LEINSTER SFC QUARTER-FINAL/Westmeath 2-11 Offaly 1-8:MIDSUMMER REPORT cards are in. Westmeath under Tomás Ó Flatharta can be marked "satisfactory". It was middle-of-the-road stuff against Longford and now Offaly but they have got the job done. The major examination comes on June 29th.
Star pupil Dessie Dolan once more provided the scoring excellence to help guide his county through a potentially tricky Midlands derby. That he gathered 1-4 after being helicoptered from the altar at the wedding of his younger brother Gary in Meath made the feat even more remarkable.
His brilliant 1-2 from play during the decisive 20-minute period after half-time saw Westmeath press the pedal and accelerate out of sight.
The victory was largely achieved without their midfield colossus Martin Flanagan, whose season looks over after a suspected cruciate knee injury sustained just before the interval.
His loss is incalculable considering a certain Ciarán Whelan is looming. At least David Duffy came in and did well.
Up to the 50th minute Offaly sporadically threatened to make a fight of it, clinging on at 0-9 to 0-5, but the marksmanship of Dolan and Fergal Wilson was beginning to tell. That Thomas Deehan finished scoreless (take a bow, John Keane) and Niall McNamee struggled to find his range before eventually finishing with 1-5 meant Offaly were never going to unhinge the rigid defensive structure Ó Flatharta has ingrained into the Westmeath psyche.
They've learned from watching champions like Kerry, Tyrone and Armagh. A team can be free- scoring, but without solidity from one to nine they will eventually be found out.
Anyway, this drab, error-strewn contest sparked to life on 52 minutes when the ever-assured Donal O'Donoghue, fed by Denis Glennon, drew the cover before giving Wilson a clear sight of goal and he finished to make it 1-9 to 0-5. Offaly needed a quick response.
Within seconds a lifeline appeared when Niall Smith was brought down by Duffy, leaving referee Jimmy McKee with little option but to award a penalty. McNamee's shot was pushed on to the crossbar by Gary Connaughton but the Rhode forward punched home the rebound.
The game hung in the balance until Offaly fullback Shane Sullivan was shown a straight red card for a late hit on Dolan. That stripped them of their defensive spine as Scott Brady had already been called ashore. Thankfully Sullivan's heavy challenge didn't ruin the captain's best-man speech; on 54 minutes Dolan combined with Glennon for the killer second goal after Damien Healy picked off a wayward Ciarán McManus pass.
The long-serving midfielder cannot be overly criticised as he carried the burden more than any other Offaly player, kicking three long-range points.
Glennon and Wilson tagged on late points, sandwiched by two irrelevant McNamee pointed frees, to ensure Offaly disappear into the qualifiers six weeks hence.
"Those players have worked as hard as any bunch of players I've ever worked with," said the Offaly manager, Pat Roe. "They've worked hard since the end of October. We wanted to get out of Division Four. I'm not going to fault them. They've made a supreme effort. On the day it didn't happen for us. We didn't play the way we expected to and wanted to play.
"When it comes to the qualifiers we'll be ready. We'll get back to training, and training hard, and see what happens."
Westmeath did what was expected of them. They dismissed a team some distance off their standard despite the loss of Flanagan and hardly inspirational contributions from Alan Mangan and Glennon. Normally so reliable, Glennon got just one point and Mangan failed to score.
In O'Donoghue and the former Clongowes schoolboy rugby star John Smyth they have the ultimate grafters: men for the white heat.
And then there's the jewel in the crown, Dessie Dolan.
Afterwards, Ó Flatharta succinctly summarised the contest as "two borders meeting each other".
But was he worried with the low standard of football?
"It's a local derby, you know; what you're going to get is a very tough encounter. Sometimes it can be physical. Sometimes the marking can be very tight. Lads are very passionate about their own county. It's good to see that. I felt there was some good football played in the second half."
There is a more ravenous bite to the Westmeath 2008 version. What comes next will define this team and the Ó Flatharta era.
WESTMEATH: 1 G Connaughton; 2 F Boyle (0-1), 3 K Gavin, 4 J Keane; 5 M Ennis, 6 D Heavin, 7 D Healy; 8 M Flanagan (0-1, a 45), 9 D O'Donoghue; 10 F Wilson (1-4, two frees), 11 J Smyth, 12 D Harte; 13 A Mangan, 14 Denis Glennon (0-1), 15 D Dolan (capt, 1-4, two frees). Subs: 17 D Duffy for M Flanagan (half-time, inj), 18 D Bannon for A Mangan (61 mins), 20 David Glennon for J Smyth (71 mins).
OFFALY: 1 P Kelly; 2 G Rafferty (capt), 3 S Sullivan, 4 J Keane; 5 P McConway, 6 S Brady, 7 P McConway; 8 C McManus (0-3, two frees), 9 A McNamee; 10 B Darby, 11 K Slattery, 12 N Smith; 13 T Deehan, 14 P Kellaghan, 15 N McNamee (1-5, three frees). Subs: 21 J Reynolds for S Brady (50 mins), 25 A Mulhall for P Kellaghan, 23 S Ryan for T Deehan (both 65 mins).
YELLOW CARDS: Offaly: P McConway 14 mins, B Darby 27 mins, P Kellaghan 57 mins. Westmeath: J Smyth 34 mins, D Heavin 37 mins, J Keane 57 mins. RED CARDS: Offaly: S Sullivan 53. Westmeath: None.
Referee: J McKee (Armagh).
Attendance: 13,105.
