Allianz Football League Division Three: Westmeath 4-27 Antrim 0-8
AFTER his side’s 31-point defeat in Mullingar, shellshocked Antrim senior football manager Andy McEntee succinctly summed it up when he said: “It’s hard to put my finger on it. For whatever reason, we never got out of the blocks at all and we didn’t look to have the resolve to put it right. We looked second to Westmeath in every department.”
With John Heslin scoring 1-12 in a sensational display at full-forward, Westmeath kept in contention for promotion to Division Two with a surprisingly facile win against a bitterly disappointing side in saffron and white.
The Lake county totally dominated the first half despite the visitors having the aid of a slight wind. Heslin scored the first five scores of the game by the 16th minute, his 1-4 consisting of three converted frees and 1-1 from play, the goal finished under pressure from close range in the 12th minute.
The home team led by 1-6 to no score when Antrim pounced for their opening two points courtesy of Pat Shivers and Odhran Eastwood.
Sam Duncan teed up Senan Baker, a son of Clare hurling legend Ollie, who scored a great solo goal in the 28th minute.
With Heslin bringing his first-half tally to 1-9, Westmeath led by 2-12 to 0-3 at the interval.
Dessie Dolan’s charges scored their third goal just 15 seconds after the resumption, Heslin picking out David Lynch who found the net in style.
Westmeath’s fourth goal came in the 68th minute when the impressive Ronan O’Toole played in Sam McCartan and he finished to the net with aplomb.
The Saffrons offered little or no resistance. Two of the Westmeath subs, Tom Molloy (two) and Shane Dempsey (three), scored five points in the second half between them.
“As a young manager, I’m happy with every win I get,” said Westmeath boss Dolan.
“We set the tone early. We used lads from the bench who did well. Today certainly was a good performance and we played a nice style of football.
McEntee concluded by looking ahead, stating: “We still have Cavan and Longford to play, so we can’t be feeling too sorry for ourselves.”
Westmeath: J Daly; D Scahill, K Maguire, N Harte; J Dolan (0-1), R Wallace, S McCartan (1-2); S Duncan (0-1), R Connellan; S Baker (1-0), R O’Toole (0-4), C McCormack; L Loughlin (0-2), J Heslin (1-12, 0-8 frees), D Lynch (1-0).
Subs: T Molloy (0-2) for Connellan (43), A McGivney for Scahill (55), L Dolan for Baker (56), D Giles for Harte (57), S Dempsey (0-3) for McCormack (60).
Antrim: M Byrne; E McCabe, O Lenehan, J McAuley; P Healy, J Finnegan, S O’Neill; K Small, C Stewart (0-1); P Finnegan, RA McCann, C McLarnon; P Shivers (0-4, 0-2 frees), R McCann (0-1), O Eastwood (0-2, 0-1 free)
Subs: S McGarry for Finnegan (h-t), D McEnhill for R A McCann (h-t), P Mervyn for Healy (h-t), P McCormick for O’Neill (48), J Dowling for Stewart (58)
Referee: A Nolan (Wicklow)
