Westmeath go from strength to strength

These are stirring times in Westmeath. The euphoria which swept the county since their under-21 side beat Kerry in the All-Ireland final have continued and the effect has rubbed off on the senior side which took Longford apart at Cusack Park, Mullingar yesterday, beating them pulling up by a margin of 11 points. One fancies that Longford still valued their chances of victory as the first half reached its closing minute. They were trailing by 2-6 to 0-5 but then disaster befell them when Damien Healy sent Ger Heavin in for a body blow of a goal.

Worse was to follow as Westmeath cut loose after the break to score six points without replay in as many minutes and no one could blame Longford for looking ragged and spiritless.

They did manage to salvage some honour later in the half with two goals but one suspects that this was due to the fact that Westmeath took their foot off the pedal rather than a revival of Longford's spirits. All in all this was a fine performance by Westmeath. They hunted and harried with gusto and, if they made some mistakes in distribution of the ball, it was only in their eagerness to get on with the match. That first period was a credit to both sides. The ball was dry, the pitch was immaculate and a near capacity crowd enjoyed the speed and dexterity of both sides.

The official attendance was 11,711 but something in the region of 3,000 youngsters were admitted free and were not therefore registered at the turnstiles. It is indicative of the way the Westmeath County Board is going about its business that there is such enthusiasm for the game in the county right now. Westmeath lined out with four of the victorious under-21 side - Fergal Murray at left corner back, Aidan Canning at centre half, David O'Shaughnessy in midfield and Des Dolan in the left corner.

Two of them, Murray and Dolan, would have tied for the man of the match award. Murray, the smallest man on the field, made up for his lack of inches with a sparkling performance while Dolan, with a total of a goal and six points, was a constant worry to the Longford defence.

In the other corner of the Westmeath attack Ger Heavin had a tireless match and, with the full forward Martin Flanagan contributing a fine goal, the full forward line contributed a total of 3-11 to the overall total.

The first 20 minutes of the match was evenly contested with both sides willing to play attractive football. Heavin and Dolan give early warning of their intentions and although David Hannify and Enda Barden cut the lead to a point Dolan struck for the first goal after 17 minutes.

This was a splendidly worked effort with Paul Conway flicking the ball cleverly into Dolan's path and he stroked the ball expertly past John Joe Reilly in the Longford goal. Westmeath were opening up avenues through the Longford defence but faulty shooting let them down and with 25 minutes gone they were leading by 1-6 to 0-4 - not a big margin in the circumstances.

Longford were battling gamely but were finding it difficult to match the captain Rory O'Connell and David O'Shaughnessy in the middle of the field hard though David Hannify and Enda Barden tried.

Some indication of what was to come arrived in the 26th minute when Aidan Lyons burst out of defence and found Martin Flanagan who guided the ball to the net.

Longford were hopeful of regrouping as the break loomed but Dolan, Healy and Heavin combined for Heavin to send Longford into a tail spin with the last kick of the half and a lead of 3-6 to 0-5.

Westmeath's continued as they had left off when the match restarted and soon Longford were merely making up the numbers. At that stage Westmeath seemed to take a breather and with a lead of 3-15 to 0-5 built up is would be hard to blame them. To Longford's credit the never gave up the fight and goals by full forward Sheridan and half back Trevor Mullen took the bare look off the scoreboard without ever threatening Westmeath.

Westmeath now have Laois in their sights on June 13th and they will relish a trip to Croke Park as will their enthusiastic followers. The wide open spaces at headquarters will certainly suit their style of play which is a combination of a short passing game and long deliveries to players running wide along the wings. Of some concern to them will be the fitness of Paul Conway who was carried off on a stretcher after falling awkwardly in a tackle. However, he did stay on the bench to watch the end of the match.