Westmeath fans had certainly no ‘B’ or second class feel to them. When the dust settled, Tadhg Baker was presented with the Liam Connor Cup by Michael Geoghegan, president of the Ulster GAA Council.

Penalty shootout sequence

Ryan Kelly – scored, W 1 M 0. Sean Callan – saved, W 1 M 0. Shane Corcoran – scored, W 2 M 0. Matthew Carolan – scored, W 2 M 1. Ronan Murray – scored, W 3 M 1. Mark McCaffrey – missed, W 3 M 1./ Taylor Slevin – saved, W 3 M 1. Killian Kearns – missed, W 3 M 1

Scorers – Westmeath: S Corcoran 0-5 (1 2pt), F Duffy 1-2 (0-2f), R Murray 0-3 (1 2pt), J Duncan 0-2, K Connell, O Shortall, G Mullaniff 0-1 each. Monaghan: M Finn 0-6 (1 2ptf, 1f, 1‘45’), P Doogan Burke 1-0, M Carolan, S Callan, S O’Connell 0-2 each, J Wright, N Meehan, O McGorman 0-1 each.

Westmeath: Luke Nicholson; Sean Dillon, Adam Keane, Seanaí Bracken; Aodhan Curran, Billy Moffatt, Gareth Mullaniff; Shane Ormsby, Tadhg Baker; Peter Murphy, Jack Duncan, Ronan Murray; Shane Corcoran, Keelan Connell, Finn Duffy. Subs used: Conor Callaghan for Moffatt (42), Ryan Kelly for Duffy (50), Tiarnán O’Donovan for Connell (56), Taylor Slevin for Curran (56), Oisín Shortall for Mullaniff (60+1), Matthew Thornton for Murray (e/t, 7), Keelan Connell for Callaghan (e/t, 19), Ronan Murray for Murphy (e/t, 20).

Monaghan: Oran Finnegan; Cathal McCooey, Johnny Wright, Harvey Colleran; Niall Meehan, Martin Quinn, Andrew Stewart; Matthew Conlon, Eoghan McFarlane; Sean Callan, Packie Doogan Burke, Tom Doherty; Killian Kearns, Sean O’Connell, Matthew Finn. Subs used: Mark McCaffrey for Stewart (h-t), Oisín McGorman for Kearns (h-t), Shea Casey for Colleran (38), Conor Jones for Doherty (60), Andrew Stewart for Casey (e/t, h-t), Killian Kearns for O’Connell (e/t, h-t), Tom Doherty for Meehan (e/t, 17).

Ref: Pat Clarke (Cavan).