Super minors outclass Carlow

Westmeath 6-25 Carlow 0-5

Impressive Westmeath powered to a 38-point victory over a poor Carlow side, in the All-Ireland Minor football Tier 3 preliminary quarter-final at Rochfortbridge on Saturday.

Andrew Henson helped himself to 3-3 against a weak Carlow defence and both he and Will Scahill (scorer of 1-8) were outstanding as the Westmeath minor side outclassed Carlow to get their first competitive victory of the year.

Westmeath had this game wrapped up very early and they led by 4-10 to 0-2 at the interval before completing an absolute rout in the second half. James McHugh’s clinical finish on the ground brought the first Westmeath goal in the eighth minute and the home side were seven points clear at the end of the first quarter following a fine Mikey Weir minor.

Ironically, Carlow got the first point when full forward Aaron Dowling converted a free after three minutes, but McHugh’s goal was followed by a confident finish from Darragh Lough in the 18th minute to give Westmeath their second major. Scahill made no mistake from close-range as he bagged the Lake County’s third goal on 25 minutes and Carlow’s cause was not helped when they gifted Henson his first goal.

There were some classy points for Westmeath also and their finishing was impressive as very little was wasted: Lough, Scahill and Cormac McKeogh got the pick of the Westmeath points in what was a dominant first half display.

The second half offered little respite for a Carlow side that was under siege for almost the entire game. Henson had Westmeath’s fifth goal a minute after the restart when he flicked home a stray hand-pass, getting to the ball first and guiding it to the net. The sixth goal was another gift - Henson’s high shot landing in the Carlow net to rub salt in the wounds.

Scahill, Henson, centre back Adam Smyth and substitute Paul Keating each contributed impressive Westmeath points, while wing back Jack Carroll also got on the score sheet late on. Victory is no more than Westmeath deserved and with the same level of performance, they will be difficult to stop.

Scorers - Westmeath: A Henson 3-3, W Scahill 1-8 (0-3f), J McHugh 1-3 (0-1f; 0-1m), D Lough 1-2, P Keating 0-3, D O’Brien 0-2 (2f), M Weir, A Smyth, C McKeogh and J Carroll 0-1 each. Carlow: A Dowling (1f) and B Nolan 0-2 each, I Craddock 0-1.

Westmeath: Adam Buckley; Ben Sheerin, Cian Whitney, Daire Burke; Ty Masterson, Adam Smyth, Jack Carroll; Mikey Weir, Daire O’Brien; Andrew Henson, Darragh Lough, Cormac Mckeogh; James McHugh, Ryan Flynn, Will Scahill. Subs used: Rory O’Brien (h-t), Michael Maloney (h-t), Rory Hatton (34 mins), Paul Keating (38), Jack Nally (38), Pierce Fox (40), Brian Ronan (40).

Carlow: James Hogan; Ewan Breen, Ross Moran, Dylan Ruanne; Conor Forde, Daire Byrne, Lorcan O’Connor; Jack Keating, Darragh Corcoran; Darragh Burrows, Brynn Nolan, Mikey Byrne; Jack Byrne, Aaron Dowling, Ian Craddock. Subs used: Rory McCaffrey (22 mins), Conal Cullen (26), Eoin Ryan (h-t), Aaron Doyle (h-t), Luca Kavanagh (32), Edward O’Byrne (34), Cillian Molloy (40), Adam Cleary (40), Jacob Curran (42).

Referee: Eamon O’Connor (Offaly).