Fortune favours brave minors in Leinster opener

FORTUNE favoured a brave Louth side in Wednesday night’s minor championship opener in Hunterstown – but Westmeath left the Ardee venue wondering just how they lost a match in which they were the better side for much of the hour.

Even with an extra player, following Andrew Henson’s dismissal at the start of the final quarter, Johnny Clerkin’s team looked set for defeat as they trailed by five points with as many minutes remaining.

And aside from two wonderful points by Cillian McQuillan in the first half, when the locals had both the breeze and hill to contend with, the Wee county were largely reliant on frees or Westmeath errors for scores. Contrastingly, James McHugh, William Scahil and Daragh Lough in particular were constant menaces at the other end and when McHugh increased his tally to half-a-dozen, the boys in maroon were clear by a seemingly unassailable margin.

Alas, Luke Keenan’s free preceded a costly giveaway by Westmeath’s Adam Smyth – who would later be sent off as the Midlanders ended the affair with 13 players – which gave Tom Maguire, who was there to be counted when the need was greatest, possession and he picked out Andrew O’Reilly closer to the posts. The Naomh Fionnbarra clubman dropped the shoulder and headed for the net, blazing a low effort across the target and into the bottom corner.

That sparked the Louth support to life and the hosts practically penned Westmeath inside their own half for the two minutes that remained and six which were added on. Substitute Emmet Duffy drew the teams on terms from a free prior to McQuillan, from just inside the 45m line, converting incredibly to nudge the Reds in front past the hour mark.

It took a wonderful block by Donnacha Skinnader – one of just eight fully fledged minors in the starting XV – to prevent the Lake county from stealing in front moments beforehand and then Brendan Cassidy made sure of the victory with an accurate snapshot.

This was hardly the outcome anticipated at half-time when Westmeath led by 0-7 to four and they would have been further in front only for Senón Connolly’s 26th minute penalty stop, which denied Lough a goal, though the taker did accrue a point on the rebound.

The decision to penalise Rian Hickey for an apparent footblock was one of a number of contentious calls made by Meath referee Kieran Olwell and Louth felt especially hard done by in the first half when Joe Hanlon went down under contact inside the 13m line only for the whistler to wave play on.

Olwell awarded 50 frees in total – 26-24 in the visitors’ favour – but the balance was a lot more skewed until the closing period when quite a number of decisions went the way of the winners. LOUTH: Senón Connolly; Donnacha Skinnader, Ciarán Devine, Rian Hickey; Michael McGlew, Ben McKeown, Conor Clinton; Tom Maguire, Micheál O’Shaughnessy; Tadhg Devanney, Luke Keenan 0-2 (1f), Cillian McQuillan 0-3; Fionn Coyle, Andrew O’Reilly 1-3 (0-2f, 0-1m), Joe Hanlon. Subs: Shane McMahon for Hickey (HT), Emmet Duffy 0-1 (1f) for O’Shaughnessy (41), Brendan Cassidy 0-1 for Hanlon (41).

WESTMEATH: Paul Keating; Ben Sheerin, Cian Whitney, Ben McNamee; Jack Carroll, Adam Smyth, Cormac McKeogh; Mikey Weir, Dáire O’Brien; Andrew Henson, Ryan Flynn, Michael Moloney; James McHugh 0-6 (4f), Daragh Lough 0-2, William Scahill 0-3 (1m). Subs: Peadar Glennon for Moloney (HT), Dáire Burke for McNamee (42), Darragh Madden for Weir (60).

REFEREE: Kieran Olwell (Meath).