Galway prevail as doughty Westmeath reduced to 14 men

It was only in the final quarter when they had the aid of an extra man after Ray Connellan's dismissal that Galway were able to pull away from a very plucky Westmeath side in front of a big crowd in a sun-drenched Cusack Park.

Dessie Dolan’s wind-assisted charges, a week after a heart-breaking one-point defeat in Armagh, again showed that they are entitled to operate at this level and they were deservedly two points ahead after five minutes, via a 45-metre free from John Heslin and a well-worked score finished by Ronan O’Toole.

Cathal Sweeney, who replaced Damien Comer in the only change to either side from the selected teams, got Galway on the scoreboard in the seventh minute. Connellan soon converted a 'mark’ for the home team, but it needed great defending from both Jason Daly and James Dolan to prevent the Tribesmen from converting a triple-chance of a goal in the tenth minute at the expense of an unconverted ‘45’.

Points from Johnny Heaney and Paul Conroy edged Galway ahead by 0-05 to 0-04 after 22 minutes, but unanswered points from O’Toole, the lively Luke Loughlin, and Sam McCartan (a grandson of Galway legend Sean Purcell) restored the Lake County’s two-point lead.

A rasping shot from Peter Cooke came back off the crossbar in the 33rd minute, but Shane Walsh converted a free immediately afterwards. Westmeath led by 0-07 to 0-06 at the interval.

A Walsh free levelled the game for Padraic Joyce’s troops within a minute of the restart. However, Westmeath continued to play with great spirit and it needed Cian Hernon’s second outstanding point to tie the game at 0-11 each in the 50th minute.

The game turned two minutes later when strong claims for a Westmeath free some 25 metres from the Galway goal were waved away and it