The Selection
Not knowing the team before the game added to the excitement of match day. However upon walking into the Cusack park, the end where louth were warming up, I knew we were missing PK straight away.
He wasn't even togged out and the sight of him in his spectactles really squashed my slim optimistic hope of Paddy having his gear on underneath and taken some part in the game.
Then when the lads lined out and announcer was naming the 'changes from the Programme' there was frantic scanning and profiling and seeing who actually started and where they lined out. This sadly got more frantic due a decrease in our playing numbers!
So as it stood from the first day in Navan JP and Dessie came in for Liam And Maguire.
Of the 5 injuries only Mark Brennan and Gerry Hoey came through.
Mick Fanning for Jamie Carr
Aaron Hoey For Paddy Keenan
David Reid for Ronan Carroll
That meant we had the Same defence with the exception of Mick instead of Jaime Carr at number 6
At Midfield Jim and Mark Brennan were pushed out of the forwards
The two reids started on the wings with Aaron Hoey on the forty
Derek Crilly Started in the corner and played a sweeper role (more on this later)
Leaving JP and Darren Clarke close to goals
And when My eyes settled and the ball was thrown in, I was quietly confident with the side and the way it set was up. that we Could pull this off!
The Start
With the wind behind them, My confidence in the make shift team was justified early on, as we were full value for a early lead.
Mark Brennan competed well in the middle of the field, Jim McEnaney made some fine fetches and the two Reid's linked up well.
Adrian in particular drove at the Westmeath defence and earned a couple of free's, Clarkie duly obliged.
It was our intensity from the off that was noticably we played with something to prove,It seems like every player a chip on their shoulder.
This was seen in defence and attack, we gave Westmeath their first attack, after 5 minutes! and it was snuffed out aggressively and intelligently.
Intelligently came from the role Derek Crilly was used, He doubled up on any Westmeath attacker and punished their kick passing in intercepting any of their sloppiness in particular lazy balls we forced them to kick.
Aaron Hoey from play put us 3 points ahead after 14 minutes.
and things we looking good.
Then we seemed to let our concentration slip and allowed Westmeath to have their purple patch. A couple of John Heslin free's either side of a good, although unmarked Ger Egan score levelled the game up.
The Sending off
Two quick scores, the first a long range effort from Decie Byrne and then a trademark JP, Jinxing and using his sublime balance to score.
Not alot of people in the ground seen what Mark Brennan did, I didn't, people around me didn't, the referee didn't but the linesman under the stand did.
There's always a linesman that see's it, but whatever it was, Mark brennan shouldn't have done it.
Off Mark went,but On our intensity went again ramping up our Spirit even more.
Mick Going to midfield and Derek Crilly stayed CB
Darren Clarke kicked another free
Two quick scores, the first a long range effort from Decie Byrne and then a trademark JP, Jinxing and using his sublime balance to score.
Not alot of people in the ground seen what Mark Brennan did, I
didn't, people around me didn't, the referee didn't but the linesman
under the stand did.
There's always a linesman that see's it, but whatever it was, Mark brennan shouldn't have done it.
Off Mark went,but On our intensity went again ramping up our Spirit even more.
Mick Going to midfield and Derek Crilly stayed CB
Darren Clarke kicked another free
David Reid caught two kick-outs YES, caught them! but that aside his
general link up play was Mark Polandesque maybe we should concentrate on
what he can do rather than can't do with Louth going forward?
JP was pulled down just outside the area after a great ball from Aaron
Hoey that was so nearly a penalty. Clarkie again notched another score.
Four points up and
Five minutes to go we unsurprisingly seemed to tire, Westmeath grew
around the middle and grinded out a free not before a great hit by Pop
Rath on the opposing Daniel McDermott.
Ger Egan popped up from the same area again to leave two in it.
David Reid caught two kick-outs YES, caught them! but that aside his general link up play was Mark Polandesque maybe we should concentrate on what he can do rather than can't do with Louth going forward?
JP was pulled down just outside the area after a great ball from Aaron Hoey that was so nearly a penalty. Clarkie again notched another score.
Four points up and Five minutes to go we unsurprisingly seemed to tire, Westmeath grew around the middle and grinded out a free not before a great hit by Pop Rath on the opposing Daniel McDermott.
Ger Egan popped up from the same area again to leave two in it.
As we thought the half was going to end.
The most dramatic and telling incident in the game was just about to happen.
And unfortunately and all too commonly lately, it wasn't football related but referee related incident.
(You probably seen the incident on the Sunday game but unlike there I'd like to go into it and note.I hate criticising
refs , there is always anexception)
Having a direct line behind Doran Harte I had a perfect view of what happened.
Westmeath trying to build from the back, Harte was coming out with the ball on his own half backline.
Darren went to close him down, with a typical forwards tackle catching him accidentally
with a flailing glove across the forehead as he distributed the ball.
Harte went to ground as a result but The dramatic sprawl and face clutching
incensed Darren so much to pull him up off the ground by the jersey.
Not nice to look at but not malicious and NEVER a sending off!!!
