Relegation looming for understrength Westmeath

Wexford 4-19, Westmeath 0-6

With relegation on the horizon, Westmeath’s camógs face a monumental task against Limerick next weekend after suffering another heavy National Camogie League defeat, this time at home to Wexford on Saturday afternoon last.

In a resplendent TEG Cusack Park, the Yellowbellies set out their stall early on and, dominating play down the centre, led 3-12 to 0-5 at the break, with Muireann Fitzpatrick, Jessie Morrissey and top scorer Joanne Dillon doing the damage.

They picked up where they left off after the restart, and had the luxury of clocking up nine second-half wides en route to a 25-point win.

Westmeath battled bravely, with the full back line of Emily McCabe, Dearbhail McLoughlin and Katie Penrose never easing off in intensity. But time and again the Maroons were ruthlessly turned over, with Wexford gobbling up puckouts and excelling in their end product.

The hosts, without the experience and ability of a number of regulars, face an uphill battle to win by a huge margin against Limerick next Saturday in order to save their league status. While this is unlikely, the experience of a maiden Division 1B campaign has been a valuable one for Pádraic Connaughton’s charges and an achievement in and of itself.

Wexford burst out of the traps and could easily have had a goal after 28 seconds when Muireann Fitzpatrick teed up Jessie Morrissey, but she fired wide. Orla Sinnott opened the scoring from 30 metres seconds later.

Westmeath responded well with their only score from play - Julie McLoughlin firing over the black spot after a determined move. The Westmeath skipper, her leg already strapped, suffered a knock after an early fall but continued to play through the pain.

After Westmeath’s equaliser, Wexford found their groove and tacked on four points on the trot courtesy of Joanne Dillon, Emma Tomkins, Fitzpatrick and the excellent Sarah O’Connor.

Caoimhe McCrossan stemmed the tide with a free but the purple and gold pressure was unrelenting and they hit a quickfire 1-4. Tomkins shipped to Morrissey for a close-range finish on 12 minutes, with O’Connor (a long-range free), Leah Furlong and Dillon (two, one free) upping the visitors’ tally either side of the goal.

McCrossan broke the momentum with a ‘45’ for Westmeath but with 17 minutes gone, Wexford raised a green flag again, with Morrissey turning provider for Dillon to fire low and hard to the net, making it 2-9 to 0-3.

Westmeath couldn’t get a look in at this stage, and over the next seven minutes Wexford added a further 1-2. It could easily have been 2-2, when a goalbound Morrissey fended off three Westmeath defenders before being fouled.

Dillon shot the resultant free, and Sarah O’Connor fired another before the Yellowbellies had a third goal - a fortuitous effort from Muireann Fitzpatrick, who seized on a poor clearance and netted with a dipping shot from the tunnel side.

McCrossan took some of the dirty look off the scoreboard with two further points before the break (a free and a ‘45’), but Joanne Dillon converted another free to ensure Wexford led by 16 at the short whistle.

Dillon tacked on another dead-ball effort after the restart and, after 37 minutes, was instrumental in setting Jessie Morrissey up for her second goal, and Wexford’s fourth.

Both sides gave some of their subs a run at this stage and this took the sting out of the Wexford rout, but Westmeath continued to struggle to create chances, with Hannah Core and sub Olivia Kelleghan giving them an occasional lift.

However, despite a number of mishits, Wexford continued to raise flags, with Emma Tomkins and Dillon (a free) making it 4-16 to 0-5 before McCrossan replied with Westmeath’s only score of the second half (a free).

The hosts’ best chance at a goal came on 57 minutes, when McCrossan found Kelleghan and the Delvin forward shot just wide of the target. She was fouled en route, and McCrossan’s subsequent free fell short.

Meanwhile, at the other end, Wexford closed out the game impressively with fine scores from play by Dillon (2) and Anais Curran.

Scorers - Wexford: J Dillon 1-9 (0-5f), J Morrissey 2-0, S O’Connor 0-4 (2f), M Fitzpatrick 1-1, E Tomkins 0-2, O Sinnott, L Furlong and A Curran 0-1 each. Westmeath: C McCrossan 0-5 (3f, 2 ‘45s’), J McLoughlin 0-1.

Wexford: Keeva Steadmond; Karen Tomkins, Miria O’Dowd, Róisín Cooney; Amy Cahill, Sarah O’Connor, Laura Dempsey (capt); Orla Sinnott, Anais Curran; Sadhbh Buttle, Muireann Fitzpatrick, Leah Furlong; Joanne Dillon, Jessie Morrissey, Emma Tomkins. Subs used: Grace Roche for Morrissey (38), Sarah Hobbert for E Tomkins (41), Caoimhe Byrne for Sinnott (45), Aisling Goggins for Buttle (49).

Westmeath: Aoife Corcoran; Emily McCabe, Dearbhail McLoughlin, Katie Penrose; Katie Coleman, Muireann Scally, Kate Whyte; Caoimhe McCrossan, Laura Doherty; Aoife O’Malley, Karen Keegan, Claire Gaffney; Hannah Core, Julie McLoughlin (capt), Ciara Corcoran. Subs used: Áine Newman for Scally (24), Rebecca O’Neill for McCabe (38), Reanna Kennedy for Corcoran (38), Olivia Kelleghan for Keegan (45), Shannon Dalton for Gaffney (51).

Ref: Karol Collins (Galway).

Examiner's Eye on the game

Player of the match

Joanne Dillon (Wexford).