Allianz National Hurling League Division 2A final: Down 1-17 Westmeath 5-19
IT’S a long way to Tipperary - and it’s an even longer journey home when dreams of rubbing shoulders with some of the game’s modern greats have been dashed in devastating fashion.
At Semple Stadium on Saturday, a previously watertight Down defence was ruthlessly punished as Westmeath hammered home their advantage when Davy Glennon arrowed the sliothar beyond Stephen Keith for the first of five Lake County goals midway through the first half.
The former Galway star bagged another two to complete his hat-trick, Cormac Boyle and Killian Doyle adding insult to injury in a second half when traffic mostly moved in only one direction.
Considering they had only conceded five goals in the entire campaign before Saturday, seeing the same tally go in on the one afternoon was harrowing viewing at times for Down eyes - but that’s hurling as you shift through the gears.
At the top level, where the Ardsmen aspire to be, these kind of days can arrive at the door of any county off the pace.
And yet, after four wins from five games that saw them finish top of the 2A table – including a superb two-point victory over Westmeath in Mullingar - Down had earned the right to dream.
That it didn’t come off on such a grand stage will hurt like hell, the mood on the road home likely as black as their change strip on the day.
Yet after a League campaign that raised spirits and - as a consequence - expectations to heights not seen for the best part of two decades, there will be plenty of good to reflect upon once the Thurles dust has settled.
“Last week you saw Wexford were beat by 19 points by Waterford - hurling can be an unforgiving game when it starts to run away from you,” said Down boss Ronan Sheehan.
“But look, we probably overachieved relative to where we thought we would be at the start of the year.
“It’s disappointing that we didn’t play to the best of our ability, disappointing because we don’t feel we did ourselves justice. But we’ll take the learnings from it - we have no choice but to dust ourselves down and go again.”
Down weren’t without hope either after an almost perfect start, the Ardsmen picking up where they left off at Cusack Park four weeks earlier.
Ballela’s Ryan McCusker hit the ground running, tormenting the Westmeath half-back line and landing two lovely scores as the Ardsmen moved into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead with 10 minutes played. It might have been even more too had Daithi Sands hit the net inside the opening 60 seconds.
The Portaferry man lost his hurl as he burst past Conor Shaw on the wing and, after kicking the sliothar towards the square, his right footed effort drew a huge roar from the travelling faithful stationed in the stand on the other side of the field. Unfortunately for them, and for Sands, it drifted just wide of the post.
But, having seen their puck-out dominated early on, Westmeath gradually started to get on top.
Down were architects of their demise at times though, passing up scoreable opportunities from play and placed balls – they hit 20 wides in total – while coughing up cheap possession at the other end allowed the Lake County to get a foothold.
And when Glennon’s first goal came, an unstoppable rocket into Keith’s top right corner, the tables had been well and truly turned. The mountainous Aaron Craig and Tommy Doyle were in command at the back, and it was Doyle who crucially intercepted a Daithi Sands handpass as Oisin MacManus was waiting to strike.
Those critical moments were now going against Down. Before two Paul Sheehan points late in the first half, the Ardsmen managed just one score in a 25 minute period, during which time Westmeath – and the deadly Killian Doyle in particular – found their mojo to take a 1-10 to 0-8 lead in at the break.
And when the Lake County landed 1-3 without reply inside the opening seven minutes of the second half – Doyle this time rattling the net - an uphill task looked like a lost cause.
To their credit, Down rallied briefly, reeling off four points in-a-row, McCusker notching two more and Caolan Teggart profiting from a superb Liam Savage catch before Eoghan Sands made it 2-14 to 0-12 with just under 25 to play.
Down had trailed by seven to win by two in Mullingar; could they repeat the trick? It was never on the cards on Saturday. Glennon finished beneath Keith to kill that momentum, and late goals from Cormac Boyle and Glennon again – either side of a major from Down sub Chris Egan – seal Westmeath’s promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt.
“The narrative all week was it was going to be special if other teams got back to Division One, for others to be coming up to Down or Antrim – I’ll tell you it means an awful lot to the people of the midlands as well,” said Lake County boss Joe Fortune.
“Maybe we panicked a bit in Cusack Park when we had Down there – listen, Down are a very good team and they deserve to be in this final today, but we had a lot of straight talk after that.
“We probably saved our best performance of the League for the final. I’m very proud of them.”
For the Ardsmen, this was a bad day at the office moreso than the reality check some might make it out to be.
In two weeks time Down’s Joe McDonagh Cup campaign begins in Kerry. Huge strides have been made already in 2022, and cementing their status in the McDonagh is the number one objective now.
And Sheehan is in no doubt that, despite Saturday’s disappointment in Semple, Down can make it up to Division One in the not-too-distant future.
“I believe we have enough talented young players, and we’re learning all the time.
“If you think about the trajectory we’ve been on the last couple of years, there’s no reason why we can’t. Kerry have been to a couple of League finals and been knocked back, we’ve been to one today and been knocked back… but I believe it can happen.
“Looking at this year so far, we played five games, won four of them, went down and beat Westmeath in Mullingar, beat Kerry, which was a bit of a hoodoo for us. We got to a League final, got the opportunity to play here today.
“We have two weeks now before we go down to Kerry in the McDonagh Cup, we want to maintain our McDonagh Cup status. That won’t be easily done, that’ll be a battle - but we’re up for that fight.”
Westmeath: N Conaty; D Egerton, T Doyle, C Shaw; A Craig, R Greville, J Galvin; C Boyle (1-0), K Regan; J Boyle (0-4), K Doyle (1-11, 0-7 frees), D Glennon (3-1); D McNicholas (0-1), E Keyes (0-1), N Mitchell. Subs: N O’Brien (0-1) for Keyes (45), J Gillen for McNicholas (55), T Gallagher for Craig (57), D Clinton for Mitchell (65), J Bermingham for Regan (67)
Down: S Keith; M Conlon (0-1), J McManus (0-1), M Hughes; T Murray (0-1), Conor Woods (0-1, free), C Teggart (0-1); P Og McCrickard (0-1), L Savage; R McCusker (0-4), P Sheehan (0-4, 0-1 free, 0-1 65), M Fisher; O McManus, D Sands (0-1), E Sands (0-1). Subs: C Egan (1-0) for Fisher (42), T McGrattan (0-1) for McManus (44), B Trainor for Sheehan (55), D McCartney for Hughes (57), J Doran for Murray (temporary sub 60, reversed 63), N McFarland for Teggart (70+1)
Referee: K Jordan (Tipperary)
