HONOURS EVEN AS ORCHARD DIG DEEP

WESTMEATH and Armagh both kept their promotion hopes alive after drawing a fantastic game of football in TEG Cusack Park yesterday.

Armagh started superbly and had built up a 1-5 to

0-0 lead with 11 minutes on the clock, their goal coming from Rory Grugan (above).

It was tit for tat up until the interval, as the Orchard went into half-time with a 1-12 to 0-7 lead.

In the second half though, Westmeath were outstanding.

A pointed free from John Heslin was followed by two successive goals, the first of which was a Heslin penalty. Denis Corroon found the net moments later, before a Boidu Sayeh point levelled the game.

Westmeath were shown two black cards, as Sam Duncan and James Dolan were sent to the sin-bin, leaving the hosts with 13 players at one stage.

But they looked set to push on for the victory when Luke Loughlin’s 52nd minute goal was followed by points from Heslin and Ronan O’toole, which gave

Jack Cooney’s side a four point lead.

The gap was down to three points late on and Jamie Clarke found the net in the 70th minute to level the tie, palming to the net after being set up by Stefan Campbell.

The sides then finished all square after five minutes of additional time, with a late Ray Connellan effort going to the right and wide.

Westmeath are set to travel to face Roscommon on Sunday and manager Cooney does not expect to have Kieran Martin fit for that game.

“It’s unlikely now that he’ll be available. He’s still a number of weeks away so we have to respect the injury or it will get worse,” Cooney said.

Armagh are away to Fermanagh in their next game, which takes place on Sunday in Brewster Park, Enniskillen.