Roscommon end long wait as Westmeath miss out again

Rocommon 2-14, Westmeath 2-10

Eamon A. Donoghue

Roscommon showed their capabilities and are now heading to Croke Park for the first time in 25 years after beating neighbours Westmeath at Kingspan Breffni Park last Sunday.

Westmeath came into this All-Ireland semi-final as favourites and rightly so. After all, they won the Leinster intermediate title and were unbeaten on their way to this semi-final. They have some quality footballers like Anna Jones and Sarah Dillon - players as good as any in the country.

What might be missed by those that haven’t seen much of Roscommon in recent years is that they have displayed signs of progress, with some ups and downs along the way. Finbar Egan's squad have shown at times that they are a match for almost any opposition in the country.

In 2025, Roscommon were plying their trade in a tough NFL Division 2 - a division that consisted of Galway, Donegal and Cork - and the Rossies matched each opponent stride for stride and they were controversially relegated back to Division 3.

And this year, they have bounced back again after their no show in that heavy defeat to Leitrim in the Connacht intermediate final. They have gone on a winning run by beating Down, Leitrim and now Westmeath. This win is not as big a surprise as some might think.

Overall, these are exciting times for Roscommon in ladies football at the moment. Their U16s are in the All-Ireland ‘B’ final, their minors are in the All-Ireland ‘A’ final, and no doubt the recent wins for the underage teams inspired the seniors who are now also into an All-Ireland final. Three All-Ireland finals coming up and all three can be won.

On a beautiful warm day in Cavan - with Westmeath supporters outnumbering their Roscommon counterparts by about 5/1 - the atmosphere was electric and both teams threw themselves into the game.

Westmeath attacked with great intent in the opening quarter but they kicked wide after wide, whereas Roscommon’s attacks ended with scores. Aisling Feely hit a brace of scores and hard-working midfielder Abby Curran kicked a point on the run after evading a number of opponents. With 12 minutes gone, Westmeath had failed to raise a flag, but they soon raised the green one.

Sarah Dillion got on the end of excellent combination play and her piledriver towards the bottom corner was parried out for a 45 by the impressive Helena Cummins. From the resulting 45, Anna Jones’s huge kick went all the way into the net via a touch from the Roscommon keeper, who was under pressure from Lucy McCartan. Perhaps keeper Cummins could have done better with the high ball on this occasion.

Moments later, powerhouse player Ashley Ruane stormed through the Roscommon rearguard before unleashing an unstoppable shot to the net and, suddenly, Westmeath were in the ascendancy thanks to those two goals, one of which was very fortunate.

Roscommon weren’t deterred by the two sucker punch goals. Clann na nGael’s Róise Lennon scored a goal for her side at the second time of asking; her first attempt was blocked, but she persevered and forced the ball over the line past Athlone's Aoife Temple.

With Laura Mannion and the electric Ella Thompson kicking scores, Roscommon were back in the ascendancy by the bare minimum, 1-5 to 2-1, in the 28th minute.

Westmeath finished the first half strongly though. In what was their most dominant period of the game, Dillion kicked two textbook scores on the loop and then Jones curled over a free from out near the left sideline. Westmeath led 2-4 to 1-5 at half-time.

Whatever Finbar Egan and his backroom staff said to his troops at the break, they came out fired up, confident and ready to put their hand up in the second half.

Although minor star Katie Kilmurray opened the second half scoring for Westmeath, Roscommon then built up strong momentum, driven on by the outstanding duo of wing-backs Ella Thompson and Saoirse Wynne. Róise Lennon, Caoimhe Lennon and Thompson all kicked rousing scores that had the Roscommon supporters raising the volume.

Chloe Kelly Gonoud scored for Westmeath, but it was sandwiched again by three more Roscommon scores without reply. Thompson kicked her third point, roving up from half-back, and the deadly accurate Feely found the range with another brace. Leading 1-11 to 2-6, Roscommon’s confidence was sky high at that stage. They looked like a rejuvenated team.

Westmeath weren’t finished yet though. The excellent Dillon kicked her brace of points and the outstanding Jones kicked a massive two-pointer free off the ground to level the game, with the clock going red.

Roscommon have a small squad of players but they had quality to come on in Lauren Shanagher and the Northern Harps player scored 1-1 off the bench. Her stoppage-time goal was crucial in securing Roscommon's victory and a date in the final at Croke Park against Fermanagh. Shanagher’s goal was very fortunate, her point attempt dropped short, but went in off the post and into the net, deceiving Aoife Temple in goal.

This was Westmeath’s second All-Ireland semi-final in succession to lose, having been edged out by Tyrone after extra-time last year, and they will be disappointed. But they seem to be just a bit of luck away from getting back to an All-Ireland final in the near future.

For Roscommon, there should be plenty of pep in their step ahead of the final as they aim to make the most of this opportunity to win an All-Ireland title.

Scorers - Roscommon: A Feely 0-6 (3f); L Shanagher and R Lennon 1-1 each; E Thompson 0-3; A Curran, L Mannion and C Lennon 0-1 each. Westmeath: A Jones 1-3, (1-0 '45', 1tpf, 1f); S Dillon 0-4; A Ruane 1-0; C Kelly Gonoud, C Kilmurray and K Kilmurray 0-1 each.

Roscommon - Helena Cummins; Áine Connaughton, Megan McKeon, Áine McGrath, Niamh Feeney, Saoirse Wynne, Ella Thompson; Ellen Irwin, Abby Curran, Kate Nolan, Ruth Cox, Laura Mannion, Róise Lennon, Aisling Feely, Caoimhe Lennon. Subs: Lauren Shanagher for R Lennon (50 mins), Niamh Watson for Nolan (50), Rachel Fitzmaurice for Irwin (59), Grainne Lohan for Feeney (60).

Westmeath - Aoife Temple; Fiona Coyle, Chloe Kelly Gonoud, Sarah Murphy; Lucy Power, Ashley Ruane, Lara McCartan; Anna Jones, Caoimhe Kilmurray; Aoife Keegan, Lucy McCartan, Tracey Dillon; Sarah Dillon, Rebecca Higgins, Katie Kilmurray. Sub: Philippa Ruane for A Keegan (h-t).

Referee - David Hurson (Monaghan).