I actually made a bet leaving the ground that I will never see a
sending off for that again in my lifetime and I'm very confident of that bet holding out.
Here is where you have to Question the referee!!!
-It was a possible Head injury, why did he not blow up Straightaway?
-If he didn't think it was a Foul. Then, Why did he not book Doran Harte?
(this play-acting and dramatics is creeping into the game and not helped by weak referee's)
-By not blowing up and allowing play to continue he further frustrated Darren and indirectly caused the whole incident!
The whole scenario would have been avoided and Darren
wouldn't have took out his frustration, if the ref was competent enough
to blow it up and nip it in the bud initially.
Then the sending off itself...
-Why did he send him off?
-On what grounds?
-what rulebook does he have?
At the end of the day it was an overly aggressive jersey tug at most.
Darren did not strike with any part of his body.
The sending off ruined Louth's chances, Darren's mass of work
since January (not to mention reputation) and the game as a spectacle.
Surely referees have a duty of care to the players on the pitch and the fans who pay to see the game.
Both of which, Derek Fahy did not live up to either on Saturday night...
The Second Half
It was going to take effort but it was also going to take time.
Time to adapt to 13 men and we did...but in the meantime Westmeath scored four in a row.
Callum McCormack came on (How did he not start!?) and instantly caused mayhem. Scoring the first point of the restart and finished a breakaway move to put them ahead for the first time in the game.
Sandwiching a Dennis Glennon beaut in the process, Pops twisted and turned him along the endline but some how he managed to get a high shot away which eventually landed just over the crossbar, on top of the net.
A note on Denis Glennon, Pops had the better of him again nullified his pace and then made him look ordinary.
(#inpopwetrust sorry couldn't resist but it will be interesting to see how Kerry Deal with him or how well they deal with him the next round)
John Heslin ended the scoring blitz with a long range free having missed one minutes earlier, he found his range the second time and made no mistake.
4 in a row for Westmeath.
From two down, to two up.
The Spirit:
At this stage, It could have been easy to throw in the towel.
It wasn't as if the lads hadn't an abundance of excuses!
but to their credit they didn't.
In fact, Losing two men really amped up our intensity and possession.
We had to soak up enormous pressure and then break forward in numbers when we attacked.
Ray Finnegan single-handedly drove forward and seemed to take on the whole Westmeath team, he held the ball up and just when you thought he was going to be dispossessed, he kicked the ball across field to find none other than his Brother Dessie!! He was then fouled on the 21 yard line in front of goals.
That highlighted how stretched and frantic the game was becoming!
Jim McEnaney tapped over the free....1 in it
Like a wounded boxer in the latter rounds of a fight we had to take breathers before we hit back with a flurry of our own.
We lay on the ropes as Glennon scored from play and Ger Egan, popped up in same area again! to put 3 between the sides.
Egan seemed to ghost into the game whenever we lost concentration the most, he contributed very little to the general play.
It was backs to the wall stuff and We battled terrifically, working as a whole unit to defend and pushing them back out the field.
Before unleashing a flurry of our own.
Derek Crilly now playing in an advanced position collected an Adrian Reid ball and turned to kick it over.
Ray kicked a great score as precision placed on the lads to get an accurate forward pass had to be perfect.
We seemed to revel under the pressure of keeping precious possession and had Westmeath really questioning themselves and for our efforts we worked a Score and on 25 minutes Jim levelled!!
The voice was well hoarse at this stage too which also poses a question...maybe if we as Fans roared them on with encouragement our intensity could help the lads with their intensity?
Maybe it's a little chicken and the egg situation as there was a number of factors to be taken account for, away from home, knockout, their was more on the line and the lads were playing out of their skins and we felt compelled to shout.
Ah well, I'll go to the throat gym and work on my shouting game over the off season just in case.
The Sting
Heslin who was also involved with Mark getting sent off, Picked up his second yellow and got line himself
You can see the
chap has only turned 20 the week before, an excellent player but lacks
maturity, as he is easily distracted by nonsense
The sending off was a blessing in disguise for the lake county just like our situation, it amped up their intensity and took away our momentum.
The ultimate sucker punch of all
Remarkably just when we had a chance of taking the lead. Jim was turned over in the corner and on that resultant counter attack, Callum McCormack duly put his Navan Crossbar shot behind him, by finishing really well after being set up by
Dennis Glennon.
What happened after that was a Blur...
but I could imagine a lot of Westmeath fans could empathise with the feelings I was experiencing.
As they fired over score after score by our exhausted players and debutants, I couldn't help but gather my thoughts of pride of what I had just seen...
Sure, the build up and the set up has become abit of a shambles. I'm not denying that I actually highlighted here.
My pride was in the players and the way they played the game not in a morale victory because we are better and should never lose to Westmeath.
But
The way they played, good football with a spirit and intensity that hasn't been seen since Kildare in 2010.
thats why I'm Proud,
That's why it didn't bother me being stuck in traffic in Mullingar on a Saturday evening (not to mention ating my petrol!)
Thats why I'm already optimistic, because like the old saying goes with GAA 'there's always next year' and I for one can't wait.
Thanks lads
L&P
