Heavy defeat for Carlow IT
WESTMEATH 2-26 CARLOW IT 1-11
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FOR 28 MINUTES a depleted Carlow IT assembly kept a tight lid on the holders in Saturday's Kehoe (SH) Cup semi-final in Kinnegad.
They actually to the lead on four occasions; first when Offaly's Mark Egan met an Enda Fitzpatrick delivery from the right to lodge the ball in the second minute.
But the roof caved in what until that was a very gutsy offering when the midlanders shot 2-3 inside the last six minutes to close the half 2-11 to 1-6 in front; the goals their final scored of the half.
Those blows sucked the wind out of the students whose defence stoop manfully with fulls Eddie Kane Fergus Shortt and John Culhane dealing efficiently with the maroon forwards curtailing them to just three points from play in the first thirty minutes.
And the outlook looked promising for the Carlow team when they scored three of the first four points of the second half, but as it transpired four of their five second half scores came from Joey O'Callaghan frees and only two in the final thirty minutes.
The holders went from zeros to heroes in a twinkling and blew Carlow off the park with a devastating display, but the academics created mush of their own pain by giving the maroons far too much space, but they speed was a major factor in that gain.
With only two substitutes on the line and both called into service, the IT was badly limited with the unavailability of some leading players because of the weekend fixture, and now their attention turns to the Ryan Cup in which they meet Queens and should they win then can qualify for the knock-out stages.
Carlow will wish to forget the second half in Kinnegad where Westmeath went to town with five points in a shade over two minutes and extended that run to ten in 20 minutes and registering 16 wides over the 70 minutes.
It mattered little that IT's best player Dubliner Joey O'Callaghan was red-carded with only five minutes remaining.
Level on seven, ten, 13, 24 and 28 minutes, Carlow (with six players from the GAA course) will hardly disintegrate after this defeat considering the midlanders are favourites for the Ring Cup and on this form, and the fact that they boasted only eight or nine automatic players, they will take some beating in that competition.
Carlow indeed were out of their depth yet PJ Ryan was alert in goal, Fergal Shortt and John Culhane opened well at the back, but engineering student Shane Kavanagh – who tweaked a hamstring – found Brendan Murtagh a handful. O'Callaghan did very well in a reorganised midfield but the attack was on short time with only Des Shaw and Mark Egan forceful with Laoisman TJ Lalor adding to the offence in the second half.
Westmeath hurled with precision and flair in the second half, looking to Darren McCormack Andrew Mitchell and John Shaw to maintain shape at the back. Enda Loughlin did well in the middle while in a show-starting attack Alan Dowdall gave IT a torrid time with Dan Carthy and Murtagh contributing handsomely to their passage to the final for which they must be favourites.
While they opened enthusiastically, IT only scored 1-3 from play, a fair reflection of the ability of the Westmeath defence.
