ALLIANZ FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION TWO: Meath 0-17 Westmeath 0-5:THERE WAS no fog nor extreme weather conditions in Mullingar yesterday afternoon but this Allianz Football League Division Two fixture – like Saturday night's matches – was over somewhere between the start and half-time.
Its only significance was that Meath claimed in Cusack Park the county’s first away league win in nearly three years. Otherwise it was an encounter that the visitors had always targeted as a likely win and Westmeath, just promoted, knew they were going to struggle to contest.
“That was something we needed to change – the famine of the away wins – regardless of the opposition,” was the reaction of pleased Meath manager Séamus McEnaney. “You’d be delighted with the result and quite happy with most parts of our performance but there’s certainly a lot of work to be done.
“We scored 17 points, created three goal chances, didn’t take any of them but last week we scored 1-15, this week 0-17 and that will win you most league matches in the month of February.”
For his counterpart Pat Flanagan the daunting prospect of mobilising at a higher level a panel ravaged by emigration, the departure of dual players to concentrate on hurling and the club commitments of Leinster champions Garrycastle has been made flesh in the opening two weeks of the league.
“We came from Division Three and we’re starting to discover how difficult Division Two is. Realistically it would have been better if we could have kept the panel we had last year and add four or five.
“But we’ve had to come in and build a whole new team because of a couple of guys who went away, a couple of guys who have decided to take other options and also of course five or six guys from Garrycastle.”
Neither side was immune from error but Meath showed flashes of quality, especially going forward, and their defence coped easily with the diffident home attack, which mustered two points from play all afternoon.
It was left to defenders Michael Ennis (the veteran being denied – or spared – the final quarter after a second yellow in the 53rd minute) and Daniel McDermott to inject occasional urgency into forward movements but as a defence Westmeath allowed Meath too much space and allowed itself be run at and run through far too easily.
In the opening minute Cian Ward hit the first point and minutes later Stephen Bray, who would end up top scorer, raced through the cover for a second. Then there were the errors in possession – Shane McAnarney scored the sixth point because of a needlessly conceded line ball – and the overall lack of conviction.
Whereas Meath could find forwards with a bit of room and who were willing to take on the defence, the home side were ponderous in the build-up, which allowed the winners get men back and snuff out any threats, vague as they were. Their four first-half scores each came after the deficit had got ever bigger and one point plus two wides were the extent of the demands made on the umpires after half-time – nothing illustrating the demoralisation more clearly than the eight shots dropped short.
The interval deficit of 0-4 to 0-10 was almost immediately substantially extended when within two minutes of the restart Graham Reilly, who kicked three from play, broke through only for former All Star goalkeeper Gary Connaughton to make a fine save at the expense of a 45, converted by Cian Ward.
Connaughton would save Westmeath again in the dying minutes when two of Meath’s big-name replacements, Joe Sheridan and Graham Geraghty combined for the latter to float a delicate chip around the goalkeeper, who flung himself across to tip the ball wide.
A third potential goal, by Cian Ward, had been ruled out for a square-ball in the first half.
The 44th-minute point from Brian Meade was symbolic of the gulf in ambition with Séamus Kenny, Cormac McGuinness and Paddy Gilsenan combining to set up the big midfielder.
“Our target is to win every single match as we go along,” said McEnaney. “Another two points will consolidate our position in Division Two at a minimum and that’s our first target for 2012.
“Our attitude had to be 100 per cent right because Meath have travelled to Tipperary in the past and to Antrim last year under me and gone there complacent and we have to take responsibility for that. We made sure our attitude was right today. Kerry were 1 to 9 last night and got beaten. If your attitude isn’t right you’re going nowhere in life or in football.”
A different type of attitude is Westmeath’s problem, as Flanagan conceded. “We can’t make excuses; we had 26 on the panel, the same as Meath but we’re at a different stage of development. Basically it’s a whole new set-up we’re trying to bring together. We need to know the level we’re at now and try to get up to that. I still feel that we’re far better off in Division Two than Division Three – we’re learning a whole lot more – albeit that heavy beatings aren’t going to do our confidence any good.”
MEATH: D Gallagher; B Menton, C Lenihan (0-1), G O'Brien; S McAnarney (0-1), M Burke, C McGuinness (0-1); B Meade (0-2), M Ward (0-1); C O'Connor, S Bray (0-5, 0-2 frees), G Reilly (0-3); S Kenny (0-1), C Ward (0-2, 0-1 45), P Gilsenan. Subs: J Sheridan for C Ward (44 mins), G Geraghty for Gilsenan (54 mins), K Reilly for O'Brien (59 mins), D Tobin for Lenihan (62 mins), C King for Burke (68 mins).
WESTMEATH: G Connaughton; R Foley, K Gavin, D McDermott; A Finnan, M Ennis (0-1), K Maguire; T English, P Bannon; P Sheridan, D Glennon, P Sharry; A Giles (0-1, free), K Martin (0-2, 0-1 free), C McCormack (0-1). Subs: D Daly for English (44 mins), K Sheridan for Bannon (47 mins), M Gorman for Giles (49 mins), B Moran for Glennon (57 mins), A Stone for Sharry (59 mins).
Referee: E Kinsella (Laois).
