Gaelic Games

Division Three round-up: Westmeath need to pick themselves up for final

Dessie Dolan’s side lacked spark in defeat to Sligo while Antrim send Wicklow down to Division Four

Dessie Dolan's Westmeath will contest Division Three final despite defeat to Sligo on final day. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho

Sun Mar 24 2024 - 18:57

Sligo 1-14 Westmeath 0-11

Westmeath will go into next Saturday’s Allianz League final against Down under something of a cloud after they were comprehensively outplayed by Sligo at Markievicz Park today.

Dessie Dolan said afterwards that his team “lacked a spark”, though they started well, with two points from Luke Loughlin opening the scoring. Lee Deignan and Niall Murphy shot good scores for Sligo in response, but Ronan O’Toole and Loughlin hit the target to leave Westmeath 0-6 to 0-4 in front at half-time.

The midlanders needed a positive result to be sure of promotion, though as the afternoon progressed, Down’s dominance against Clare removed the urgency from the situation. Whether that fed through to the Westmeath players in the second half is hard to tell, but it certainly looked that way as Sligo kicked the first four points of the second half and eventually clinched their win through Seán Carrabine’s 70th minute goal.

Antrim 1-14 Wicklow 0-14

Ruairí McCann of Aghagallon crowned his return to the Antrim starting team after a long layoff with a crucial goal in what turned out to be a straight relegation shootout at Corrigan Park this afternoon.

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A win for Wicklow would have seen Oisín McConville’s side stay up, and while Antrim started well to move into a three-point lead, the Garden County grew into the game and were back within a point when McCann leapt highest to meet a Eunan Walsh delivery and find the net just before half time.

Wicklow again rallied with the first two points of the second half, but Patrick McBride came up trumps for the home side when he kicked three second half points from play to keep the Saffrons’ noses in front throughout a tense second half.

Offaly 1-10 Limerick 0-12

Already-relegated Limerick caused Offaly huge problems for long spells at Glenisk O’Connor Park, as they forced a series of turnovers and poor shots from the home side in the first half and were full value for their 0-6 to 0-4 interval lead, with Barry Coleman and Cathal Downes on target with good scores.

It looked like Offaly turned the corner after half time when the impressive Dylan Hyland drew them level with his third of five points from play, and that was followed by Cathal Flynn dispossessing Limerick goalkeeper Josh Ryan and firing in the game’s only goal.

However, Limerick rallied with the next three scores to level, before Hyland and Nathan Poland got the scores that saw Offaly through a tempestuous 10 minutes of additional time in which Hyland and Nigel Dunne each received red cards.

Offaly X-XX Limerick X-XX

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Sligo X-XX Westmeath X-XX

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