All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers Round Three/Westmeath 1-12 Sligo 0-14: Gary Dolan was the toast of Westmeath on Saturday evening after his dramatic extra-time goal gave his side the narrowest of wins in this action-packed third-round qualifier at Markievicz Park.
The sides finished normal time on 11 points apiece and were still tied, 0-12 apiece, halfway through extra-time.
Sligo finished the match with 12 players after former their All Star Eamonn O'Hara, Padraic Doohan and Brendan Egan were red-carded along with the Westmeath centre half back Donal O'Donoghue.
Gary Dolan was substituted in the second half but was recalled to the action in the 86th minute in what turned out to be an inspired move; he blasted the ball past Philip Greene in the Sligo goal less than two minutes from the end of extra-time after being put through on goal with a couple of neat passes by Damian Healy and Michael Ennis.
The dismissal of O'Hara cost Sligo dear, allowing the visitors use their numerical advantage to effect in the tense endgame.
Westmeath boss Tomás Ó Flatharta said the defeat to Sligo in the NFL at the same venue last March "taught us a lesson and we had to put that right this time for all our sakes".
Mark Breheny opened the scoring with a Sligo point inside a minute, and the home side were four points up before Dessie Dolan got the visitors off the mark on 17 minutes.
But Sligo were losing possession too often and Westmeath were quick to pick up loose ball.
Dessie Dolan and Denis Glennon missed goal chances and Sligo survived to lead 0-6 to 0-4 at half-time.
Westmeath knocked over five unanswered points within 11 minutes of the restart. But Sligo battled back to square the match with a dramatic stoppage-time point from an acute angle by John McPartland.
Sligo looked set for an extended stay in the qualifiers as extra time ticked away, but their two-point advantage was clinically wiped out when Dolan rattled Green's net in a last-gasp Westmeath rally.
Sligo boss Tommy Breheny was unhappy with some of the calls made by referee Michael Ryan and claimed the O'Hara sending off was a case of "mistaken identity" because, he said, O'Hara was not involved in the relevant incident.
"The loss of three key players told against us in extra time but we were still in control of the game when their goal came against the run of play," said Breheny.
The Westmeath captain, Dessie Dolan, was superb over the 90 minutes, a towering figure in the full-forward line, scoring eight magnificent points, some from distance, to account for more than half of Westmeath's total.
WESTMEATH: G Connaughton; D Healy (0-1), J Keane, F O'Boyle; M Ennis, D O'Donoghue, G Glennon; D Duffy (0-1), P Bannon; D Heavin (0-1), G Dolan (1-0), A Mangan; J Connellan (0-1), D Glennon, D Dolan (0-8, 4 frees). Subs: P Martin for Bannon (65 mins), J Durkin for G Dolan (72 mins), J Fallon for Connellan (79 mins), P Bannon for Martin (80 mins), G Dolan for Durcan (86 mins).
SLIGO: P Greene; C Harrison, N McGuire, R Donovan; P McGovern, B Egan, B Kivlehan; E O'Hara (0-1), T Taylor; J McPartland (0-2), M Breheny (0-5, 4 frees), P Doohan; D Kelly, S Davey (0-4, 3 frees), K O'Neill. Subs: K Sweeney (0-1) for Kivlehan (25 mins), P Gallagher for O'Neill (37 mins), P Taylor (0-1) for Kelly (58 mins), A Marren for Breheny (85 mins).
Referee: M Rice (Limerick).
