Leinster SFC Westmeath V Longford

[Billys Boots]

I certainly wouldn't have classed it as anything other than a 50-50 game with Longford having home advantage tipping it their way.

Yeah, and only McStay mentioned it on the Sunday Game.  I think they all underestimated the wind too.

[AZOffaly]

And ye didn't even have to rely on a 10 minute Cameo from the Longford 'Bomber'. I thought he might make an appearance if things were not going well with the wind behind ye.

[Shamrock Shore]

Ara I didn't mind Marty at all. He could have been reading out The Passion of Our Lord and I wouldn't have even heard the difference I was so focussed on the small screen (couldn't travel for a number of reasons)

Papers today give good coverage. Lots of pics. Sundays were a wee bit too focussed on Luke and his shoeing from Westmeath. I spose it was an angle to build it up on. Personal grudge etc. Imagine Luke could not get into the celebrations in the Greville Arms Hotel or wherever it was in Mullingar in 2004. That hurt him badly that he was treated so appallingly by WH County Board.

I am glad for Luke that he had yesterday. I am even more delighted for us to have a wee bit of time in the sun. It's days like yesterday that keep the momentum going and to keep the interest with young lads who may have drifted off to other codes or stop them getting fat playing shagging Playtendo or whatever the f**k it's called.

I beleive some Westmeath man had a heart attack and died after the game so my thoughts now are with his family.

[gerrykeegan]

Congratulations Luke (and Longford)
Up at 7 Sunday morning Gerry Keegan Junior (11 weeks old and born in Dublin!) sensed his daddy was nervous about something and made sure his daddy didn't sleep it out. Set off and picked brother in Leixlip before picking another brother sister and nephew in Mullingar. Proceeded to Longford and was in the ground after 1.20. Fine job on the stand I would have to say. All in good spirits. First half could not have gone any better, wind a major factor but we had played very well. 35 minutes later and it's Meath all over again. I thought McAnaney  gave us very little in the second half, a few Longford lads behind us commented on why they had gotten some of their frees. With our backs to the wall we put Martin in at FF and then didn't bother playing any ball into him. Longford deserved the win, and from a personal point of view always thought Luke got a raw deal with us. He is a gentleman. Best of Luke to the Slashers.
The disappointment of the game was banished as we drove past a man receiving CPR on the ground after the game. The guards were on the blower trying to get the Ambulance in. We think the ambulance had to come from Mullingar. We met one out the road about 15 minutes later. It puts it all in to prospective. Edit I hadnt heard that man had died, thats very sad.

[turk]

Reading Luke in the Tribune yesterday he is quite bitter at his treatment by the Westmeath county board!

I think on telly we underestimated the wind and neither team coped well playing against it. I thought Longford were loose in the first half and behind their men. Their big full forward probably could have withdrawn further.

Westmeath didn't do their homework at half time - 2-2 was leaked in quickly and they didn't seem to expect this. It was time for hard graft then - Flanagan was getting dominated at midfield and not responding. The switches then didn't work - Smyth and Wilson who were working hard were predictably taken off and big Duffy brought in. I didn't see Mangan contributing much at all throughout the game and it was graft and ballwinning and breaking needed.

Well done to Longford - remember Leinster is very winnable although Leix will be a big test.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Still sick and it promises to be a long week. We should have been out of sight at half time and if the right team was selected we would have been. It's been clearly obvious from the league that Bannon is not a forward never mind a full forward, yet he was left in there for most of the first half. He should have either been brought out the field to mark Paddy Dowd (my motm by the way, didn't even get a mention on de Sunday Game) or replaced earlier. The WH backs were generally on top in that first half without ever looking comfortable. Heals didn't look at the races from the word go but Boyle and Nachie had Kavanagh and Barden in their pockets. I'd love to know what the linesman on the far side of the pitch thought he saw to have Boyle booked. He was just standing up to Kavanagh who was getting frustrated. Really affected his performance in the second half as he had to hold back that little bit. Agree with SS that the point just before ht gave them a glimmer and was raging about this and the very dubious free that it came from.

