Meath show their survival instincts

The deafening silence emanating from Meath in recent weeks was no con job; it bore all the hallmarks of a side in troubled waters. Yesterday, however, Meath - shoved aside and outplayed for the guts of an hour - proved that the survival instincts remain as potent as ever when the need is greatest in snatching an unlikely win over Westmeath in an enthralling Leinster football quarter-final.

"Worried? It took all our experience and guile to get through by the skin of our teeth," remarked Sean Boylan who has spent too long traipsing up and down sidelines to be surprised by anything. In truth, though, this was a match that genuinely seemed to have escaped their grasp and was only rescued by a combination of that old Meath resilience, some poor shooting in the final moments from Westmeath (inexperience, perhaps) and some rather curious refereeing decisions.

This was a hard lesson for Westmeath. They have travelled a long road to reach this stage of their development, and to lead from the 28th second of a match and not trail until an injury-time free over 70 minutes later is a hard pill to swallow. The job now is to pick themselves up, regroup and realise that their summer is not yet over, if only thanks to the second-chance saloon.

They shouldn't have needed any second chance, however. From the time that Ger Heavin flashed the ball to the back of the Meath net with less than a minute gone, this was a match Westmeath owned. At centrefield, Rory O'Connell and David O'Shaughnessy called the shots and, up front, Heavin had one of those days that forwards tend to only dream about.

In contrast, Meath were all over the place. Players were chopped and changed in an effort to stem the tide - successfully in the end, it should be noted - and what happened to Nigel Nestor probably demonstrates the streak of toughness that runs through your typical Meath side. He was hauled ashore after six minutes due to a dislocated finger yet returned to the fray (mended and with four stitches to prove the point) at a time his side were being seriously overrun to instil some heart into their fight-back.

The start to the game was quite remarkable in that it was all Westmeath. Within 11 minutes, they had chalked up a 1-4 total - and Meath were to wait a further three minutes to claim their opening score, starting as they ended with a Trevor Giles free - and the football was pure and refreshing. Heavin, scorer of the quick-fire goal, was tormentor-in-chief and, ultimately, his dominance of Mark O'Reilly led to the defender being substituted early in the second-half.

Once Giles scored Meath's first point, it was left to his boot to keep them in the game. Whether from frees or 45s, he duly delivered; but matches often turn on a moment of fortune. Meath's came in the 30th minute when Ollie Murphy's sideline kick was met by the in-running Graham Geraghty who got a touch to send the ball past goalkeeper Cathal Mullin and into the net.

Westmeath reached the break as two-point leaders - 1-7 to 1-5 - but continued to dominant on the restart. Heavin pointed and then orchestrated a move that demonstrated all that was good about Westmeath's football as he passed to Michael Ennis, who in turn found Des Dolan. He side-stepped O'Reilly and curled the ball over and, by the 46th minute, they were six points ahead and seemingly out of touch.

When Anthony Moyles was given a straight red card by referee Niall Barrett in the 56th minute, Westmeath's hand seemed to be further strengthened. Fergal Wilson responded immediately with a point but that was to prove their last score. Five points behind at this stage, Meath's reaction was to fight for their lives. Ollie Murphy won a ball he had no right to win to signal the comeback and, watched by two defenders who wondered how he had managed to gain possession, he fired to the back of the net in the 58th minute.

Nestor and substitute Ray Magee then provided points from play to draw level and, when Dave Mitchell was sent off for a second yellow card (for a foul on Murphy), the two sides were back to equity. Giles's free in injury-time gave Meath the lead for the first time and, as Westmeath went in earnest chase of an equaliser, referee Barrett made a couple of strange decisions to throw in the ball rather than award free kicks. In the end, Westmeath's Joe Fallon did eventually have the chance to equalise with a 45-metre free - but his shot swung wide, and Meath's silence was again transformed into more customary raucous behaviour.

In securing victory, Meath's selectors were forced to change their side throughout the game. In fact, Donal Curtis, brought on as a forward, was the player who made some telling clearances late on, while Geraghty's most important work came when brought out to shore up midfield for the final 10 minutes.

"You never lose faith, and you never lose hope," said Meath manager Boylan of his afternoon's travails. "But, to be honest, I'd have been happy just to get a draw the way things were going."

Westmeath manager Luke Dempsey, meanwhile, was unhappy with some refereeing decisions. "My own theory on it is that referees, whatever is in their psyche, will always favour the stronger county . . . there were decisions out there, especially near the end, when our players were clearly fouled. But, at the end of the day, the bottom line is that we didn't take our chances."