National Football League Division Three: Westmeath 1-11 Offaly 0-10

The result was the only thing that mattered for Westmeath as they got their National Football League Division 3 campaign off the mark with a win in O’Connor Park on Sunday.

A visit to Tullamore and a midland derby is never an easy task for Westmeath and their manager Dessie Dolan was a satisfied man after their four-point win. With star forward John Heslin, among others, missing, Westmeath were vulnerable but they deserved to take the points.

Offaly will look back on it as a missed opportunity and they certainly could have won but a few missed chances cost them dearly.

Offaly actually started well and were the better side in the opening quarter. They were 0-3 to 0-2 up at that stage and could have been further ahead. They had a couple of wides and John Furlong drew an excellent save from Jason Daly in the 16th minute after tearing through the middle. Two minutes later, Senan Baker had the ball in the net for Westmeath after a Conor Dillon pass and they clicked into top gear.

For the next few minutes, they played their best football as they scored four points without reply to lead by 1-6 to 0-3. It was a huge turnaround and they retained that six-point gap, 1-8 to 0-5 at half time.

Offaly had the use of a stiff wind that blew all over the place in the second half and they played well to get into the game. They had the gap back to three points, 1-9 to 0-9 after 49 minutes and an exchange of points between James Dolan and Cian Farrell (free) left three in it with 10 to go.

There was a chance there for Offaly to push on but they couldn’t score again as Westmeath battled very well, helped by effective subs. The only score late on was a 62nd minute point from Luke Loughlin that should have been a goal, as he had an empty net in front of him, but a four-point gap was a big enough cushion for them to get home.

Westmeath: J Daly; C Dillon (0-1), C Drumm, J Gonoud; J Dolan (0-1), R Wallace, D Lynch; R Connellan (0-1), A McCormack; S McCartan (0-1), R O’Toole (0-2), J Lynam; L Loughlin (0-3), S Baker (1-2, 2f), L Dolan. Subs: E Mulvihill for McCartan (47m), M Whittaker for Dillon (54m), R Forde for L Dolan (54m), K Martin for Baker (67m).

Offaly: I Duffy; A Bracken, D Dempsey, L Pearson; R Egan, J Furlong, J O’Brien; E Carroll, J Hayes (0-1); C Donoghue, C Flynn, C Egan; C Farrell (0-5, 4f), A Sullivan (0-2), N Dunne (0-2, 1m). Subs: P Cunningham for Dunne (31m), K McDermott for Donoghue (33m), R McNamee for Flynn (45m), K O’Neill for C Egan (54m), J Bryant for O’Brien (60m),

Referee: S Mulhare (Laois).

National Football League Division Three: Limerick 2-7 Antrim 2-14

Antrim corner-forward Dominic McEnhill starred with 1-6 as Andy McEntee’s side opened their Allianz Football League Division Three campaign with a victory by seven points in difficult, windy conditions in Mick Neville Park in Rathkeale on Sunday afternoon.

A McEnhill penalty after 21 minutes had boosted the Saffrons into a comfortable six-point lead at the half-time break before Ruairí McCann put Antrim back in the driving seat in the final quarter. Iain Corbett‘s penalty and a Tommy Childs goal had brought Jimmy Lee’s Limerick back within in a point of the visitors.

After McCann’s 56th minute goal put four between the two sides, Antrim scored four of the last five points to ensure Lee’s first competitive game in charge of Limerick resulted in defeat for the Treaty men.

Andy McEntee’s charges had got off to a flying start and were two points ahead inside just three minutes thanks to two quick-fire efforts from Eoin Hynds and goalkeeper Mick Byrne, via a free.

Limerick captain Iain Corbett opened the scoring for the home side five minutes later, but a well-taken team score, finished off by Dermot McAleese had Antrim two up again, before a Peter Nash mark reduced the deficit to the narrowest of margins once more.

Midway through the opening half, Antrim full-forward Niall Burns restored his side’s two-point lead with his first score on his league debut.

McEnhill led by example with three scores in a row thereafter – a free, a penalty, and a superb point from play – to put daylight between the two sides 10 minutes before half time – 1-6 to 0-2 – a lead Limerick managed to reduce to six by half-time.

After the restart, Limerick got the half’s three opening scores to make it a one-point game by the 45th minute with goalkeeper Aaron O’Sullivan (’45), and an Iain Corbett point and penalty swinging the momentum in favour of the hosts.

Antrim grabbed the next three points before Tommy Childs raised the green flag to narrow the deficit to one. Antrim, however, had other ideas and when McGann found the net after the very next attack with a cool finish at the other end, it was the Saffrons’ game to lose, especially after Limerick were temporarily reduced to 14 when Brian O’Sullivan was shown a black card.

Three further points from McEnhill, and a well-taken effort from Ronan Boyle secured the win for the Ulster side.

Limerick: Aaron O’Sullivan (0-1, 45); Tony McCarthy, Sean O’Dea, Brian O’Sullivan; Colm McSweeney, Robbie Childs (0-1), Paul Maher; Tommy Childs (1-1), Tommy Griffin; Iain Corbett (1-2, one penalty), James Naughton, Cillian Fahy (0-1); Barry Coleman, Daniel Daly, Peter Nash (0-1, mark). Subs: Emmet Rigter for Naughton (27 minutes, injured), Eoin Hurley for Daly (34 minutes), Cathal Downes for Griffin (54 minutes), Andrew Meade for Nash (63 minutes).

