Mitchell’s goal ends The Downs’ 17-year wait in rain-soaked final

Shay Murtagh Precast Westmeath senior football championship final: The Downs 1-8, St Loman’s, Mullingar 0-7

The Downs ended a 17-year wait for a Westmeath SFC title in TEG Cusack Park this evening, Lar Wall’s troops dethroning hat-trick hopefuls St Loman’s, Mullingar in horrendous conditions.

Unsurprisingly, both sides struggled in the torrential rain and missed a host of chances during the opening nine minutes, but it was St Loman’s who were particularly guilty of poor shot selection, even allowing for the weather.

The large crowd which turned out in support of The Downs were on their feet in the tenth minute when Niall Mitchell, picked out by Andrew Kilmartin, bore down on goal and netted with a low finish, giving St Loman’s ‘keeper Jason Daly no chance.

Scores were hard to come by, with even the normally deadly John Heslin missing chances from placed balls. Luke Loughlin’s 19th-minute free increased his side’s lead, but St Loman’s gradually eased back into contention and were on level terms at the interval (1-1 to 0-4) courtesy of unanswered points from Ryan Jones, Heslin (a free), Danny McCartan and TJ Cox (with the last kick of the half).

Ronan O’Toole nudged the holders into the lead for the first time just 40 seconds after the resumption of play. However, the men in black and amber were very fired up on the day and very good free conversions by Mitchell and Loughlin, and a neat point from corner back Darragh Egerton, edged them ahead again.

Heslin was out of sorts in open play, but his free halved the deficit in the 44th minute. Loughlin was the star player on view in the closing stages and he scored three of his side’s last four points, including two from play – Ian Martin got the other when cleverly teed up by Mitchell – with Declan Kelly’s team merely adding one more point from O’Toole.

The Downs have now won their tenth title and their first since 2005.

Scorers – The Downs: L Loughlin 0-5 (3f), N Mitchell 1-1 (0-1f), I Martin and Darragh Egerton 0-1 each. St Loman's, Mullingar: R O’Toole and J Heslin (frees) 0-2 each, TJ Cox, R Jones and D McCartan 0-1 each.

The Downs: Trevor Martin; Darragh Egerton, Peter Murray, Éanna Burke; Conor Coughlan, Mark Kelly, Joe Moran; Jonathan Lynam, Ciaran Nolan; Andrew Kilmartin, Niall Mitchell, Kevin O’Sullivan; Ian Martin, Luke Loughlin, Tom Tuite. Subs: Charlie Drumm for Tuite (h-t), Dean Egerton for Kilmartin (59).

St Loman’s, Mullingar: Jason Daly; Paddy Dowdall, Jack Geoghegan, David Whelan; Peter Foy, Kelvin Reilly, Conor O’Donoghue; Ryan Jones, Sam McCartan; Fola Ayorinde, Ronan O’Toole, Danny McCartan; TJ Cox, John Heslin, Shane Dempsey. Subs: Gerry Grehan for Dowdall (inj., 20), Darragh O’Keeffe for O’Donoghue (53).

Ref: Keith O’Brien (Moate All Whites).