Cup victory a perfect warm-up for Leinster
A COMPETITION that started at the tail end of last year reached a finale when Meath picked up the silverware on offer in this O’Byrne Cup decider at TEG Cusack Park, Mullingar, on Sunday.
It seemed an eternity since Meath had their first outing of the campaign, in Carlow on January 3rd, and therefore it was understandable when Leinster PRO Martin O’Halloran mistakenly announced at the final whistle that provincial chairman Jim Bolger would present the 2017 O’Byrne Cup to winning captain Bryan Menton.
Snowdrifts and fixture logjams ensured that the final had to be
Meath Westmeath 4-13 1-13
postponed on a number of occasions. It was probably fitting, though, that the game was played in conditions akin to a ‘championship Sunday’ - mild and breezy on a firm surface.
It was the Royals’ 10th success in the competition, but once the formalities of the presentation were finished the focus quickly turned to the championship and the visit to Pearse Park, Longford, in two weeks’ time.
Meath ensured that their last outing before the clash with the midlanders was a testing one as they played much of the game with 14 following the opening-half dismissal of midfielder Paddy Kennelly, and some of it with 13 after Eamon Wallace saw red in the closing stages.
Westmeath were a spent force by the time of Wallace’s sending-off, a straight red card following an altercation with Jamie Gonoud along the sideline. However, the departure of Kennelly on receipt of a second yellow for a high challenge on Kevin Martin - five minutes after he received his first - could have made life difficult.
Andy McEntee’s side were ahead 2-3 to 0-4 at the time and quickly added another point before Westmeath cut the deficit with a goal from Callum McCormack. The hosts managed to reduce the arrears to two points on a number of occasions before half-time and at the break were three behind, Meath leading 2-7 to 1-7.
The difference was back to two points within 30 seconds of the restart, but that was as good as it got for Colin Kelly’s side as Meath gradually went further and further ahead.
Westmeath simply had no answer to Donal Lenihan who was in sparkling form in the Meath attack throughout and the Dunboyne man finished with a personal tally of 2-8, with half of the points tally coming from placed balls.
Afterwards, Meath boss Andy McEntee agreed that the game provided a good preparation for the championship, while the sendings-off left his side needing to be more competitive.
‘Getting reduced in numbers is not what you want, but it meant that lads had to work that little bit harder and it was good to see that they were prepared to do that,’ McEntee said afterwards.
‘I don’t know how much Westmeath invested in the game, but it was an opportunity for our lads to get a good run out and it is better than a training session. The O’Byrne Cup is a competition for experimenting and we certainly got a lot more out of it than we did last year.
‘With a bit more accuracy the game could have been put to bed in the opening 20 minutes. We dropped five short into the keeper’s hands in the opening half, we were through one-on-one with the keeper and the ball has to go either side of him. It would have put a different look on the scoreline than it did at an earlier stage.’
McEntee also expressed satisfaction that a number of players on the comeback trail following lengthy injuries also got game time.
‘Both Sean Curran and Cian O’Brien have been out for quite a while with injuries, so it was good that they got a run. The pair have been very dedicated to their rehab. We also got Shane Glynn and Joey and Eamon Wallace back on the pitch.
‘We will be back doing a bit of training this week. This is an important week for us. Whatever work we have got to do has to be done this week. Next week we will be trying to get everyone’s attitude right for the games.’
McEntee confirmed that O’Mahony’s veteran keeper Marcus Brennan has joined the squad in the absence of David Gallagher who is suffering from pneumonia at present.
Westmeath led 0-3 to 0-1 in the early stages of the game, but Meath were level on 15 minutes after Lenihan converted a ‘45. The home side regained the lead briefly, but Meath were never headed after centre back Donal Keogan got on the end of a flowing move and blasted to the net on 21 minutes. Lenihan then put further daylight between the teams with a low effort to the net two minutes later.
Callum McCormack accounted for the Westmeath goal shortly afterwards, netting at the second attempt after his first effort was blocked on the line.
The second half was just six minutes old when Lenihan struck for his second goal to leave it 3-7 to 1-8.
Minus the inspirational John Heslin, Westmeath offered only token resistance after that despite their superiority in numbers and substitute Daniel O’Neill round off a satisfying Meath display with a simple slap-in goal four minutes into added time.
MEATH: Andrew Colgan; Seamus Lavin, Conor McGill, Conor Dempsey; James McEntee, Donal Keogan 1-0, Shane McEntee; Bryan Menton, Paddy Kennelly 0-1; Bryan McMahon, Ben Brennan 0-1, Mickey Burke; Cillian O’Sullivan 0-2, Graham Reilly, Donal Lenihan 2-8 (0-3f, 1 ’45). Subs: Joey Wallace for Reilly (47), Shane Glynn for Dempsey (49), Eamon Wallace for Brennan (49), Daniel O’Neill 1-0 for Burke (57), Thomas O’Reilly 0-1 for McMahon (58), Adam Flanagan for Menton (69), Cian O’Brien for McEntee (69), Sean Curran for Lavin (71).
WESTMEATH: Stephen Gallagher; Ronan Wallace, Sam Duncan, Boidu Sayeh; Conor Slevin, Jamie Gonoud, James Dolan; Alan Stone, Darragh Daly; Kieran Martin 0-3, Callum McCormack 1-0, John Egan; Luke Loughlin 0-2, Finbar Coyne, John Connellan 0-6 (5f). Subs: Noel Mulligan for Wallace (25), Ger Egan 0-2 for Slevin (h-t), Gary McCallon for Sayeh (43), Ronan O’Toole for Coyne (45), Gareth Carr for Stone (49), Anthony McGivney for Egan (55), Adam Loughlin for Daly (69), John Rock for Mulligan (69), Nigel Scally for Martin (71), Joe Moran for McCormack (71).
REF: Fergal Smyth (Offaly)