Westmeath's Charlie Drumm with Bryan Menton of Meath. Grace Halton/INPHO

Westmeath stun Meath in massive Leinster football shock

Royals dumped out of championship with two-point defeat in Tullamore.

Meath 0-25

Westmeath 4-18

HIGHLY RATED MEATH have been left reeling after Westmeath knocked them out of the Leinster Senior Football Championship in Tullamore this afternoon.

Westmeath, who will play in Division 3 next season, were in no way flattered by their win over Meath, who will compete in Division 1.

The 9,000-plus spectators were treated to a great spectacle as the two sides went at each other. Meath started well but should have had more than points from Jordan Morris and
Eoghan Frayne on the board in the first few minutes.

Westmeath settled with points from Ray Connellan and a Brandon Kelly mark and the favourites knew they were in for a real battle.

Westmeath improved significantly as the half wore on and their half time lead of 2-9 to 0-9 was a fair reflection of the game. Matthew Whittaker and Shane Corcoran got their goals in
the 24 th and 30 th minute and Westmeath brought this form with them into the second half.

Luke Loughlin was in great form and he got a two pointer as Westmeath went into a 2-12 to 0-10 lead after 38 minutes. It was 2-15 to 0-15 by the 47 th minute and despite losing Loughlin to a hamstring injury, Westmeath kicked on. Sam McCartan slotted a free and a fantastic 52nd-minute goal from sub Robbie Forde gave them a ten point lead, 3-16 to 0-15.

Meath had been very poor up to this but they finally found their A game in the closing quarter. They were relentless as they hunted down that deficit and it was panic stations at times for Westmeath, who did manage two crucial points from Ray Connellan and Sam McCartan. Meath kicked ten points with Jack Flynn and Ruari Kinsella (2) getting two pointers.

James Conlon got four points off the bench and remarkably, the gap was only two with two minutes left. Westmeath were able to crawl over the line as sub Dan McCartan got
their fourth goal with the last kick of the game as they stayed in the Leinster championship very much on merit.

Scorers for Westmeath: Luke Loughlin 0-6 (1 x 2p), Shane Corcoran 1-2, Sam McCartan 0-4 (3f), Matthew Whittaker, Robbie Forde and Danny McCartain 1-0 each, Ray Connellan and Brandon Kelly (1m) 0-2 each, Brian Cooney, Kevin O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

Scorers for Meath: Ruari Kinsella 0-6 (2 x 2p), Eoghan Frayne (1 x 2pf) and James Conlon 0-4 each, Jack Flynn (1 x 2p) and Jordan Morris (2f) 0-3 each, Jack O’Connor and Aaron Lynch 0-2 each, Bryan Menton 0-1

Meath

Sean Brennan

Seamus Lavin
Sean Rafferty
Brian O’Halloran

Donal Keoghan
Sean Coffey,
Ciaran Caulfield

Cian McBride
Bryan Menton

Jack O’Connor
Ruari Kinsella
Jack Flynn

Jordan Morris
Eoghan Frayne
Aaron Lynch

Subs:

  • James Conlon for Lynch (37m)
  • Cathal Hickey for McBride (50m)
  • Killian Smyth for O’Halloran (50m)
  • Conor Duke for O’Connor (53m)
  • Keith Curtis for Frayne (56m).

Westmeath

Conor McCormack

Daniel Scahill
Charie Drumm
Tadgh Baker

Ronan Wallace
Shane Allen
Matthew Whittaker

Brian Cooney
Ray Connellan

Kevin O’Sullivan
Sam McCartan
Conor Dillon

Shane Corcoran
Luke Loughlin
Brandon Kelly

Subs:

  • Jason Daly for McCormack, inj. (8m)
  • Shane Ormbsy for Cooney (39m)
  • Robbie Forde for O’Loughlin, inj. (50m)
  • Tom Molloy for Allen (52m)
  • Danny McCartan for Kelly (60m)

Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry).

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