Westmeath 0-13
Offaly 0-12
WESTMEATH HELD OFF a resurgent Offaly side in TEG Cusack Park to squeeze into the last four of the Leinster SFC.
Westmeath will take on Kildare as they bid to make back to back provincial finals for the first time in their history.
A thoroughly entertaining encounter finished 0-13 to 0-12 in favour of Tom Cribben’s team. Westmeath led by six at half-time, although they had a strong breeze at their backs in the opening half.
It took Offaly 17 minutes to open their account, while Westmeath had four points on the board by that stage with John Heslin and John Connellan to the fore.
The Faithful admirably turned things around after the interval as Nigel Dunne kicked five scores to bring them to within a single point.
It was a close as Offaly would come and they brought the gap down to the minimum on four occasions in the second period. Heslin and Kieran Martin settled Westmeath’s nerves with a score apiece but Dunne and Cunningham responded to put Offaly a point behind once again.
Niall McNamee had the chance to claim a draw from a long-range free, but his shot trailed off wide.
Westmeath Scorers: John Heslin 0-5 (0-2 Frees), John Connellan 0-3, Paul Sharry 0-2 (0-1 ’45), Denis Corroon 0-1, Kieran Martin 0-1, James Dolan 0-1.
Offaly Scorers: Nigel Dunne 0-6 (0-5 Frees), Peter Cunningham 0-2. Graham Guilfoyle 0-1, Bernard Allen 0-1, Johnny Moloney 0-1, Niall McNamee 0-1.
Westmeath
Darren Quinn
Killian Daly
Francis Boyle
Jamie Gonoude
James Dolan
Alan Stone
Kevin Maguire
Denis Corroon
Ger Egan (Capt.)
David Lynch
John Connellan
Callum McCormack
John Heslin
Kieran Martin
Paul Sharry
Subs: John Egan for David Lynch (38 mins), Biodiu Sayeh for Callum McCormack (56 mins), Darragh Daly for John Egan (63 mins), Paddy Fagan for Killian Daly (inj – 65 mins), Lorcan Dolan for John Connellan (67 mins).
Offaly
Alan Mulhall (Capt.)
Brian Darby
Eoin Rigney
Sean Pender
Niall Darby
Peter Cunningham
Joey O’Connor
Eoin Carroll
Niall Smith
Niall McNamee
Nigel Dunne
Michael Brazil
Bernard Allen
Niall McNamee
Graham Guilfoyle
Subs: Anton Sullivan for Graham Guilfoyle (Black Card – 42 mins), Nigel Bracken for Michael Brazil (52 mins), Sean Doyle for Bernard Allen (60 mins), Cian Donohue for Nigel Dunne (Black Card – 70 mins).
Why do Dublin championship games be played mid week?Can’t be ideal for lads working
It’s a big rush to get them sorted cause the Leinster club championship is starting.
It’s midweek because all the other championships are on at the same time, Senior, B championship, inters junior and in both codes. It’s as complicated as a school timetable, you can’t have clashes because one club can be in more than one championship etc. It’s all squashed in but not the easiest thing to remedy but saying that all the junior and inter championships should be done and dusted during the summer, don’t understand the delay
Its an absolute disgrace that a county semi final was played at 8.15pm on a wednesday night..if the county board want to promote the game, they are making a poor hand of it.
The clubs don’t help at times. Hurling championship Games where held up for lads who were on the county football bench. In some cases these guys didn’t even play hurling when the next round eventually went ahead.
I don’t know of any other county that plays club championship matches midweek.
Fixing the final for Halloween and at the same time as the Rugby World Cup Final is surely not a smart decision either.
Won’t make a difference for me, Ireland are out, hurling would be more exciting
Cuala v Judes, big day for both clubs, cuala haven’t won since 1994 and Judes have never won as far as i know. Nice to see! Boden and Crokes have dominated for the last number of years and a change is comin!