Impressive Westmeath go close against All-Ireland champions Limerick

Allianz Hurling League Division 1B: Limerick 1-20 Westmeath 0-17

Westmeath threatened to pull off a sensational result in Mullingar on Sunday afternoon, but Donnacha Ó Dálaigh saved Limerick’s blushes with a 63rd-minute goal en route to what was a somewhat flattering six-point win for the All-Ireland champions.

Ironically, it looked ominous for the small home following early on, a well-supported Limerick side coming close to scoring a goal after 25 seconds when Graeme Mulcahy’s rasping shot came back off the crossbar. Wind-assisted David Williams was on song from placed balls at the other end and he converted seven frees in the opening half, in addition to slotting over a great point from play from a tight angle in the sixth minute. The home team’s only other score from open play in the first half came from the stick of midfielder Shane McGovern just past the half-hour mark.

John Kiely’s troops were untypically lethargic and they needed late points from Darragh O’Donovan and Ó Dálaigh (his third) to tie the contest. Their other scores (all from play) came via David Reidy, Micheál Houlihan (two), Seamus Flanagan and Mulcahy. At the interval, the scoreboard read: Limerick 0-9 Westmeath 0-9.

Most spectators expected the Shannonsiders to dominate the second half with the wind behind them, but this expected dominance never materialised as the Lake County men continued to show great heart and no little skill, with substitute Joey Boyle to the fore. Tit-for-tat scoring had the underdogs still on level terms (0-14 apiece) with 56 minutes on the clock and a sensational result was not out of the question at this juncture.

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However, the Munster men then pounced for a crucial 1-2 without reply. The points came via a Tom Morrissey free and Reidy’s second long-range point of the afternoon before Morrissey teed up Ó Dálaigh for a well-taken goal from a tight angle. Another Williams free preceded a missed chance of a goal by Niall Mitchell whose shot flew over the crossbar in the 68th minute. With that, the chance of a massive shock all but ended. The game’s top scorer, Williams, picked up his second yellow card in injury time.

Limerick: D McCarthy; B Nash, E McEvoy, A Costello; D Byrnes, D Reidy (0-2), D Langan; B Murphy, D O’Donovan (0-1); M Houlihan (0-4, two frees), C O’Neill (0-1), T Morrissey (0-2, one free); D Ó Dalaigh (1-4), S Flanagan (0-1), G Mulcahy (0-1). Subs: C Boylan (0-1) for Houlihan (51 mins), G Hegarty (0-1) for O’Neill (51 mins), M Quinlan (0-1) for Langan (57 mins), P O’Donovan (0-1) for Mulcahy (60 mins), R Connolly for D O’Donovan (64 mins).

Westmeath: N Conaty; D Egerton, J Bermingham, C Gaffney; J Gillen, K Regan, C Boyle; M Daly, S McGovern (0-1); Ó McCabe, D Clinton, D O’Reilly (0-1); N Mitchell (0-2), E Keyes, D Williams (0-10, nine frees). Subs: T Doyle for Boyle (3 mins), P Clarke for Daly (24 mins), J Boyle (0-2) for McCabe (48 mins), C Doyle (0-1) for Clinton (60 mins), M Cunningham for Keyes (66 mins).

Referee: C Cunning (Antrim).