Footballers faltered in nightmare finish in Mullingar

THE PREDICTABLY small Wexford following in sunny Cusack Park, Mullingar, on June 14, 2015, dared to dream with 13 minutes left of the Leinster Senior football championship quarter-final against Westmeath.

Corner-forward Kevin O’Grady had just fired over a brace of quickfire points and the unfancied visitors were leading by 0-14 to 0-12 as the natives started to grow restless.

Alas, games can change in the blink of an eye, and the closing stages proved the stuff of nightmares as Westmeath outscored their rivals by a whopping 1-9 to 0-1 to advance to a semi-final clash with Meath on June 28.

It was easy enough to highlight the turning point, as Tom Cribbin’s side were gifted a goal in the 60th minute which undid so much of Wexford’s good work and also bestowed that most precious of commodities in the last quarter of any game - momentum - on the midlanders.

Wexford gave the ball away cheaply in the right half-back sector, and Westmeath quickly availed of an overlap, with possession transferred to team captain Ger Egan who handpassed it across the square for Kieran Martin to finish with aplomb.

Another cheap loss of the ball was punished once more as Egan fisted a point, but Westmeath did enjoy one mighty let-off before driving on for home.

It occurred in the 64th minute when some space opened up for Simon Donohoe as he moved forward before picking out John Tubritt to his right.

He found Kevin O’Grady lurking near the left post with an instinctive handpass but, just as the corner-forward pulled the trigger for what looked like a certain goal, the man who had netted at the other end, Kieran Martin, dived on his boot to make a magnificent block and the chance was lost.

Wexford had trailed by the minimum margin at half-time (0-8 to 0-7), but that late collapse left them facing a clash with Down in the All-Ireland qualifiers.

Wexford: Shane Roche; Joey Wadding (01), Naomhan Rossiter, Michael Furlong; Brian Malone, Simon Donohoe, Adrian Flynn (0-2); Syl Byrne, Colm Kehoe (0-1); Kieran Butler, Ben Brosnan (0-1 free), Tiarnan Rossiter; Eoghan Nolan, Ciarán Lyng (capt., 0-8, 6 frees), Kevin O’Grady (0-2). Subs. - Rob Tierney for Furlong, inj. (16), Paddy Byrne for Kehoe, black card (41), John Tubritt for Nolan (48), Michael O’Regan for T. Rossiter (52), Graeme Molloy for Flynn (61).