Rafferty’s late goal decisive as Down edge out Westmeath

Down 1-10, Westmeath 0-10

A late, late goal from Down wing back Dan Rafferty proved to be the winning score in ideal conditions for football in Páirc Tailteann last Saturday, as a totally committed Westmeath U20 team narrowly lost an entertaining All-Ireland ‘B’ final in somewhat controversial circumstances.

The controversy came at the other end of the pitch moments before the game’s only goal when Jack Duncan appeared to most observers – this one included – to have been fouled inside the large parallelogram. However, Maggie Farrelly, who had a very solid game otherwise, only awarded a free-in which skipper Brían Cooney converted. In their desire to equalise, Westmeath were caught napping from the ensuing kick-out, and this allowed Rafferty to steer the ball into an unguarded net to ensure the silverware travelled northwards that evening.

Overall, however, the young Mourne County men were arguably the better outfit, albeit by a small margin, with Stephen McNevin by far the busier of the two ‘keepers in what was an enjoyable game for the few neutrals in the good-sized and vociferous crowd in Navan. Damien Gavin’s troops will have unquestionably benefitted from the four games in the ‘B’ competition, with the manager indicating afterwards that his seventh year in the bainisteoir’s bib may well be his last.

The game opened very brightly, with Senan Carr and Jack Duncan trading well-worked points in the opening two minutes. Two Down wides ensued before a well-supported Lake County side pounced for a brace of unanswered points from the boots of Ronan Murray and Liam Daly – both of them were quality scores. Westmeath’s defending was tough – but disciplined – at this juncture.

The men in the largely-black strip halved the deficit in the tenth minute when Carr doubled his tally under pressure. Daragh Lowry restored the losers’ two-point cushion with a great solo point in the 16th minute. Westmeath were twice fortunate not to concede a goal in the ensuing four minutes. Firstly, Ryan Quinn’s shot was kept out by the legs of Stephen McNevin at the expense of Jamie Doran’s expertly-converted ‘45’. Secondly, Shane Ormsby – who had an outstanding first half in and around midfield – superbly blocked Emmet Rogers’ goal-bound shot.

Duncan almost slid in for a goal at the other end and was yellow-carded for his effort, perhaps harshly. Donal Scullion (open play) and Brían Cooney (a routine free by the captain who had something of an off-day overall with his shooting) swapped late points, leaving the young men in changed green and maroon jerseys ahead by 0-5 to 0-4 at the interval.

A wasted ‘45’ by Cooney in the 35th minute preceded a Down equaliser from Scullion in the next passage of play. Westmeath then appeared fortunate not to have conceded a ‘45’ before Cooney slotted over a tricky free to nudge his side ahead (0-6 to 0-5). A rasping shot by Duncan came back off the woodwork, and Down levelled the scoring via Cian Cunningham at the end of the resultant counterattack.

The respective number 11s, Cooney and Doran, exchanged classy points from play to keep the game tied up (0-7 apiece) with ten minutes of normal time remaining. Carr completed his points’ hat-trick, and David Ruddy soon put Paul McCartan’s side two points clear. Sub Shane Corcoran halved the deficit in fine style as the fourth official announced a minimum of four minutes of added-time.

There was no shortage of drama in injury-time. Doran kicked a great free from the ground, but his opposite number Cooney cancelled this out from a close-range free which most of the crowd felt should have been a penalty kick after Duncan had been fouled. With time running out, Westmeath were forced to chase the game and a Down breakaway saw sub Tom Gilroy tee up Dan Rafferty for the winning goal. Cooney drop-kicked a last-gasp and low-trajectory free with a goal as his target with the goal-line jam-packed with Down players.

Scorers – Down: D Rafferty 1-0, J Doran (1f, 1‘45’), S Carr 0-3 each, D Scullion 0-2, C Cunningham, D Ruddy 0-1 each.

Westmeath: B Cooney 0-5 (4f), D Lowry, L Daly, J Duncan, R Murray, S Corcoran 0-1 each.

Down: Niall Rice; Matthew Murray, Finn Murdock, Mark McSwiggan; Dan Rafferty, Cian Cunningham, David Ruddy; Tom McCarroll, Senan Carr; Ryan Quinn, Jamie Doran, Nathan Rogers; Donal Scullion, Emmet Rogers, Luke Quinn. Subs used: Ronan Kelly for L Quinn (36), Cormac O’Reilly for E Rogers (37), Tom Gilroy for N Rogers (46), Micheál Murdock for R Quinn (52), Dara Mussen for Scullion (60+5).

Westmeath: Stephen McNevin; Adam Keane, Cormac Monaghan, Seanaí Bracken; Daragh Lowry, Jason Macken, Liam Daly; Tadhg Baker, Shane Ormsby; Jack Duncan, Brían Cooney, Eoin Bracken; Rory Cole, Shane Hanley, Ronan Murray. Subs used: Shane Corcoran for Cole (38), Tiarnán O’Donovan for Murray (50), Darragh Hall for Baker (inj., 53), Matthew Thornton for Hanley (56), Cillian Plunkett for E Bracken (60+2).

Ref: Maggie Farrelly (Cavan).