Said at ht that if we could weather the first 10 mins we'd be through to face Laois, but didn't even contemplate being only a point up five minutes in. What the fcuk was Gary doing trying to catch that, he has to be one million percent sure he can reach it before he even contemplates catching it. First look at it on the box afterwards was sure it was a square ball but on the second, third and fourth viewing it looks fairly borderline and advantage should be given to the attacker I suppose. Got tore apart for the second goal (well taken by the way), Boyle slipped again at another crucial moment in a big match and we were more or less fcuked. Dessie was tiring and having him out on the forty wasn't helping him. What did O'Flaherta do to rectify things? Bring off Smyth when he actually wasn't playing that bad and left on Budda for near the 70 mins. Criminal. If Budda hasn't got into the game by the 45th minute you can forget about him and true enough he had a chance for a point late on, hesitated, and got blocked down. When we went 2 points down and when it was clear we needed a goal why didn't he put Flan in to the edge of the square and let a couple of high balls in to him? Instead he put in Gary Dolan who wouldn't catch a cold and was too busy anyway trying to ruffle a few feathers.

Anyways well done to Longford, takes balls to come back from 8 points down, wind or no wind. Saw the interview with your goalie afterwards and he came across very well, his kickouts weren't too bad either.

Eight weeks till the qualifiers, need an easy enough draw to get us moving again as we never seem to react well to defeat, must go review the new divisions for next year...

Edit: Just after reading some new posts there and thoughts are with that mans family too. Met that ambulance as well on the way home, is there not usually a crew at championship games???

[Longfordian]

A fantastic win ...... a comeback from 8 points down to win by 3 ....pretty impressive stuff .

However , Longford have to ask themselves the questions why they got into that position?

The main culprit for our downfall in the first half was Paddy Dowd ...... while he got lots of ball ...he turned over an amazing amount of possession carrying the ball into contact and some attricious footpassing. He also didnt seem to know whether he was meant to be playing FF or roaming MF ...... he could have got so much possession in the first if he made diagional runs for Sheridans kickouts( however he had a fantastic 2nd half ....hats off to him for that) this resulted in about 5 points for Westmeath. We also missed a couple of kickable frees which turned into scores the other end.

When Keenan went off a half time I thought the writing was on the wall , but McElvaney , Hanniffy and Dowd pulled some serious ball from that area and really dominated ....Deccie Reilly (who could well have been MOTM) went on Dolan stuck tight which strangeled the Westmeath attack ...for the last 20 mins they resorted to putting Flanagan in FF and trying to pump ball into him .

D Barden made an immediate impact , albeit with the advantage of the win ....it made the CF job easier ....but he really added another dimension to our attack .......
K Mulligan will lose out the next day , but in fairness to him his first 15mins of the 2nd half turned the game in our favour won vital ball and was the instigated the move for our 2nd goal . He was a victim of the wind .....playing CF against that win is tough as the ball isnt coming in as easy as it was in the 2nd half .........
Was impressed with Smullen in the 2nd after a bad fist half .....got down to what he does best linking with the defence and midfield and setting up attacks ........
Hats off to Kavanagh who was being mauled by the WH corner back most of the game ...2-2 from play and four frees is some return ....one point from play was amazing .....

Fantastic win ........ roll on Laois .....

[AN other]

I never liked the way Dempsey was treated by a handful of egotistical players and effectively ran out of the county by the board prior to 2004, and it eased the pain a (very) little to see him getting a bit of vengence yesterday (even if he wasn't interested in it). So congratulations to Dempsey, and Longford too I suppose, just for Shamrock Shore...
I'm still a little unsure of what to make of it all, but ultimately feel it could have been a lack of fitness in the middle and poor defence which scuppered our chances. Naturally enough two early goals didn't help but they shouldn't have killed us off as they did.
For me, the most disappointing aspect yesterday was the performance in defence. I had anticipated that our defence would be our trump card, stronger than last year, and on paper it was. Fair enough, Dolan, Glennon and maybe Wilson aside, the attack was pretty absent, especially in the second half, but unfortunately, this is somewhat to be expected at this stage, and fair enough, the midfield faded in the second half, but I don't think the defence has been found wanting as much as it was yesterday in quite some time. John Keane had a fair game at best, as did Healy, with O'Donoghue very disappointing. Neither Healy or O'Donoghue seemed fully fit and all three mentioned seemed somewhat complacent and disinterested at stages, especially in the first half. Ennis and Boyle are the only two defenders who turned in decent performances and Boyle was unfortunate to slip (almost identically to the crucial slip against Dublin last year) for the second Longford goal, which stemmed from a sluggish O'Donoghue letting his man past him far to bloody easily.
Without blaming McEneaney for the loss of the game there were quite a few decisions that I'd love to quiz him about if I got the chance.
Positive points are unfortunately all too few, Glennon's good first half performance was negated by his poor decision making in the second, and his increasingly frustrating inability to score goals. I can't understand why he has never been taken aside and told to hit the ball LOW and hard.
Connellan is a future star if his head is kept right and he works hard at this game, he should be one of the first on the teamsheet everytime, simply because you can depend on him to put the ball over the bar when a chance presents itself. His second half score off his left, into the wind, a significant distance out was possibly score of the game. He needs football at a high level and he'll learn to cope with the increase in physicality he's not yet used to and bulk up in the process.

