LEINSTER SFC QUARTER-FINAL: Westmeath 0-16 Wicklow 1-10:THERE'S REALLY no distinguishing the greater ordeal here – having sat through this match, or having to write about it.
Surely the only ones who took any pleasure from it are Dublin, who must realise they have little to fear when they meet Westmeath in two weeks time.
As if the standard of football wasn’t bad enough, we had to endure an extra helping of it – in the form of the dreaded extra-time. Fortunately, that did eventually distinguish between the two sides, as Wicklow finally buckled, allowing Westmeath to collapse over the finish line. It was the least convincing victory imaginable.
Any sense of excitement among the 7,300-crowd was restricted to the closing minutes of normal time, when Wicklow appeared to have stolen a winning advantage. Westmeath rallied hard and pulled out the equaliser – but at that stage Wicklow would have been the more deserving winners.
They missed a penalty early on and wasted a series of chances thereafter, but then they practically disappeared in extra-time, so that in the end Westmeath just about earned it.
The thought of having to summarise 90-plus minutes of such drudgery into 900 words was unbearable, until Mick O’Dwyer came to the rescue. His post-match comments still put the colour back into even the dullest afternoons. You’d have to wonder how much longer his 73-year-old ticker can endure the anxiety of those closing minutes of normal time, but he summed it up perfectly when he said Wicklow blew their chance there and then – although they certainly weren’t helped by the referee.
“There’s no point talking about refs,” he muttered, not entirely under his breath. “To hell with them!” Before he promptly added, out loud – “And they do a good job, considering. You can make up your mind yourself. I’ll talk about them when I’m finished with this game.”
O’Dwyer could have been pointing to any of a dozen incidents, but did isolate the injury to full back Damian Power on 47 minutes. He was down for several minutes (with a suspected broken ankle), but referee Joe McQuillan played on – during which time Conor Lynam made full use of the open space to collect one of his four points from play.
“He had to be taken off on a stretcher,” noted O’Dwyer, “and he (the referee) kept the play flowing. Sure that’s out of order completely. I think all the people out there saw what the situation was. He gave eight frees in a row there in extra-time, but that is part and parcel of the game.
“And we have nobody to blame only ourselves. We got the chances and we didn’t take them. And sure we should have won it in normal time. I have no doubt in my mind about it. We got a 45 and, it was badly hit, but we have nobody to blame only ourselves. And to be honest I don’t think we would be ready for Dublin.”
When Westmeath manager Tomás Ó Flaharta sits down to consider where his team must improve ahead of the Dublin match he better have a strong cup of coffee at hand. Some players performed well in patches, like defenders Kieran Gavin and John Keane, half forwards John Smyth and Doran Harte, and especially the 19-year-old Lynam, who made an impressive championship debut.
The big hope is David O’Shaughnessy and Dessie Dolan can maintain that recovery rate from recent injuries; O’Shaughnessy made a huge difference in extra-time, having missed all of last summer, and there’s hope as well that this match will have brought Martin Flanagan closer to his best.
“We toughed it out anyway,” said Ó Flaharta, “but there was certainly nothing special about the game. If you were a pundit you probably wouldn’t give Westmeath any hope at all against Dublin.”
There is, however, potential for considerable improvement. They’re certainly fit and plenty physical but their problem is bringing it all together. David Duffy still looks a little unsure at midfield, and later went off with a hand injury, yet James Stafford and Thomas Walsh won that sector hands down for Wicklow. Francis Boyle made some trademark runs forward and Denis Glennon made a few telling contributions.
Truth is Wicklow certainly wouldn’t have flattered themselves if they’d won this game easy in normal time. Tony Hannon had a mostly inadequate afternoon, missing the penalty on nine minutes, and sending four easy chances wide around the same time. He eventually converted their first free midway through the first half, and then shortly before the break Wicklow went in front: Walsh’s long ball was mishandled by Gary Connaughton, allowing Dean Odlum to shoot the ball into the open net.
Possession in the second half swung wildly in both directions, mainly because each team made one error after the other. Westmeath went back in front with five points without reply, including a nice one from Duffy, but then backed off again as Wicklow later responded with three of their own – including what appeared to be the winning free from Hannon.
When Fergal Wilson’s free drove it into extra-time, it still seemed like anyone’s game, but Westmeath had the heads and the legs to see them through over the added 20 minutes. Wilson added two more frees and in the end that was enough to put us all out of our misery.
WESTMEATH: 1 G Connaughton; 2 F Boyle (0-1), 3 K Gavin, 4 J Keane; 7 W Murtagh, 6 D Heavin, 5 D O'Donoghue; 8 M Flanagan, 9 D Duffy (0-1); 10 K Scally (0-1), 11 J Smyth, 12 D Harte; 13 F Wilson (0-5, four frees), 14 D Glennon (0-3, one free), 15 C Lynam (0-4). Subs: 19 M Ennis for Scally (39 mins), 18 D Healy for Heavin (60 mins), D Dolan (0-1, a free) for Harte (63 mins), D O'Shaughnessy for Flanagan (64 mins), J Connellan for Murtagh (68 mins), Harte for O'Donoghue (80 mins), Flanagan for Duffy (82 mins), 22 C Reilly for Smyth (89 mins). Y ellow-carded: F Boyle (9 mins), D Glennon (11 mins), D O'Donoghue (53 mins), W Murtagh (66 mins).
WICKLOW: 1 M Travers; 3 D Power, 2 C Hyland, 4 A Byrne; 5 P McWalter, 6 D Ó hAinnaidh, 7 P Dalton; 8 J Stafford (0-1), 9 T Walsh; 10 T Hannon (0-4, three frees), 11 L Glynn (0-1), 12 R Nolan; 13 D Odlam (1-1), 14 S Furlong (0-1, a free), 15 P Earls. Subs:19 B McGrath for Dalton (42 mins), 25 D Hayden (0-1) for Power (47 mins, inj), 30 S Kelly for Byrne (52 mins), C Jones for Nolan (65 mins), 26 JP Dalton (0-1) for Jones (75 mins), 29 P Cunningham for Earls (81 mins), Jones resumed as 15th man on for extra time. Yellow-carded: L Glynn (24 mins), C Hyland (39 mins), P McWalter (67 mins, 74 mins), D O hAnnaidh (88 mins). Red-carded: P McWalter (74 mins, second yellow, of normal time).
Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan)
