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Offaly U20 2-22 Westmeath U20 3-09
Offaly overcame the late withdrawal of three senior panelists and conceding two first-half goals en route to an impressive and comfortable ten-point victory over Westmeath in the Leinster U-20 Hurling Championship.
Brian Duignan, Killian Sampson and Ross Ravenhill were removed from the starting team on short notice, but Offaly still had the services of free-taker and puc fada specialist Cathal Kiely, who led the way with seven points in the first half, including some Spectacular efforts with the help of the breeze.
However, while the Faithful were way up in those first 30 minutes, inaccuracy plagued their efforts, with eight in the first half in total. This was a stark contrast to Westmeath’s zero.
After moving six points clear from the start, goals from Danny McGrath and Rory Keyes, on either side of a Luke O’Connor Offaly green flag, narrowed the gap to a single point and were typically just a couple of points. Kiely’s magnificent ones that Offaly was three ahead at halftime, the least they felt they needed and deserved.
As it turned out, Westmeath suffered the same scoring howls shooting into the road arc and a pair of dead ball misses by Rory Keyes proved particularly costly, while Offaly’s defense thrived playing a little deeper and displacing the type of space that Danny McGrath and Owen McCabe exploited in the first half.
County senior soccer panelist Cathal Donoghue stood out with a series of excellent points in the game before Cathal O’Meara’s last act of the game before being retired involved eluding the goalkeeper and landing a low shot on the ball. Westmeath network to confirm the victory.
Substitute Matthew Cunningham scored a late goal as the ball made its way into a fight at the goal, but by then Westmeath’s exit was guaranteed.
Now Offaly’s manager Gary Cahill can start thinking about the next six weeks and how to keep preparations alive for a Leinster championship quarter-final clash with Dublin that could happen anytime in the future, or maybe even none.
Remains: Eamonn Cleary; Rory Carty, Conor Butler, Aaron Flanagan; Jack Screeney, Padraig Cantwell (0-01), Dara Maher; Luke Nolan (0-01), Kevin McDermott (0-01); Cathal Kiely (0-12, 0-07 free), Cathal Donoghue (0-05), DJ McLoughlin; Lochlainn Kavanagh (0-01), Cathal O’Meara (1-00), Luke O’Connor (1-02).
Subs: Morgan Watkins for McLoughlin (45), Aaron Brazil for Cantwell (49), Dan Murray for O’Meara (54), Cathal Flynn for O’Connor (60).
Westmeath: Conor Lynch; Liam Moran, Feichin Óg Brennan, Conor Regan; Eoin Kiernan, Jack Gillen, Eanna Burke; Eoghan Ahearn, John Tumelty; Luke Moore, Rory Keyes (1-03, 1-00 pens, 0-03 free), Eoin Daly (0-01); Danny McGrath (1-02), Conor Murphy, Owen McCabe (0-01).
Subs: Conor McKeogh (0-01) for Daly (34), Pearse Weir Norris (0-01) for Tumelty (42), Brendan McCarthy for Murphy (48), Jamie Coffey for Regan (49), Matthew Cunningham (1-00) for Moore (53).
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