[LaurelEye]

By the way, I thought Marty Morrissey made a show of himself today. He was making out that this was some sort of Shock result. I certainly wouldn't have classed it as anything other than a 50-50 game with Longford having home advantage tipping it their way. Sometimes I really feel Marty hasn't a clue at all at all.

To be fair to Marty, he did nearly manage to pronounce "Mullinalaghta" correctly.

Nearly.

[LaurelEye]

A fantastic win ...... a comeback from 8 points down to win by 3 ....pretty impressive stuff .

However , Longford have to ask themselves the questions why they got into that position?

The main culprit for our downfall in the first half was Paddy Dowd ...... while he got lots of ball ...he turned over an amazing amount of possession carrying the ball into contact and some attricious footpassing. He also didnt seem to know whether he was meant to be playing FF or roaming MF ...... he could have got so much possession in the first if he made diagional runs for Sheridans kickouts( however he had a fantastic 2nd half ....hats off to him for that) this resulted in about 5 points for Westmeath. We also missed a couple of kickable frees which turned into scores the other end.

When Keenan went off a half time I thought the writing was on the wall , but McElvaney , Hanniffy and Dowd pulled some serious ball from that area and really dominated ....Deccie Reilly (who could well have been MOTM) went on Dolan stuck tight which strangeled the Westmeath attack ...for the last 20 mins they resorted to putting Flanagan in FF and trying to pump ball into him .

D Barden made an immediate impact , albeit with the advantage of the win ....it made the CF job easier ....but he really added another dimension to our attack .......

Barden had an excellent game - best I've seen him play this year by far - though he still was a bit wasteful occassionally. Hopefully he'll keep it up.

K Mulligan will lose out the next day , but in fairness to him his first 15mins of the 2nd half turned the game in our favour won vital ball and was the instigated the move for our 2nd goal . He was a victim of the wind .....playing CF against that win is tough as the ball isnt coming in as easy as it was in the 2nd half .........

He looked a lot more impressive on the television than I thought he was at the time, although I was sitting at the far end of the ground and didn't have the best of views in the second half. He was unfortunate with the lack of chances in the first half, but improved greatly in the second, and was at the beginning of both moves that led to the goals. I think he was probably taken off for fear of doing damage to the ankle, though he seemed to think it was OK. Even if he doesn't start the next day, I'd expect him to come on. We're fortunate to have a lot of good forwards on the panel and it's unlikely that any - except Paul Barden and Kavanagh - are guaranteed 70 minutes.

Shane also tried hard and improved a lot in the second half, like all the defence.

Was impressed with Smullen in the 2nd after a bad fist half .....got down to what he does best linking with the defence and midfield and setting up attacks ........
Hats off to Kavanagh who was being mauled by the WH corner back most of the game ...2-2 from play and four frees is some return ....one point from play was amazing .....

Fantastic win ........ roll on Laois .....

[Billys Boots]

The Eugene McGee column yesterday.

Longford exploit peculiar traits of home turf, Monday May 14th 2007

LAST week in this column, we wrote about how few teams are capable of winning the All-Ireland championship and some people took that as a note of despair which, of course, it was not.

There is much more to the championship every summer than producing Sam Maguire Cup winners and yesterday at Pearse Park in Longford, we got a perfect example of that.

A typical local derby between Longford and Westmeath, over 10,000 people in attendance on a warm summer Sunday . . . what more could a real GAA fan want?

Certainly no Longford follower could ask for more, having journeyed from the depths of despair at half-time to unbridled joy later on as they watched their heroes stage a Lazarus like comeback and grab a dramatic victory - their first win in the Leinster championship for six long years.

What we got yesterday in Pearse Park was the heart and soul of Gaelic games as opposed to all the cosmetic stuff that now attaches itself to big games at a higher level than this.

