Wicklow stun Westmeath in first round of Leinster championship

Leinster SFC Round 1: Wicklow 2-9 Westmeath 1-11

A game of two wind-aided halves and madly rising tension, and in the end a victory for Wicklow as stunning as it was deserving. At least the opening round of the Leinster football championship still offers some rattle and hum.

“The madness at the end of that game is what championship is all about,” said Oisín McConville, and the Wicklow manager was right about that. “People missed out on that today who weren’t here.”

It won’t be easily forgotten by the small band of Wicklow supporters in attendance, setting up another quarter-final shot against Kildare next weekend. For Westmeath it marked an unexpected comedown after their Division Three triumph last weekend, manager Dessie Dolan at more of a loss to explain it.

That it finished in a one-point win was reflective of the effort of both teams, Wicklow just doing enough to hold on, Westmeath falling just short despite hitting the last five points of the game.

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“It had a been a tough start to the year, but if you talk to me about Wicklow identity, this is it,” added McConville, the Armagh All-Ireland winner in his second season with the Garden County. “They’ll give you absolutely everything until they can’t give you anymore. And to grind that out in the end is just brilliant, and more of a reflection of who we are, and what we’re about.”

Wicklow had that strong wind advantage in the first half (Westmeath winning the toss, but electing to play into the wind) and made good use of it, going seven points up at the break, 1-5 to 0-1. The question of whether that would be enough wasn’t answered until the last few seconds.

“It didn’t matter, because our intention was to play with the wind anyway,” said McConville. “I didn’t think seven points would be enough, but when we came back out the wind wasn’t quite as strong, and I knew we still had a bit of pace in the team. And when we play like that, we are a hard match.”

Indeed they are: Dean Healy absolutely lorded midfield, one of his best performance in his long years of Wicklow service, finishing with 1-2, Christopher O’Brien and John Paul Nolan also adding key scores at crucial times.

Westmeath started well with the wind and hit the first three points without reply, Robbie Forde’s point coming after Ronan O’Toole’s shot rebounded back off the crossbar. But on 52 minutes Wicklow had their second goal; Healy shot from distance, the ball bounced into the Westmeath box and Nolan fisted home from close range.

It was do-or-die now for Westmeath, and Dolan’s team finally found some true attacking spirit, Jonathan Lynam striking right back with their goal on 53 minutes. But still that late run of scores from Luke Loughlin and John Heslin came just a little too late.

“Disappointing, certainly,” said Dolan. “You want to get a decent run in the Leinster championship, that didn’t happen, so we will have to figure that out.

“In fairness Wicklow deserve a lot of credit, dug in hard in the first half, defended hard and honest. We tried to throw more at it in the second half, but the two goals I felt were soft, and they were big scores in the game. We’ll just have to regroup, there’s another competition, and go at it again.”

Westmeath were struggling on two fronts in that first half: into the wind, and into Wicklow’s defensive set up. Whatever possession Wicklow were winning was put to far better use, Jonathan Carlin forcing the first of two big saves from Wicklow keeper Jason Daly.

After stringing a near century of passes Westmeath eventually found a way through in the 22nd minute, Loughlin scoring from close range.

Confidence soaring, Wicklow pressed up more, and on 25 minutes were rewarded with a superb goal by Healy. His thundering shot at goal was aimed at Jack Kirwan, who did reach for it, but it didn’t need any assistance as it rifled into the top right corner.

Moments later Daly saved Westmeath again, Wicklow’s third clear-cut goal chance of the half. Before the break O’Brien added his second for Wicklow, and they went in 1-5 to 0-1 in front.

Westmeath unquestionably finished stronger, Wicklow’s Tom Moran black-carded for a foul on Loughlin as the clock spilled into added time. Wicklow though survived the madness and rattle on.

Wicklow: S Doyle; T Moran, C McDonald, E Murtagh; M Nolan, P O’Keane, G Fogarty; D Healy (1-2), C Maguire; D Fee, C O’Brien (0-3), J Kirwan; J Carlin, K Quinn (0-2, both frees), JP Nolan (1-2, one 45). Subs: J McCall for Murtagh (half-time), G Murphy for O’Keane (46 mins, inj), J Prendergast for Fogarty (66 mins), O McGraynor for McDonald (69 mins), B Nesbitt for Maguire (73 mins).

Westmeath: J Daly; D Scahill, C Drumm, J Smith; C McCormack, D Lynch, S McCartan (0-1); R Wallace, A McCormack; J Lynam (1-0), R O’Toole (o-1), C Dillon; L Loughlin (0-5, two frees), R Forde (0-2, one free), S Smith. Subs: N Harte for McCormack (half-time), J Heslin (0-2, one free) for Smith (44 mins), J Dolan for J Smith, M Whittaker for Dillon (both 54 minutes), S Baker for Forde (67 mins).

Referee: Paddy Neilan (Roscommon).