McCormack and Greville fire Westmeath to historic camogie victory 

"You’re not going to get a ‘Jim Gavin’ from me – I’m as excited as anything here, as the players on the field!”

Westmeath camogie manager Johnny Greville, quite rightly, didn’t hold back with the superlatives, as his charges made history today – annexing the All-Ireland intermediate camogie title with a spirited second-half display against Galway.

Nine points from the manager’s sister, Pamela, as well as a goal from captain Mairéad McCormack, contributed to a 1-11 to 1-9 win over Galway’s second string, meaning that the Lake County will be a fully-fledged senior team in 2020.

Signs were ominous in the first half when Galway put Westmeath under severe pressure, and the Tribeswomen went in at half-time with a 1-8 to 0-4 lead, finding the net through Ava Lynskey. However, Westmeath emerged in the second half like nothing remotely resembling a beaten docket, and tore up the script by outscoring Galway 1-7 to 0-1.

Some positional changes saw skipper Mairéad McCormack move to corner-forward, and after Pamela Greville steadied the Westmeath ship with a couple of early scores, McCormack did well to field a cross from the tireless Megan Dowdall. Although her initial shot was blocked, the Castletown-Geoghegan star did well to nudge the sliotar home on the rebound.

From there, the Westmeath girls kicked on. Sheila McGrath notched the equaliser and, at this stage, Galway were struggling to even get ball into Westmeath’s half. After a trio of frees from Greville, the Lake County led by a goal in stoppage time, and endured a nervous moment when Galway’s Niamh Horan had to settle for a point from a dangerous free.

Manager Johnny Greville summed up the feeling in the camp when talking to RTÉ at full-time. “It’s absolutely unbelievable. This is what dreams are made of. This is why we do this – this is why we put in the time,” the Raharney stalwart said.

“It’s the passion and the drive and the enthusiasm of those players that drives you on for every second and every minute. And credit to each and every one of them, every girl in the stand, every supporter and everything to do with Westmeath. It’s absolutely phenomenal.”

Pamela Greville, who has been playing camogie for Westmeath since they were in the junior ‘B’ ranks, picked up her fourth All-Ireland medal today (junior ‘B’, junior ‘A’, premier junior and intermediate). “We’ve been behind like that before, and we knew that maybe, if we left everything on the field we’d come out with a win. We showed that today,” said Pamela.

At full-time, Westmeath captain Mairéad McCormack collected the Jack McGrath Cup from Camogie Association president, Kathleen Woods, while Megan Dowdall was awarded player of the match.

The victory saw the Lakesiders secure Senior status for the first time in their history and Pamela Greville (36) was at the core of their outstanding achievement. She was well supported in attack by the industrious Dowdall and skipper McCormack, whose 41st-minute goal swung the tie in her side’s direction.

The game got off to a dramatic start as referee Andrew Larkin had no option but to award a penalty to Galway, after Mairéad Dillon was fouled, but Rachel Monaghan’s shot was at a nice height for full-back Méadbh Scally, who made the save.

Niamh Horan and the sublime Greville pointed at the other end, the latter’s score illustrating the advantage of HawkEye once more, after Galway goalie Laura Glynn had batted the shot away but the sliotar had cleared the crossbar.

Westmeath should have been further ahead though and were punished for their wastefulness as Galway hit a goal and six points without reply to apparently put themselves in a very strong position for glory.

Monaghan (free) and Karen Kennedy slotted points before Ava Lynskey sent a bullet to the Westmeath net in the 20th minute. Mairéad Dillon capitalised on a slip by Scally and fed the overlapping Lynskey, who gave Fiona Keating no chance with a rasper from to the far corner.

Monaghan supplemented that major with two fine points from play and the margin was seven points. Two points each left it 1-8 to 0-4 at half-time and it was hard to see anything other than a Galway success.

That was to reckon without the fighting spirit of the Westmeath troops and the leadership qualities of Greville in particular, and the remarkable workrate of the entire team. Greville had a ground shot saved by Glynn straight after the resumption but drove over the 45 and followed up with two frees.

The key score was the goal by McCormack, the Streamstown native rising high to fetch a delivery inside and after being hooked brilliantly by Louise Brennan, sliding a ground shot from the angle to the net.

Galway were reeling and Greville was unstoppable, hitting three of the next four points, though Dowdall and Sheila McGrath played a major role in this period. Galway finally got off the mark for the second half with a point from a free in the fourth minute of injury time by substitute Niamh Horan, who sent her shot from 25m whistling over but it was too little too late.

Scorers
Westmeath: P Greville (0-9, 5fs, 1 45); M McCormack 1-0; N Horan, S McGrath 0-1 each. Galway: R Monaghan 0-4 (2fs); A Lynskey 1-1; T Ruttledge 0-2; K Kennedy, N Horan (f) 0-1 each.

Westmeath: Fiona Keating (Cullion); Aoife O’Malley (Raharney), Méadbh Scally (Clonkill), Laura Doherty (Raharney); Amy Cully (St Brigid’s), Fiona Leavy (Raharney), Sandra McGrath (St Munna’s); Muireann Scally (Crookedwood), Niamh Horan (Delvin); Mairead McCormack (Castletown-Geoghegan, capt.), Sheila McGrath (St Munna’s), Megan Dowdall (Clonkill); Michelle Murtagh (Lough Lene Gaels), Pamela Greville (Raharney), Caoimhe McCrossan (Lough Lene Gaels).

Subs: Anna Weir (Raharney), Aisling Egerton (Clonkill), Aoife Doherty (Raharney), Aoife Higgins (Lough Lene Gaels), Ava Balfe (St Brigid’s), Emma Broughan (Cullion), Emma Flynn (Castletown-Geoghegan), Joanne McCormack (Castletown-Geoghegan), Shauna McGrath (St Munna’s), Sarah King (Delvin), Sinead McKenna (Crosserlough), Róisín Scally (Crookedwood), Jane Nangle (Lough Lene Gaels), Caoimhe Gaffney (Delvin), Olivia Glynn (St Munna’s), Aideen Dermody (Lough Lene Gaels).

Galway: L Glynn, C Donohue, L Ward, L Brennan, K Screene, L Coen, D Higgins, L Casserly, M Mannion, K Kennedy, A Lynskey, R Monaghan, E Broderick, M Dillon, T Ruttledge. Subs: R Hanniffy for Broderick (48), N Horan for Monaghan (48), C Lee for Brennan (56).

Referee: Andrew Larkin (Cork).