A determined Kildare withstood Westmeath’s fightback to finish strongly and secure their first ever Joe McDonagh Cup win at the 10th attempt on a 3-24 to 2-21 scoreline at sunsplashed Cedral St Conleth’s Park.
Pipped at the death last week by Kerry, Kildare must have feared a repeat when Westmeath reeled in a 13-point deficit to level at 2-20 each with five minutes remaining.
But this was a much crisper, more determined performance from the Lilywhites. They caught their second wind, with outstanding wing-back Cian Boran pointing magnificently from the wing, his third point, to put them back in front before the home side outscored their opponents 1-03 to 0-01 in the closing minutes, James Burke’s goal with the last puck of the match providing the icing on the cake.
Kildare had started at full throttle, dominating the first half, with 10 different scorers on the board and registering 2-14 from play, with wing-backs Boran and Paul Dolan contributing five points from play.
They were already 0-05 to 0-01 up when they broke through for their first goal after five minutes. The experienced Gerry Keegan, a rival for Boran for man of the match, broke through the cover and teed up Darragh Melville for the finish to the net.
By the time Jack Sheridan added a second with a well-placed ground shot, coming from Boran’s incisive break after 11 minutes, Westmeath were taking on water, trailing 2-07 to 0-04.
The deficit had stretched to 13 points at 2-14 to 0-07 by the 25th minute but the away side hit form before half-time and a brilliant goal from Peter Clarke, fizzed in from around 30 metres, meant they trailed by just 2-16 to 1-12 at the interval.
When a wayward Kildare clearance was returned with interest to impressive full-forward Niall O’Brien in the 43rd minute, he offloaded to David Williams for Westmeath’s second goal.
They were still four behind at that stage, but with Killian Doyle more accurate from frees than the Kildare pair of David Qualter and Sheridan had been, it was no surprise when Brian Dowling’s side saw their lead slip away.
Dowling must have feared the worst, but his side redoubled their efforts superbly to take the points with two Sheridan frees and a point from Burke preceding the latter’s goal as the Lilywhites ran out fully deserved six-point winners.
They next face Carlow away in two weeks’ time and will be delighted to have gotten off the mark in the second tier competition.
Westmeath, on the other hand, who have never been relegated from the Joe McDonagh Cup and won the competition four years ago, will need to recover their form quickly if they are to avoid battling to beat the drop this year, having already suffered relegation from Division 1B of the league.
Kildare: Paddy McKenna; Liam O'Reilly, Rian Boran, Dan O’Meara (0-01); Paul Dolan (0-03), Simon Leacy, Cian Boran (0-03); Daire Guerin, Cathal McCabe (0-01); David Qualter (0-05, 3f), James Burke (1-02), Darragh Melville (1-00); Jack Sheridan (1-03, 3f), Cathal Dowling (0-01), Gerry Keegan (0-05).
Subs: Richie Hogan for O’Reilly 35, Muiris Curtin for Melville 49, Jack Travers for P Dolan 56, Conn Kehoe for Dowling 60, J Higgins for Qualter (temp) 62-64 and 71.
Westmeath: Ciarán O’Brien; Conor Gaffney, Tommy Doyle, Gary Greville; Aaron Craig, Eoin Keyes, Darragh McCormack; Davy Glennon, Eamon Cunneen; Joseph Boyle, Killian Doyle (0-10, 8f,1 65), Peter Clarke (1-00); David O’Reilly (0-01), Niall O’Brien (0-05), David Williams (1-03).
Subs: Mark Cunningham (0-01) for Boyle HT, Owen McCabe (0-01) for Cunneen 46, Niall Mitchell for Glennon 58.
Referee: Thomas Gleeson (Dublin).
