Galway's flourish floors Westmeath

Galway 2-10 Westmeath 0-11:NEW RULES, same old story.

How many times down the years have we witnessed this phenomenon? A team has a man sent off and those left on the field feel a duty to prove a point.

Yesterday, as an icy wind whipped around Cusack Park, Galway – reduced to 14 men with Barry Cullinane’s straight red card in the 53rd minute – proved their superiority only when playing with a numerical inferiority.

Strangely, before Cullinane’s trailing arm connected with Dessie Dolan to earn the wrath of referee Brian Crowe, Galway appeared in most trouble. Their two-point half-time lead had disappeared and Westmeath, with the wind, strutted around with a cockiness – and a gameplan – that looked likely to ensure a winning opening to their league campaign.

It was not to be, however.

Who knows what happened? Maybe Westmeath took their foot off the pedal. Maybe Galway upped their work-rate to superhuman proportions, chasing and harrying when without the ball and keeping and utilising possession when it came their way.

The one certainty was the result, as Galway – previously frustrated by Westmeath goalkeeper Gary Connaughton’s excellence and also by the woodwork – manufactured two goals at the business end of the match that made the difference and left the home side wondering where it had all gone so horribly wrong.

The two goals acted like daggers in Westmeath hearts. The first, in the 57th minute, came just a minute after Westmeath’s Denis Glennon had kicked his side into a one point lead. It had a touch of good fortune, although Jonathan Ryan finished superbly when given the chance. When Galway wing back Darren Mullahy played a ball in to the danger zone, Westmeath defenders Francis Boyle and John Keane were favourites to claim it.

They didn’t, the pair colliding and, when the ball broke to Ryan, he finished with aplomb. It moved Galway into a 1-8 to 0-9 lead.

The scoring sequence was further extended with points from Paul Conroy and Michael Meehan, before the critical second goal in the 69th minute. Meehan, who’d seen a first-half penalty crash over for a point off the crossbar, moved ahead of his marker Kieran Gavin to collect an intelligent pass from Joe Bergin. Meehan, wily old fox that he is, made no mistake and placed the ball beyond Connaughton. Game over, and much head scratching for Westmeath.

In the first half, Westmeath had shown great character to hang on to Galway. Playing into a strong wind, the decision to use Doran Harte as a kind of libero in defence, cleaning up loose ball, worked a charm, while teenager Thomas McDaniel in one corner-forward position and Dolan in the other proved to be twin thorns to Galway’s defence as they kept Westmeath in touch.

Additionally, Galway – despite dominating possession – couldn’t break through the Westmeath defence. On the occasions goalscoring chances arose in that first half, Meehan, who admittedly was to have the last laugh, couldn’t take them – in the 12th minute, he’d seen a shot brilliantly stopped by Connaughton and, then, after Keane had fouled Nicky Joyce, he could only manage a point from the penalty spot.

So it was that Westmeath, despite trailing by two points, 0-7 to 0-5, at the break, could actually reflect on a good 35 minutes work. But their work was only half-done; and, ultimately, they were to get found out.

Still, Westmeath started the second half much the brighter. Although Meehan pointed a free to stretch Galway’s lead to three points within a minute of the resumption, McDaniel, only 18 and an obvious talent, linked up with Glennon to kick his third point from play and then Dolan and Glennon kicked points to level matters at 0-8 apiece.

In fact, everything seemed to be going Westmeath’s way. Referee Crowe had shown a great reluctance to reach for the yellow card in the first half but changed his tune in the second half, with Galway defenders David Reilly and Finian Hanley seeing yellow inside a couple of minutes of each other and, then, Cullinane getting a straight red.

However, the disruptions to the Galway team didn’t do them any harm. If anything, the opposite proved to be the case as they responded by increasing their work-rate and, more crucially, demonstrating a ruthlessness in front of the posts that left Westmeath wondering what had hit them.

GALWAY: P Doherty; N Coyne, F Hanley, D Reilly; G Bradshaw, D Blake, D Mullahy; B Cullinane, G O’Donnell; P Conroy (0-1), P Joyce (0-1), J Bergin; C Bane (0-1), M Meehan (1-5, three frees, one penalty), N Joyce (0-2). Subs: S Armstrong for Bane (41 mins), A Faherty for Doherty (44 mins), M Lydon for Reilly (48 mins, yellow), J Ryan (1-0) for N Joyce (49 mins), D Finnegan for Hanley (50 mins).

WESTMEATH: G Connaughton; F Boyle, K Gavin, J Keane; M Ennis, D Heavin, W Murtagh; D O’Donoghue, P Bannon; P Kelly (0-1), E Leonard, D Harte; T McDaniel (0-3), D Glennon (0-3, one free), D Dolan (0-3, all frees). Subs: D Duffy for P Bannon (36 mins), J Smyth for Leonard (40 mins), K Scally for Kelly (51 mins), F Spollen for Murtagh (56 mins), D Bannon (0-1) for Smyth (64 mins, yellow), A Browne for Spollen (69 mins).

Referee: B Crowe (Cavan).