Westmeath beat Down to get off the mark in the Joe McDonagh Cup
Despite shooting 16 wides to the losers' eight, Westmeath's senior hurlers notched their first points in this year's Joe McDonagh Cup with a hard-earned but fully deserved win against Down in front of a small crowd at sun-drenched TEG Cusack Park in Mullingar, leaving Ronan Sheahan's troops firmly rooted at the bottom of the table and struggling to avoid dropping into the Christy Ring Cup.
The sides were tied at 0-02 each – the best of the four scores coming from a wind-assisted Paul Sheehan sideline cut – when a foul on Peter Clarke by Tom Murray in the seventh minute resulted in the Down defender being black-carded. David Williams expertly converted the resultant penalty.
Williams and Sheehan were on song from placed balls as the half continued, with the home team slightly on top and never headed since the fourth minute. The teams were on level terms (1-06 to 0-09) with 25 minutes on the clock, but Seoirse Bulfin's charges finished the half much the stronger by scoring five unanswered points from play via Eamon Cunneen, Williams, Clarke, David O'Reilly and Mark Cunningham (his third of the half, moments after Stephen Keith had saved superbly from a Darragh McCormack rasper). Westmeath led by 1-11 to 0-09 at the break.
While the Lake County men always looked slightly the better side, they struggled to put away their opponents despite the Ulster side having shipped two huge defeats in their opening brace of ties. Sheahan's accuracy kept the Mourne County outfit well in touch and they trailed by just a goal (1-14 to 0-14) with a quarter of an hour played in the second moiety.
The winners doubled their lead to six points by the hour mark, with Cunneen, O'Reilly, Cunningham and Niall O'Brien - who finished with 13 points from open play between them - always capable of taking handy scores when the chances arose, while high-profile sub Killian Doyle also bolstered their attack when introduced in the 43rd minute. Down never really threatened to get the goal which would have reignited their challenge.
The gap was seven points (1-23 to 0-19) when Williams was red-carded in the 69th minute on the advice of the linesman. A minimum of five minutes' added-time was announced, but Westmeath never looked in danger of being overturned. Indeed, they pounced for a decisive second goal in the third of these, with three subs involved, as Kevin Regan and Niall Mitchell combined for Joey Boyle to rifle the sliotar to the net from close range to secure an invaluable first victory for a team which had been one of the pre-competition favourites.
Westmeath: Ciaran O'Brien; Conor Gaffney, Tommy Doyle, Gary Greville; Eoin Keyes, Robbie Greville, David Hickey (0-01); Davy Glennon, Eamon Cunneen (0-04); David O'Reilly (0-03), Darragh McCormack, Mark Cunningham (0-03); Peter Clarke (0-01), Niall O'Brien (0-03), David Williams (1-06, 1-00 pen, 0-06 frees). Subs: Killian Doyle (0-02, 0-01 free) for Clarke (43), Kevin Regan for Glennon (54), Niall Mitchell (0-01) for McCormack (61), Joey Boyle (1-00) for Cunningham (69), Adam Ennis for Hickey (70+3).
Down: Stephen Keith; Matt Conlan, John McManus, Tom Murray (0-02); Niall McFarland, Ruairí McCrickard, Liam Savage; Donal Hughes, Phelim Savage; Paul Sheehan (0-11, 0-08 frees, 0-01 lineball, 0-01 '65'), Ben Teggart, Eoghan Sands (0-02); Finn Turpin (0-01), Daithí Sands, Pearse Óg McCrickard (0-02). Subs: Tim Prenter (0-02) for P Óg McCrickard (45), Michael Dorrian for P Savage (53), Shea Pucci for L Savage (61), Marc Fisher for Teggart (69).
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