Cavan reel in Westmeath to win incident-packed battle

Cavan recovered from a 12-point deficit at half-time to edge out Westmeath 1-22 to 0-21 in a pulsating and incident-packed Division 2 game played on a heavy pitch in Mullingar.

Indeed, the match had been in doubt up to 12 noon. Westmeath, managed by former Cavan star Dermot McCabe, had the aid of a strong wind in the first half, but it was their Ulster opponents who opened the scoring via James Smith after 80 seconds.

The same player scored his side's second point all of 16 minutes later, but between the two scores Westmeath went on a scoring spree registering 0-12 in the process. Eight of these came via four two-pointers – two of them from Danny McCartan frees (with Cavan paying for some indiscipline) and the other two from Luke Loughlin (a free and open play). This left the scoreboard at the end of the opening quarter reading, Westmeath 0-12 Cavan 0-2.

Team captain Ronan Wallace stretched the home team’s lead with another two-pointer from play in the 20th minute, and they were well in control when leading by 0-17 to 0-04 with 32 minutes on the clock.

However, an incident in the 33rd minute between Jack Geoghegan and James Smith saw the Westmeath man pick up a second yellow (and red) and his opponent a first yellow, while Jamie Gonoud picked up a black card for getting involved. This left Westmeath with 13 men for the remainder of the half.

Cavan's Niall Carolan tackled by Westmeath players Conor Dillon, left, and Ronan Wallace

At the interval, the Lake County led by 0-17 to 0-05, but given the strength of the wind and the availability of two-point scores, it looked a deceptive scoreline.

On the change of ends, sandwiched between a point exchange between the respective number 10s, Gerard Smith and Danny McCartan, half-time sub Conor Madden spurned a glorious goal chance for the Breffni men.

However, they gradually took control and dominated possession from kick-outs taken from both ends of the pitch and the gap was down to three points (0-18 to 0-15) with 45 minutes on the clock, the lively Oisín Brady doing most of the damage for the winners.

A point apiece from Loughlin (a free) and Danny McCartan steadied home fans’ nerves, but the relief was temporary with the outstanding James Smith firing over a point before Gerard Smith made the most of a turnover by soloing almost half the length of the pitch before slotting the ball low to the net in the 58th minute.

A black card soon followed for Cavan sub Killian Clarke, before a great two-pointer by Dara McVeety in the 62nd minute put Raymond Galligan’s troops ahead for the first time (1-18 to 0-20) since the third minute.

They always looked the likelier winners from that moment onwards, and Westmeath’s woes were compounded when they picked up their second red card of what was a pulsating contest when Gonoud got a yellow with five minutes remaining to go with his earlier black.

Cavan now have four points on the board, while Westmeath – despite being very competitive in all four matches to date – remain pointless and in grave danger of relegation to Division 3.

Westmeath: Conor McCormack; Jamie Gonoud, Charlie Drumm, Jack Geoghegan; Ronan Wallace (0-02, tp), Conor Dillon (0-01), Matthew Whittaker (0-01); Sam McCartan, Ray Connellan; Danny McCartan (0-06, 2 tpf), Brían Cooney (0-01), Kevin O’Sullivan (0-02); Lorcan Dolan (0-01), Luke Loughlin (0-06, 2 tpf, tp, 2f), Brandon Kelly (0-01). Subs: Kieran Martin for Cooney (h-t), Enda Gaffney for Kelly (42), Daniel Scahill for Dolan (53), Robbie Forde for Martin (62), Stephen Smith for Whittaker (67).

Cavan: Gary O’Rourke; Niall Carolan, Brian O’Connell, Jason McLoughlin; Padraig Faulkner, Ciarán Brady, Luke Fortune; James Smith (0-03), Evan Crowe; Gerard Smith (1-01), Dara McVeety (0-04, 2 tp), Oisín Kiernan (0-01); Ryan O’Neill, Gearóid McKiernan (0-05), Oisin Brady (0-04, tpf, 1f). Subs: Cian Madden (0-02) for O’Neill (h-t), Conor Madden for Fortune (h-t), Killian Clarke for Crowe (45), Darragh Lovett (0-02, tp) for Kiernan (56), Sean McEvoy for O Brady (69).

Referee: Derek O’Mahoney (Tipperary).

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