Westmeath champions to contest Dempsey red card
A late red card for Shane Dempsey in last Sunday’s Leinster SFC game at TEG Cusack Park left St Loman’s, Mullingar reeling and they plan to have a hearing in an attempt to get the key attacker free for a big game against Longford’s Emmet Óg Killoe on Sunday week.
St Loman’s manager Paddy Dowdall was bemused at the decision of Laois referee Seamus Mulhare to issue the ultimate sanction for what he felt was an innocuous challenge.
“For me, it is never a red card,” declared Dowdall.
“I thought the referee had done a really good job up until that decision. Maybe he saw something everybody else didn’t. We will see where we go from here; we will be looking to fight that. This red card is probably the only kind of stain on the game afterwards.”
Dowdall feels Dempsey’s inclusion could be vital against the new Longford champions.
“Shane was brilliant today and a number of times this year. It would be a big loss if we don’t have him in two weeks’ time. Hopefully, we can do something about that.”
With former Blues boss Luke Dempsey having led Killoe to victory in Longford, an intriguing Leinster championship clash now looms at Pearse Park and St Loman’s will be aiming to improve on Sunday’s display.
“It should be a good battle,” pondered Dowdall. “Over the last few years we have played Mullinalachta down in Pearse Park and it is a very hard place to get a win, and with Luke (Dempsey) down there - he knows all the players here.
"We know Luke; we have nothing but respect for him here in St Loman’s because he brought a lot of championships to a lot of these players here.”
He acknowledged the importance of Eoghan Hogan’s late goal as the Westmeath champions got over the line.
“The goal was vital at that time. Both teams had turned over the ball a good few times at that stage. It was probably one of the passages of play where we held onto the ball for a long period, got the ball up the field fast and a great goal by Eoghan Hogan. He has been brilliant for us this year,” remarked Dowdall.
“We have been telling him to get up the field a little bit more because he is a real good, skilful player and he showed that in the finish. It was a big game for us. We wanted to put in a really good performance. It probably was not our best performance, but it is about getting over the line. The lads showed a bit of grit and spirit in the final few minutes.”
He agreed that Sunday’s performance will require improvement.
“The most important thing, obviously, is to get over the line. It wasn’t a classic by any stretch of the imagination. That is a real good, very organised Shemaliers team, you have to give them their due, after winning a county final last weekend and then coming up here the following weekend and putting in a performance like that. We did well to come out on top,” he opined.
“Our thoughts at half-time were we had to keep our defence in shape because once or twice in the first half they had got straight through the centre and could possibly have got a goal, but luckily our defence stood strong. They probably could have got a few more scores in the first half. The chances we got we took them. When we got the ball up the field we were very dangerous. I thought Shane Dempsey, TJ Cox, Ronan O’Toole and John Heslin were very dangerous.
“They got their purple patch in the first half. They missed a couple of scores. In Leinster it is about taking your chances. In fairness to our guys, they took the chances when they came.”
Dowdall is upbeat about his side’s strength in depth. "Injuries-wise, we probably have Conor Donoghue who picked up an injury over the last couple of weeks, but other than that we are not too bad," he added.