The players put aside all thoughts of personal safety as they battled for the honour and glory of their county and there was hardly a dirty stroke in the 75 minutes played.

In the end, Longford were very deserving winners because of the manner in which they clawed their way back just after half-time and then ran themselves into the ground to prevent Westmeath building up any useful attacks.

The second-half score of 2-8 to 0-3 in favour of Longford shows just how much effort the players put in to secure a meeting with Laois back in Pearse Park again in three weeks' time.

Like many other GAA grounds, Pearse Park has its own little oddities that visiting teams are not often aware of and one of these is that there is a 'scoring goals'. Traditionally, at Pearse Park, this is at the town end of the ground. When there is a strong wind blowing into those goals, that peculiarity becomes very important indeed . . . and so it proved to Longford yesterday.

Westmeath had those advantages in the first half and Dessie Dolan and Denis Glennon lofted over no less than seven points from play from all angles and distances.

That was the basis for the total demolition job the maroons inflicted on the home team in the opening period. The Longford defence virtually collapsed, with Westmeath scoring four unanswered point at the start of the game and near the end of the half scoring another 1-6 without reply. And it could have been even more as they missed two open goal chances from inside 10 yards as well.

It was a barrage of destruction that would have finished many teams, but Longford were saved by Pat McEneaney's half-time whistle which gave them time to get their bearings.

They knew that the wind and the 'scoring goals' factor would certainly help after the break, but they could never have imagined that within just eight minutes of the restart they would have wiped out the eight-point deficit with two goals from Brian Kavanagh and two points from Paul Barden.

This barrage of scores overwhelmed Westmeath and one could see their earlier confidence and bravado disappearing before our eyes.

Longford were never going to lose after that and even their previously awful defence tightened up enough to restrict Westmeath to just three points in the concluding 38 minutes.

The introduction of David Barden at corner-forward at half-time was the psychological time bomb that destroyed Westmeath. He was sore about being left off the team after having his recent suspension halved and he ran like hell at the opposing defence, giving his marker John Keane a total roasting.

Kavanagh's goals in the second and fifth minutes sparked panic in the Westmeath backline and the gaps appeared which allowed Kavanagh and a host of other Longford players loft over the scores at regular intervals.

Westmeath also lost control at midfield, ironically in view of the fact that Longford's main man there, Liam Keenan, was unable to start the second half due to injury.

Paddy Dowd, who had been a third midfielder in the first half to little effect, played a stormer when allocated a regular role there alongside Bernard McElvanney.

The most amazing aspect about the second half was the total failure of the Westmeath attacking set-up. Just as Longford had done in the opening half, their forwards tried to walk the ball into the scoring area with an orgy of short passes, but time after time they ended up in a heap of bodies and got nowhere.

Why Westmeath were not able to isolate Dolan and Glennon and send long balls into them was a mystery. Dolan got no score from play in the second half, while Glennon got one point.

The 'game of two halves' cliché was apt yesterday. Westmeath scored 1-8 from play in the first half and only 0-2 in the second. Longford got 0-2 from play in the first half and 2-6 in the second.

[Shamrock Shore]

Auld Sourpuss was on Newstalk as well last night. Praised Colmcille's finest, Deccie Reilly, for his marking skills on Dessie Dolan. Said he looked like a schoolboy out there!

He is certain next game is in Pearse Park and can see no reason why LOngford can't beat Laois and, if I'm correct, he more or less said that the winner in Pearse Park will be in the Leinster final cos the semi wil be agin the winners of Louth and Micko's Mercenaries (my words, not his)

So Billy, is a Leinster final a possibility???

Oh, and cheers AN Other.

[Billys Boots]

Oh I've no doubt we could beat Laois in Longford, if we can play for 70 mins.  It's playing 'on the road' that I'd be worried about.

[lynchbhoy]

well done Longford.
I have to admit that I backed them to lose the game in both 2007 championship prediction competitions I entered.
Shows that form can go out the window once the Championship comes around (well I thought Longfords poor enough league form would be very difficult to break away from). I havent the nerve to tell my longford club mates that I backed against them !
It was a case of over ruling my preference and selecting WH.

Looks like the man has already earned his €100k this year by beating derby rivals !


If Westmeath can learn from this they could get a bit of  run going in the qualifiers!

[Shamrock Shore]

€100k this year

Ah c'mon Lynchboy. That's way off the mark. That's Micko Money.......not Luke's Loot