A last-minute point by leading scorer Tony Hannon gave Wicklow a draw against defending champions Westmeath, the defending All-Ireland under-21 football champions, in a tremendous quarter-final tie at Aughrim yesterday. The replay will be in Mullingar on Saturday.
Wicklow set the pace early on in both halves, going 0-5 to 0-2 ahead in the first and 0-9 to 0-7 after 20 minutes of the second. However, Westmeath fought back tenaciously with Fergal Wilson (scorer of five points) the most effective.
The home side were guilty of shooting six wides in the opening 20 minutes of the second period. And Westmeath also had their chances, with Dessie Dolan missing two good opportunities to net. In the first half his shot was smothered by Brendan Daly, while he crashed the ball against the crossbar in the second after finding himself in the clear with only goalkeeper Raymond Daniels to beat.
WICKLOW: R Daniels, O O hAnnaidh, G Wynn, B Daly, A Foley, J Mooney, C Twomey, B Sheehan, G Jameson, A Nolan (0-2), G Doran, T Hannon (0-5), K Furlong, A Ellis (0-2), T O'Donnell (0-1). Subs: K Foster for Sheehan; J P Foley for Furlong.
WESTMEATH: G Connaughton, M Burke, D Kilmartin, B Murphy, J Keane, J Coyne, S Donohue, K Burke, J Brennan (0-1), F Wilson (0-5), R Brown (0-1), G Duffy, J P Casey (0-1), D Heavin, D Dolan (0-2). Subs: T Carey for Brown; E FLeming for K Burke.
Referee: B White (Wexford).
