Limerick defeat a setback for Westmeath
Tailteann Cup: Limerick 0-19, Westmeath 0-18
Westmeath’s hopes of a second Tailteann Cup title have suffered a setback as they came unstuck against a gritty Limerick side, at Laois Hire O’Moore Park today.
The Treaty County recorded a first ever victory over Westmeath in senior football as they claimed a one-point win to secure a place in the quarter-final. Westmeath will face a preliminary quarter-final next weekend, the draw for which has yet to be made.
Westmeath played with the aid of a lively breeze in the first half but apart from a brief spell when they opened up a three-point gap, they struggled and failed to score in the final 14 minutes.
Limerick led by 0-4 to 0-3 after 15 minutes of pretty poor football, a feature of which was Westmeath’s rather cautious approach as they allowed Limerick plenty of time on the ball. Limerick’s James Naughton was the early star with some fine scores against the breeze; Luke Loughlin looked liveliest for the Lake County, kicking a brace of points, while wingback Sam McCartan shot a quality score to bring the sides level in the 20th minute.
It took a superb two-pointer from midfielder Ray Connellan in the 24th minute to ignite the Westmeath challenge and they pushed three clear. Ronan Wallace appeared to have solid claims for a penalty in the 29th minute, but Tyrone referee Kieran Eannetta didn’t agree.
LImerick finished the half the superior slide and deservedly led by 0-10 to 0-8 at the interval - Westmeath struggling to find any form of consistency.
After 15 minutes of the second half, Limerick’s lead was five points, 0-15 to 0-10, and Westmeath had missed a glorious goal chance when Sam McCartan fisted wide, following Lorcan Dolan’s pass.
Seven unanswered points gave Westmeath renewed hope - Connellan, Wallace, Loughlin and McCartan to the fore - and they suddenly had a two-point lead with seven minutes remaining, 0-17 to 0-15. Loughlin kicked two fine efforts, while McCartan found the range in impressive fashion with the outside of the right boot.
However, Limerick produced a determined response and ‘keeper Josh Ryan slotted over a vital score (after Brandon Kelly’s fisted effort came off the upright) before centre forward Emmett Rigter kicked the winning point two minutes into added time - an additional three minutes another talking point.
Overall, though, Westmeath’s below-par first half effort proved costly, while they left too many scoring opportunities behind in the second half, including a couple of goal chances. Their execution simply wasn’t clinical enough and they coughed up possession from their own kickout far too often.
Scorers - Limerick: J Naughton 0-8 (2f), E Rigter 0-3, D Neville 0-2, J Ryan, P Maher, T Childs, D Murray, P Nash (f) and R Childs 0-1 each.
Westmeath: L Loughlin 0-7 (1f), R Connellan 0-3 (1 tp), R Wallace and S McCartan 0-2 each, K O’Sullivan, N Harte, S Smith and L Dolan 0-1 each.
Limerick: Josh Ryan; Jason Hasset, Darren O’Doherty, Mark McCarthy; Paul Maher, Iain Corbett, Tony McCarthy; Tommy Childs, Darragh O’Hagan; James Naughton, Emmett Rigter, Cillian Fahy; Peter Nash, Danny Neville, Killian Ryan. Subs: Darragh Murray for Fahy (46), Rory O’Brien for Maher (57), Rob Childs for T Childs (57), Andrew Meade for Neville (69).
Westmeath: Conor McCormack; David GIles, Sam Smyth, Jamie Gonoud; Joseph Moran, Ronan Wallace, Sam McCartan; Ray Connellan, Eoghan McCabe; Matthew Whittaker, Kevin O’Sullivan, Nigel Harte; Luke Loughlin, Stephen Smith, Lorcan Dolan. Subs: Brian Cooney for McCabe (28), Tadhg Baker for Harte (inj., 35), Daniel Scahill for GIles (h-t), Brandon Kelly for Dolan (52), Shane Allen for Connellan (inj., 68).
Ref: Kieran Eannetta (Tyrone).