McKinley calls on players to ‘go for it’ in knockout clash
Westmeath U20 footballers face Dublin tonight (Wednesday) in Kinnegad (throw-in 7.30pm) in what is a winner-takes-all game, while a draw will do the visitors.
Looking forward to the eagerly-awaited contest, Westmeath U20 manager Kenny McKinley said: “It’s knockout now, and all you ever want is to have your destiny in your own hands. We’ve got to come out fighting against Dublin and go for it.
"I’d have taken this at the start of this campaign. Last year, we won the first game, but by the third game we pretty much knew we weren’t going through. It’s there for the taking. It will be dog-eat-dog in a home match for us," continued McKinley (see Westmeath team list for the Dublin game below).
Referring to the Westmeath minors' "great win" against Dublin last week, McKinley said: "They led the way for us. We just have to row in behind them and follow.”
Louth - who were impressive in defeating Westmeath in the opening round - are already assured of a knockout slot.
McKinley was delighted that his side’s deserved three-point win in Wexford last week has kept alive his troops’ chances of advancing to the knockout stages of the Leinster championship.
The 1995 All-Ireland minor medal winner was in a pragmatic mood when he spoke to the media in Chadwicks Wexford Park after the game. “A one-point win down here would have done grand and we’re just thankful for the win. We just didn’t perform the last day (against Louth) which was very disappointing. We had a big, big chat on Sunday and we said we owed ourselves, the county, and people who follow us a big performance,” he stated.
When it was put to him that Will Scahill’s marvellous individual goal turned the game in Westmeath’s favour, he concurred. “Their goal was a sucker punch to us but, without a shadow of a doubt, the key was Will’s brilliant goal so soon afterwards. It took away that sucker punch feeling. It was absolutely critical. He showed great composure. It showed huge psychological belief in the lads.
"We shipped a bad beating last week, there’s no doubt about it. Lads could have been on the ground, but they dusted themselves off. That was a tough match out there this evening,” he said.
The game was up for grabs approaching the end of normal time, with some of the small band of visiting fans concerned about being caught with a last-gasp goal as had happened the senior team just ten days earlier, but Taylor Slevin’s monster free was the decisive score. In this regard, the former St Loman’s player joked: “He was standing over it long enough and, as one of the lads said to him, ‘you’re either going to kick it or you’re not’! And then he absolutely nailed it.
"We chipped away before that with some really good scores. Henry Duncan got a score. Cillian Rochford didn’t get a run last week and we brought him in tonight. He was very composed and ended up with three points from play which was really, really good. From a management point of view, we’d be really happy that the few changes worked very well.”
Westmeath team (vs Dublin): James Mitchell; Taylor Slevin, Ty Masterson, Adam Glynn; Conor Daly, Cian Whitney, Brian Doyle; Kealan Connell, Criostóir Ormsby; Donnacha Maguire, Will Scahill, Mikey Weir; Matthew Thornton, James McHugh, Cillian Rochford. Subs: Adam Buckley, Eoghan Daly, Ben Sheerin, Henry Duncan, Neale Pierson, Paul Keegan, Oisin Mulvihill, Brian Ronan, Sean Whittaker, Cormac Murphy, Darragh Delaney, Hagan Niall, Cian Corcoran, Gavin Pierce, Darragh Madden.