Westmeath produce improved display but Offaly still prevail
Offaly 1-22 Westmeath 0-19
By Kevin Egan
The Westmeath hurlers delivered a performance that their manager described as “their most complete 70 minutes of the season so far” in Tullamore on Sunday, but that wasn’t enough to stop them moving even closer to the cliff face of relegation to Division Two of the Allianz Hurling League.
Even if the form book was to be flipped on its head and Westmeath were to finish off the season with wins over Waterford and Carlow, that wouldn’t be enough to avoid the drop, as other results would also have to work out in the Lake County’s favour.
The silver lining on that black cloud is that winning games like that is a lot easier to imagine this week, based on the defensive solidity that was on display against Offaly, not to mention the immediate upgrade that was brought about by the return of Killian Doyle to the attack.
Like his home side counterpart Brian Duignan, Doyle’s showing was impeccable, unimpeachable. The two sharpshooters mirrored each other with 11 points from dead balls and three each from play, in addition to contributing to the scoreboard with assists, and in Duignan’s case in particular, earning several of those frees. Doyle had one wide while hitting the target with several strikes from inside his own half, while Duignan also went 14 for 15, hitting the post with one free from midfield on a day when Offaly as a team were very efficient, striking just four wides.
Defensively too, both teams were incredibly impressive. For years, hurling contests between Offaly and Westmeath were local derbies on paper, but not really in essence, in the same way that there is a genuine animosity on the football side. Hurling teams from the two counties have had very few contributors from anywhere close to the 50-mile long border, but this Offaly group is different, particularly at the back where Ballinamere duo Mark Troy Ciarán Burke and Tubber's Donal Shirley have manned the spine of the backline superbly this year. Each of the three were dominant again, bolstered by the return of veteran Ben Conneely.
Conneely – like his first cousin Billy Hogan, who played in goals for Meath footballers in Mullingar on Sunday – left early from the funeral of their grandfather (Michael Conneely, Banagher). The St Rynagh’s man only added to the watertight nature of a defence that conceded just 0-7 from open play.
On that front however, Westmeath were comparable. Another frontier man – full-back Johnny Bermingham – was the leading light, but the Raharney trio of Robbie Greville, Eoin Keyes and Gary Greville also put in stalwart showings, with Adam Ennis doing well to work his way through a game where an early yellow card forced him to curtail some of his more competitive instincts.
The difference between the sides was in the supporting cast. Éamon Cunneen started brightly with two points and was lively throughout, setting up Westmeath’s best goal chance of the game for Peter Clarke midway through the second half. Outside of that, one point each from Mark Cunningham and Niall O’Brien and a tap-over free from David Williams was all that was posted on the scoreboard.
Clarke and his fellow DCU Fitzgibbon player Colin Spain cancelled each other out with performances that were high on endeavour and honesty, if not necessarily as productive as they might like, but Offaly had fractionally more to call on after that.
As he has been all year, Oisín Kelly was heavily involved, a big physical presence and a threat on the scoreboard. Dan Ravenhill lost more ball than he won against Gary Greville but he did come up with two big points and an assist for the game’s only goal, while Daniel Bourke was also below par, but still chipped in with a majestic strike from the terrace-side touchline early in the second half.
Not the type of dominant displays that the county will need to thrive in the Leinster championship perhaps, but enough to make the difference in a game where if the wind is factored into the mix, Offaly were always just the slightest fraction better.
The flags at the Arden Road end of Glenisk O’Connor Park suggested a mild breeze but it was more than that, estimated at a five or six point advantage by Seoirse Bulfin afterwards.
Westmeath led by a mere two at the interval, but only because they fell five points behind early on and had to retrieve the situation. Killian Sampson was on target for that early goal, snaffling possession when Shane Williams couldn’t quite get his stick up high enough to intercept Dan Ravenhill’s crossfield delivery, while Duignan was on fire, winning his own ball and metronomically sweeping over frees to make it 1-4 to 0-2.
Moreover, Offaly’s hurling was thoughtful and precise during this phase, with laser-guided intermediate-range stick passes mitigating the wind’s influence.Seven of the next eight points went Westmeath’s way, however, as they began to use the breeze, with Doyle’s accuracy and some good movement and running up front playing a part too.
A Doyle free made it 0-9 to 1-5 after 22 minutes, but Duignan again stepped up with one close range free and two superb points from play, before Westmeath again took over to lead by two (0-14 to 1-9) at half-time on the back of a run of five unanswered scores. Peter Clarke did well to set up the lead score for O’Brien but otherwise it was all about Doyle, for whom anything within 100 metres of the goalposts was scoring range.
Twelve minutes after the restart it was 1-16 to 0-14 and it looked like Offaly might win at their ease. Duignan had been their only point scorer in the first half but Colin Spain, Daniel Bourke and Kelly all added their names to the scoresheet with some fine strikes, while a Dan Ravenhill free from 90 metres out showed that the wind might carry the Faithful to a comfortable win and within touching distance of a league final.
Instead it didn’t work out that way, as their attack started to flounder, and they instead needed a series of outstanding defensive plays to stay in control. After Cunneen’s run set up Peter Clarke with a goalscoring chance, Mark Troy had the perfect body position to make a vital save, Ben Conneely picked Niall Mitchell’s pocket when it looked like the Clonkill man might be about to test Troy, and there were huge blocks from James Mahon and Ross Ravenhill to deny Cunningham and Clarke.
All of that, allied to some positional play worthy of a man ten years his senior from former Moate CS student Donal Shirley, meant that as the clock ticked around to the hour mark, one close-range Killian Doyle free was all that Westmeath added to the scoreboard.That lack of consistent scoring made it all the more surprising that he didn’t try to test the defence when another 20m free was awarded in the middle of the goals shortly afterwards, as it never looked like Offaly’s lead would be fully unravelled through points alone. And it wasn’t.
Barring a sensational set of results over the next few weeks, Offaly will play their league hurling against Cork, Limerick and the likes in Division 1A in 2026, while Westmeath could be set to take on sides like Donegal, London and Mayo in Division Two. There wasn’t anything like that sort of gap between these sides last Sunday in Tullamore, but there was enough.
SCORERS - Offaly: B Duignan 0-14 (10f, 1 65); K Sampson 1-0; O Kelly 0-3; D Ravenhill 0-2 (1f); D Bourke, C Spain, T Guinan 0-1 each. Westmeath: K Doyle 0-14 (11f); É Cunneen 0-2; M Cunningham, N O’Brien, D Williams (f) 0-1 each.
OFFALY: Mark Troy; James Mahon, Ciarán Burke, Ben Conneely; Ross Ravenhill, Donal Shirley, Jason Sampson; Cathal King, Colin Spain; Oisín Kelly, Daniel Bourke, Killian Sampson; Dan Ravenhill, Charlie Mitchell, Brian Duignan. Subs: David King for J Sampson (h-t), Cillian Kiely for Bourke (57), Eoin Bourke for Dan Ravenhill (66), Ter Guinan for Mitchell (68).
WESTMEATH: Ciarán O’Brien; Adam Ennis, Johnny Bermingham, Gary Greville; Shane Williams, Robbie Greville, Eoin Keyes; Davy Glennon, Peter Clarke; Mark Cunningham, Killian Doyle, Niall Mitchell; Éamon Cunneen, Niall O’Brien, David Williams. Subs: David O’Reilly for Cunningham (52), Joseph Boyle for D Williams, Aaron Craig for Ennis (65), Rory Keyes for Glennon (68).
REFEREE: Michael Kennedy (Tipperary).