Westmeath ladies continue winning ways with victory over Meath

 

Tesco Homegrown Ladies Football National League Division 2

Westmeath 1-18

Meath 2-7

By Eanan Lynch

WESTMEATH ladies strolled to an easier than expected eight point win over a disappointing Meath side in an entertaining game played in ideal conditions on the 3G pitch at Lakepoint Park last Sunday.

Martin Flanagan’s charges were superior throughout, particularly in the opening 30 minutes of football, where they produced some superb passages of play.

The fitness levels of the maroon and white side were very impressive and they defended in numbers as Meath were made to work extremely hard for any scores that came their way.

Meath failed to cope with the excellent Westmeath midfield duo of Ruth Kearney and Maud Annie Foley. Kearney and Foley bossed proceedings around the middle as the home county opened up a seven-point advantage with little under 10 minutes on the clock.

Lar Wall and his management team looked perplexed as events unfolded as the Royal County failed to cope with the onslaught of Westmeath attacks.

The Lake County ladies opened the scoring in the first minute through Kearney. A brace of frees from Fiona Leavy stretched Westmeath’s advantage before the talented Chloe Kelly sent over a superb point. Kelly’s point had class written all over it (a superb team move involving no fewer than five of her teammates culminating in Kelly firing over).

Foley, Kearney and Karen McDermott all added points as Westmeath ran riot. Former All-Star Geraldine Doherty opened Meath’s account with a classy point off her left boot in the 12th minute. This seemed to galvanise the side in green and gold as they added a three pointer one minute later following a booming effort from Kate Byrne.

The energetic Johanna Maher and Shauna Ennis traded points before Leavy sent over yet another brace of scores.

The movement of the Westmeath forwards was a joy to behold as Karen Hegarty got in on the scoring with a good point.

The score of the game arrived as half-time approached. St Loman’s player Ciara Blundell received the ball and looked to have no options. However, she took a glance at the goalposts and sent over a quality effort much to the home supporters’ delight. McDermott closed out the scoring on what was a most enjoyable opening half from a Westmeath viewpoint. At the break, the scoreboard read: Westmeath 0-15, Meath 1-4.

Within seconds of the resumption, Westmeath put the game beyond any doubt with a goal through McDermott. She was on the receiving end of a neat pass from Foley.

A whole host of substitutions by both managers made for a scrappy final 20 minutes of play. Leavy, Hegarty and Foley rounded off the scoring for Westmeath as they gathered the three points on offer. Meath’s Katie O’Brien scored her side’s second goal of the afternoon in injury-time.

These are exciting times for the Lake County ladies as they head west on Sunday to take on fellow table-toppers Galway, in what is sure to be an enthralling game of football.

Scorers - Westmeath: F Leavy 0-5 (4f), K McDermott 1-2, R Kearney 0-4, M A Foley 0-2, C Kelly 0-1, L Brennan 0-1, J Maher 0-1, K Hegarty 0-1, C Blundell 0-1. Meath: K O’Brien 1-1, K Byrne 1-0, G Doherty 0-2, S Ennis 0-1, S Cleary 0-1, A Davis 0-1, S Bennett 0-1.  

Westmeath: Sarah Keegan; Aileen Martin, Rebecca Dunne, Triona Durkan; Fiona Claffey, Amie Giles, Laura Brennan; Ruth Kearney, Maud Annie Foley; Karen McDermott, Ciara Blundell, Johanna Maher; Chloe Kelly, Fiona Leavy, Karen Hegarty. Subs: Jenny Rogers for Dunne (44), Nicola Judge for Kelly and Katie Somers for Leavy (both 46), Niamh Mulligan for Keegan (50), Lauren Kennedy for McDermott (51), Laura Kiernan for Maher (53), Aimee Dunne for Giles, Katie Heslin for Blundell and Bronagh Beglan for Brennan (all 56).  

Meath: Irene Munnelly; Mary Coyne, Michelle Peel, Sarah Powderly; Siofra Cleary, Mary O’Shaughnessy, Emma Troy; Shauna Bennett, Kate Byrne; Shauna Ennis, Bridgetta Lynch, Sinéad Lynch; Geraldine Doherty, Katie O’Brien, Laura Demspey. Subs: Jenny Rispin for S Lynch (29), Alice Davis for Byrne (35), Stephanie Byrne for B Lynch (39), Laura Bagnall for Coyne (41), Elaine Plunkett for Powderly (46), Lesley Buchannan for Ennis (48), Emily Davis for Doherty and Meadbh Downey for Dempsey (both 53), Aoibheann Leavy for Troy (58).

Referee: Yvonne Duffy (Cavan).

Player of the match

Maud Annie Foley (Westmeath). The Coralstown/Kinnegad player had a fine game throughout. During what was a very accomplished team performance from the Lake County ladies, Foley stood out with an impressive display, with her work-rate particularly pleasing manager, Martin Flanagan. Westmeath also had fine performances from Ruth Kearney, Karen McDermott and Fiona Leavy.   

The key moment

Karen McDermott’s well taken goal one minute in to the second-half killed off any realistic hopes of a comeback from the Royal County side.

Match stats

Yellow Cards (10 minute sin-bin): Westmeath 0; Meath 1 (S Bennett 22).