Westmeath 1-14 Cork 1-6:Three times in less than a year Westmeath have beaten Cork in the National Football League, but surely yesterday's display in Mullingar was the most abject Cork have managed in that time.
Larry Tompkins's team was riddled with injuries and withdrawals and might as well as have been playing in a different match for all the competitive engagement they exhibited.
A good portion of the reason for that was Westmeath's excellent performance. They were missing their three top forwards, Ger Heavin, Martin Flanagan and Dessie Dolan and manager Luke Dempsey will have been heartened by the quality of his replacement attack, which further suffered the withdrawal at half-time of Fergal Wilson.
From the very start, the likely outcome of this match was evident. Rory O'Connell and David Hughes established a productive centrefield platform and supplied with plenty of decent ball, Westmeath's forwards put severe pressure on their opponents' defence. That they did so with such style and conviction was remarkable given the conditions.
Incessant rain left the pitch so soft that its capacity to take the match was in doubt until an hour before the throw-in and had it been, say, Longford rather than Cork who had made the journey, who knows what that decision would have been. Although the surface looked well as the teams lined up, it wasn't long before tell-tale footprints began to appear all over the field.
The home side had an ideal start when, in the fourth minute, Derek Heavin's cut-in along the endline set up Joe Fallon with a tap-in chance, which he converted. Philip Clifford, the only Cork forward to carry any scoring threat, replied with a pointed free but from the then on the match as a contest disintegrated.
Westmeath dashed off seven unanswered points to lead by nine on the half-hour. Their approach play, hard work and relentless probing of the opposition defence yielded a litany of chances - not all of which were taken.
It was as if Cork were entirely and collectively out of sync. For all the individual acts of bravery and commitment there was no complementary reaction. A forward might struggle gamely to win a ball and put it in space, but no-one wearing a red jersey would be there. A hard-earned clearance would end up falling comfortably into the arms of an unmarked Westmeath forward.
Afterwards Dempsey was very happy with the coherence of his side's teamwork as well as their application in the second half. Cork had briefly threatened a comeback when in the four minutes after the interval 1-1 was pulled back. Clifford unsurprisingly got the goal, scrambling the ball just over the line. The point came a minute earlier from the hard-working but erratic Brendan Jer O'Sullivan.
The lead was now cut to four but that was the end of the comeback and Westmeath resumed normal service to outscore Cork 0-6 to 0-2 over the concluding 30 minutes. Otherwise it was a bit of a mess with a couple of brawls threatening to break out and a procession of substitutes taking to the field. Westmeath's replacements arrived with the zip of actors at Broadway auditions, Cork's with the haunted mien of suspects in an identity parade.
WESTMEATH: A Lennon; J Davitt, D Murphy, F Murray; D Healy, K Ryan, J Keane; R O'Connell (0-2), D Hughes; B Morley (0-1), M Ennis (0-1), D Heavin; J Fallon (1-2, two frees), F Wilson (0-1), JP Casey (0-6, five frees). Subs: T Cleary (0-1) for Wilson (half-time); K McKinley for Murphy (43 mins); A Mangan for Ryan (46 mins); R Casey for Morley (59 mins); R Browne for Heavin (68 mins).
CORK: K O'Dwyer; M O'Donovan, O Sexton, N O'Donovan; C O'Sullivan, A O'Connor, P Kissane; R McCarthy, N Murphy; Micheal O'Sullivan, BJ O'Sullivan (0-1), N O'Leary; P Clifford (1-4, one free), C Crowley (0-1, a free), Mark O'Sullivan. Subs: B O'Sullivan for Mark O'Sullivan (24 mins); S Levis for O'Connor (42 mins); J O'Donoghue for Micheal O'Sullivan (46 mins); P Holland for Crowley (57 mins) Referee: S Prior (Leitrim).
Westmeath ... 1-14
Cork ... 1-6
