All-Ireland Group 1, Round 3 concluded with Derry clinching a narrow win against Westmeath, 2-7 to 0-9. While it wasn’t a formidable victory that rekindled confidence in Mickey Harte’s team, they have managed to keep their tournament hopes alive. Despite the victory, there are still questions about their overall performance.
Important goals at the end of each halftime propelled Derry to end a streak of three consecutive losses while dominating Westmeath by a margin of four points. The match held at Páirc Esler, Newry witnessed the Leinster team giving out a strong, organized and assured display deserving more but unfortunately slipped away at the hour mark due to Emmet Bradley’s decisive goal at the 65th minute, shattering the Lake County’s contention.
Bradley’s breakthrough goal, following another energetic sprint brought forth by Diarmuid Baker, not only secured the final score of the match but also ensured that Derry finished in third place in Group One. Baker had also made a significant contribution in arranging Conor McCluskey’s end of the first-half goal, which objectively turned out to be pivotal points in this closely fought, strategic contest.
All team members played as suggested with few role-shifts for individual face-offs. Kevin Maguire of Westmeath was tasked with shadowing Shane McGuigan, while Charlie Drumm and Jamie Gonoud monitored Lachlan Murray and Eunan Mulholland, respectively.
On the opposing side, All Star defender McCluskey closely followed Ronan O’Toole from the beginning, just as Eoin McEvoy did with John Heslin.
Any speculation that Derry would discard their traditional gameplay and adopt a more cautious approach with Odhrán Lynch soon evaporated as the goalkeeper’s proactive role in the team’s initial attack demonstrated otherwise.
Derry’s win was underscored by Conor Glass’s exceptional performance, kicking off the match’s scoring with a beautifully aimed 45 in the fourth minute. However, it would be another twelve minutes before Derry were able to notch up their second point.
In the initial half, both teams had an organised approach with each side pulling back when their opponents were in control. Westmeath’s solid defence perplexed Derry for most of the game, with numerous turnovers happening within the kick-off period, including one triggered by Heslin. This caused Lynch to retreat hastily towards the goal. However, Westmeath could not leverage this to penalise Derry, but still earned their 0-4 to 0-3 lead in the first 25 minutes.
Heslin supported Ray Connellan and Andy McCormack in the centre during kick-offs. Westmeath willingly tested the Derry midfield duo of Glass and Brendan Rogers. Derry only launched a long kick-off once in the first half, which was captured impressively by Connellan. Following his remarkable catch, Connellan delivered a precise pass to O’Toole who secured the second point for his team.
O’Toole proved to be a formidable forward proving a difficulty for McCluskey initially. Soon after O’Toole secured his third score, Baker was moved to tackle the impending threat of Westmeath. This move bore fruit as McCluskey later found himself making the opening goal with merely two minutes of regular time left in the first half. Derry’s persistent goal attempts finally yielded results with Baker and Donncha Gilmore assisting McCluskey in a close range goal past Westmeath’s goalkeeper Jason Daly.
Mulholland scored an additional point for Derry in the injury-time of the first half, providing Harte’s team a three-point lead of 1-5 to 0-5 over Westmeath. This gap proved a bit tough for Westmeath given their diligent display. However, Westmeath didn’t take the late first-half upset as a reason to concede. They made a comeback in the second half with James Dolan scoring the first point, aided once again by O’Toole.
In the second half of the match, Derry took two misses and 10 minutes to find the target, with McGuigan barely achieving a close-range free with a shot that softly sailed over the crossbar. McGuigan had a lacklustre performance, with no scores from play, three misses, and another shot that fell short.
As the second half progressed, Glass impressively got Derry ahead with a beautiful point, taking the score to 1-7 to 0-6. However, the match took a turn when Westmeath came back with three consecutive, impressive points from their substitutes. With this shift, Westmeath seemed to gain momentum and the Derry fans, mirroring their team’s performance, grew noticeably anxious and quiet.
Nonetheless, the tense atmosphere was alleviated five minutes from the end when Bradley scored Derry’s second goal. Among the Derry players and fans, relief was palpably felt when the final whistle blew.
Now, the Derry team continues on, albeit a bit battered, towards the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals. A match in Omagh against Tyrone could be on the horizon.
Derry’s team for the match included Odhran Lynch, Conor McCluskey, Chrissy McKaigue, Diarmuid Baker, Ciarán McFaul, Eoin McEvoy, Donncha Gilmore, Conor Glass, Brendan Rogers, Ethan Doherty, Emmet Bradley, Paul Cassidy, Eunan Mulholland, Shane McGuigan, and Lachlan Murray.
As for Westmeath, Jason Daly, Charlie Drumm, Kevin Maguire, Jamie Gonoud, Ronan Wallace, James Dolan, David Lynch, Ray Connellan, Andy McCormack, Sam McCartan, John Heslin, Jonathan Lynam, Senan Baker, Luke Loughlin, and Ronan O’Toole made up their team.
Robbie Forde, who scored 0-1, came on for Lynam, and Stephen Smith, also with a score of 0-1, subbed on for Loughlin. Both substitutions occurred at 50 minutes. Later, at 57 minutes, Jack Smith replaced Baker. He also scored 0-1. Shane Allen was brought on for Gonoud at 58 minutes and finally, at the 71st minute, Kieran Martin subbed on for Dolan. The game was officiated by referee Paul Faloon from Down.