Kildare ... 1-11 Westmeath ... 0-13If the crowd was a little bigger and it wasn't so damn cold this game could easily have passed for something far more meaningful than a mere pre-season football tournament. At times yesterday Newbridge witnessed some truly competitive football, even if it was in the small-time world of the O'Byrne Cup.
Kildare proved they have slightly more substance at this time of the year and progress to meet Dublin in the semi-final, but afterwards both managers highlighted the value of the experience.
"It was definitely a very good game of football," said Padraic Nolan, who so far has comfortably slipped into the shoes of Mick O'Dwyer. "Of course it's only the second Sunday in January, but it's still nice to come away with the win, and especially after throwing in so many young lads. I was actually hoping it would go to extra time so we could give a few more lads a run. But we plan to use all matches like this to get ready for the league, so we will be experimenting again the next day."
For Westmeath manager Luke Dempsey the one-point loss was comfortably consoled by the high quality of football on show.
"I think the tournament overall has been a great success for us for the month of January," he said. "A challenge match today would have been 10 times less effective than that, and it was still a great confidence-building game in that many of the younger players performed well.
"We're also in the middle of our stamina base at the moment and actually had a very hard session yesterday. That probably showed in the first 15 minutes, but when the game got going we played some good football, and were probably the more dangerous team in the second half."
In fact, Westmeath led for long periods, including much of the first half. The new-look Kildare full-forward line squandered most of their early chances and John O'Donoghue and Padraig Brennan were replaced by Paddy Murray and Tadhg Fennin respectively (and to good effect) inside the opening 20 minutes.
New Westmeath forwards PJ Ward and James Conroy settled a little more comfortably, as did Karl Henson in defence, but it was Fergal Wilson who did all the work on the scoreboard by kicking all of their six first-half points.
At half-time the game was finely balanced at 0-6 to 0-5 in Westmeath's favour, and it remained tightly contested until the end with both sides playing with more desire and conviction than would normally be expected at this stage of the season.
A quarter-hour into the half it was all square again when Murray and Terry Rossiter set up John Doyle for one of the finest points of the game. Westmeath temporarily restored their advantage before Karl Ennis delivered the decisive score just over 10 minutes from time.
The break was initiated by Derek McCormack and when Padraig Hurley laid off the ball to Ennis he had no hesitation in aiming low and successfully for the corner of the net. Wilson had a glorious chance to send the game into extra time but his last-minute free came back off the post.
"I suppose a little tiredness did creep in during the last 10 minutes," added Dempsey. "But I wouldn't blame Fergal Wilson for anything because he's been training doubly hard all week with his college side, Dublin IT.
"What is important is that the camp is very happy at the moment, and we have plenty to build on for the league. This time last year we could barely field a team because of injuries, but from the start of the league we'll be going out to win every game and set up a good platform for the championship like we did in 2001- and show some people as well that we're not the scattered sort of team that we were last season."
Nolan was glad Kildare's more experienced players still had the hunger to help pull out a victory. "Sure they did, but they're training as hard as everyone else. There is a good spirit there, and it's great the younger lads will get another competitive game like this."
KILDARE: E Murphy; B Lacey, E Noons, A McLoughlin; E O'Callaghan, D Hendy, P Mullarkey; K Brennan, A McHugh; K Ennis (1-1), P Hurley (0-1), J Doyle (0-3, one free); P Brennan, J O'Donoghue, T Rossiter. Subs: T Fennin (0-2) for P Brennan (16 mins), P Murray (0-4, two frees) for O'Donoghue (10 mins), D McCormack for K Brennan (53 mins), M Sexton for Rossiter (59 mins), G Ryan for Hendy (63 mins).
WESTMEATH: A Lennon; B Morley, D Mitchell, K Henson; D Kilmartin, D Gavin, D Heavin; R O'Connell, D O'Shaughnessy (0-1); F Wilson (0-7, five frees), S Colleary (0-1), M Ennis; PJ Ward, J Conroy (0-3, two frees), S Mitchell. Subs: G Dolan (0-1) for Mitchell (48 mins), D McDermott for Morley (57 mins), D O'Donoghue for Kilmartin (60 mins), JP Casey for Colleary (64 mins).
Referee: M Deegan (Laois)
