The Downs 1-8 St Loman’s, Mullingar 0-7
Beneath gloomy grey skies and sheets of driving rain, The Downs found a slice of heaven at Cusack Park to win a first Westmeath senior football title since 2005.
As joint captains Luke Loughlin and Mark Kelly accepted the Flanagan Cup, from the podium to the drenched onlookers below it was declared that it all felt a bit like “heaven on earth.” Given the ghastly day that was in it, you would have to be of a black and amber persuasion to see the vista that way, but then The Downs had done their penance in the wilderness.
This was the club’s 10th Westmeath SFC success, moving them out on their own as the third most decorated club in the county. However, the last 17 years have been difficult for The Downs, and this was actually their first appearance in a decider since 2005.
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“Listen, it’s just fairytale stuff, it’s unbelievable,” said manager Lar Wall.
And yet there was no magic dust to decide the outcome of this final – the difference between the teams was mostly sheer doggedness and a willingness to work harder than your opponent.
“As a spectacle, the conditions kind of destroyed it. With the day that was in it, it was always going to be requiring something unbelievable in terms of work rate and grit,” added Wall.
“You wouldn’t have backed us at half-time. But funnily enough, I would have because that’s our game, it was all about heart and all about grit. And at the end of the day, that’s the most important commodity in the sportsman. When the chips are down and it’s not looking likely, to just dig in. I think we turned over the ball 20 times in the second half.”
St Loman’s entered the final hoping to win a third successive county title. It was their eighth decider on the bounce but they played the first half of this game like a blindfolded kid swinging at a piñata.
The Mullingar town side had amassed five wides inside nine minutes. Most of the opening quarter of the game was spent with St Loman’s on the attack, but they simply could not find the target. By half-time they registered seven wides and dropped a further three efforts short. Ultimately, they were left to rue those squandered opportunities.
The opening score of the match came from a counterattack by The Downs in the 10th minute, a nicely worked move that ended with Niall Mitchell sliding the ball to the back of the net. It was his side’s first shot from play in the game.
“In fairness they had maybe four or five uncharacteristic wides from key players before the goal. I suppose the way we slotted it in, it was a great move and a great finish,” said Wall. “It was against the run of play and kept us there in the game, without it we would have had a poor first half. That’s what football is about, just staying in the fight.”
The Downs actually had the wind at their backs in the first half but St Loman’s were doing all of the attacking. Ronan O’Toole was the fulcrum for much of their positive play but they struggled to get John Heslin in the game as often as they would have wanted. Still, with the last kick of the opening period TJ Cox pointed to send the sides in level at the turnaround, 0-4 to 1-1.
Charlie Drumm was introduced at half-time by The Downs and the Westmeath county player made a big difference around the middle third of the pitch. The Downs were the better team in the second half and as the rain fell harder, it was the challengers who dug deepest on the heavy pitch.
Mitchell, one of the county’s top hurlers, was superb, pulling the strings up front and linking play brilliantly. His vision and execution for Ian Martin’s point was outstanding, the outside of the boot delivery without doubt the pass of the afternoon.
Loughlin really stood up in the closing stages as well and scored the last two points of the game to push his side over the line. Seven of The Downs players, including Mitchell and Loughlin, had been involved for Clonkill in last Sunday’s county hurling final loss to Castletown-Geoghegan.
“Niall and other guys were beaten here this day last week in the hurling and they were very down after it, they didn’t perform to the level they normally perform. It was a big ask for them to come out and lift themselves, they were tremendous every single one of them – Niall and Luke and Darragh Egerton, all of them,” said Wall.
As the seconds ticked away St Loman’s pitched a couple of high speculative balls in on top of the square, desperately hoping the greasy conditions might see them scramble a goal. But it never came. The three-in-row was gone. The Downs were back.
THE DOWNS: T Martin; P Murray, M Kelly, E Burke; J Moran, C Coughlan, Daragh Egerton (0-1); C Nolan, J Lynam; I Martin (0-1), N Mitchell (1-1, one free), K O’Sullivan; A Kilmartin, T Tuite, L Loughlin (0-5, three frees).
Subs: C Drumm for Tuite (h-t); Dean Egerton for Kilmartin (59 mins).
ST LOMAN’S, MULLINGAR: J Daly; P Dowdall, J Geoghegan, D Whelan; P Foy, K Reilly, C O’Donoghue; R Jones (0-1), S McCartan; F Ayorinde, R O’Toole (0-2), D McCartan (0-1); TJ Cox (0-1), J Heslin (0-2, two frees), S Dempsey.
Subs: G Grehan for Dowdall (20 mins); D O’Keeffe for O’Donoghue (54).
Referee: Keith O’Brien (Moate All Whites).