Antrim: Michael Byrne (0-2, two frees); Ronan Boyle (0-1), Eunan Walsh, Kavan Keenan; Patrick McBride, Joseph Finnegan, Colm McLarnon; Dermot McAleese (0-1), Patrick McAleer; Cormac McGettigan, Eoin Hynds (0-1), Ruairí McCann (1-2); Marc Jordan, Niall Burns (0-1), Dominic McEnhill (1-6, one penalty, four frees). Subs: Conor Hand for Boyle (69 minutes), Declan Lynch for McAleese (70 minutes), Benen Kelly for McAleer (72 minutes).

Referee: Sean Lonergan (Tipperary).

Wicklow 0-13 Down 0-18

With the potential of a golden ticket to the All-Ireland Championship up for grabs, Division Three favourites Down got their campaign off to a promising start with a five-point victory over newly-promoted Wicklow in Aughrim on Sunday.

Oisin McConville’s men had the disadvantage of playing into a strong breeze in the first half, so containing Down was the main objective. They did well in that regard and only trailed by three at the break, squandering three goal chances during that spell – the third a close-range effort by Joe Prendergast booted off the line by Down defender Ryan Magill.

Conor Laverty’s side beat Wicklow with speed and accuracy, hitting just two wides in the first half and scoring eight from play, shared between five different players to lead 0-10 to 0-7 at the break.

For Wicklow it was Christopher O’Brien who clocked up five of their first half seven-point tally but they lost him to injury early in the second which cost them dearly.

Three points in the first five minutes after the restart from Pierce Laverty and a brace from Pat Havern increased Down’s lead to six. Kevin Quinn scored a couple of beauties for Wicklow from a mark and a free but Down had an answer for every point and won out 0-18 to 0-13 in the end.

Wicklow: Shane Doyle; Tom Moran, Matt Nolan, Jack Tracey; Joe Prendergast, Patrick O’Keane, Jacques McCall; Dean Healy, Craig Maguire; Christopher O’Brien (0-5, four frees), John Paul Nolan (0-1, free), Cathal Baker; Brian Nesbitt (0-3, two frees), Kevin Quinn (0-4, two frees, one mark), Johnny Carlin. Subs: Oisin McGraynor for O’Brien (41 mins), Gearoid Murphy for Nolan (47 mins), Declan Doyle for Carlin (53 mins), Darragh Fee for Baker (60 mins).

Down: John O’Hare; Peter Fegan, Pierce Laverty (0-1), Ryan McEvoy; Finn McElroy (0-1), Daniel Guinness (0-4), Paddy McCarthy; Odhran Murdock (0-1), Johny Flynn; Ryan Magill, Liam Kerr (0-3, two frees), James Guinness; Gareth McKibben, Pat Havern (0-6), Oisin Savage (0-1). Subs: Shealan Johnston for J Guinness (29 mins), Conor McCrickard for McKibben (33 mins), Conor Francis for McElroy (half-time), Rory Mason (0-1) temp sub for Kerr (43 mins), Mason for Savage (53 mins), Niall McPartland for Magill (60 mins).

Referee: Alan Coyle (Westmeath).

Clare 0-9 Sligo 1-5

There were two divisions between Clare and Sligo last season but it had to take an Aaron Griffin injury-time winner to finally separate the sides in their opening Division Three clash in Cusack Park Ennis on Sunday.

A new look Clare, shy of 12 of the 20 that played in last year’s Munster Senior decider, received a stern test under new manager Mark Fitzgerald as, despite a two-man advantage, they trailed by the minimum with just minutes remaining.

A 64th-minute penalty save appeared a telling blow for the Banner but they persevered and were eventually rewarded when talisman Emmet McMahon scored a 67th minute equaliser before Griffin started and finished a late, late counter-attack to snatch all the points.

It was arguably no more than they deserved for holding their nerve and discipline in a dramatic second period that saw Sligo slash the 0-6 to 0-2 half-time deficit to only one by the 37th minute through a Sean Carrabine rebound goal.

With a gale at their backs, the Division Four champions were expected to kick on but lost Luke Towey and Paul Kilcoyne to red cards.

Three unanswered points including a Carrabine free nudged the visitors in front entering the final 10 minutes but they simply couldn’t hold on as Clare’s numerical advantage finally told to edge them over the line.

Clare: S Ryan; M Doherty, R Lanigan, M Garry; I Ugwueru, A Sweeney, D Walsh; G Murray, B McNamara; C Downes, E McMahon (0-5, 4f), D Coughlan (0-1); M McInerney (0-1, 1f), A Griffin (0-2), S Griffin. Subs: C Murray for S. Griffin (HT), E O’Connor for Downes (60), J Curran for McNamara (66), F Ginnane for McInerney (76).

Sligo: A Devaney; P McNamara, E Lyons, E McGuinness; L Towey, D Cummins, J Lavin (0-1); C Lally, P Kilcoyne; D Quinn, E Smith, P O’Connor (0-1); P Spillane (0-1), S Carrabine (1-1, 1f), N Murphy (0-1, 1f). Subs: B Cox for Quinn (45), M Gordon for Spillane (52), A McLaughlin for Smith (52), A Reilly for Lally (63), M Walsh for Lavin (69).

Referee: C Lane (Cork).

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