Offaly denied deserved victory by last gasp Westmeath point

A Leanne Slevin free, over six minutes into stoppage time at the end of the second half, was enough to earn Westmeath a draw whilst snatching what would have been a very well deserved victory away from Offaly at St Loman's in Mullingar.

TG4 Leinster Ladies Football Intermediate Championship Round 1

Offaly 2-8

Westmeath 1-11

It was the home side who got off to best start here with two early frees from the boot of Leanne Slevin before a lovely Vicky Carr effort gave their side a three point lead in the fifth minute.

Offaly soon settled themselves and points from team captain Ellee McEvoy and the lively Emma Hand reduced the gap to one by the eight minute mark.

The Faithful ladies took the lead for the first time by the twelfth minute when Hand finished via the butt of the post to the Westmeath net before herself and Chloe Sheridan raised white flags to put Offaly four to the good by the end of the opening quarter.

An McEvoy free opened the the gap to five before Rachel Dillon made her way from the half back line to finish into the Offaly net with a crucial goal for the hosts.

To their credit the Faithful ladies stuck to the process and didn’t show any signs of panic and minutes later were rewarded with their second green flag of the afternoon through a fine Ellee McEvoy finish soon followed by another Sheridan point.

Offaly would have been hoping to hear the sound of the half time whistle at this stage, however, there was time for more action and another Slevin free followed by a Rachel Dillon point reduced the gap to four by the mid way point.

The third quarter was a lot less frantic of an affair with both sides feeling the brunt of the warm weather along with playing of the Astro surface - with minds tiring, shot selection at both ends of the park wasn’t what it should have been with both sides missing some crucial chances.

With no scores coming from play during this period the supporters at the ground had to make do with two Leanne Slevin frees which brought the gap back to two as the clock headed into the final quarter.

Sarah Dillon got herself on the score card with a fine effort to reduce the gap back to one on fifty minutes.

Offaly had a huge opportunity to get their third green flag of the day and a fine save by Westmeath net minder Lauren McCormack from an Emma Hand shot kept her sides hopes alive.

Ellee McEvoy and Leanne Slevin exchanged frees before Emma Hand put the gap back out to two points just as the stopwatch hit the sixty minute mark.

Westmeath threw whatever they had at the visitors and some crucial turnovers from Michelle Mann, Róisin Ennis and Emma Maher ensured no goal would be conceded.

Knowing this, Slevin showed all her experience getting herself into the scoring zone and pointing excellently to reduce the gap to one by the 62nd minute.

Offalys management and supporters looked puzzled then when the time remaining was questioned and they were informed by referee Finbarr Shanahan that there was still five minutes of action remaining which was bemusing.

This came as a relief to the Westmeath camp and to their credit they showed no sign of panic, pressing hard on the opposition and were rewarded with a free deep in injury time in which Slevin made no mistake with from a tricky enough angle leaving proceedings all square.

For Westmeath it was relief to get something from the game but for the Faithful ladies it almost felt like a defeat and really they deserved to get so much more from this clash.

MATCH ANALYSIS

PLAYER OF THE MATCH

Emma Hand (Offaly): This was a choice between Offaly full back Michelle Mann and Emma Hand.

Mann was fantastic in the Offaly defence winning a mountain of possession and showing real leadership and maturity throughout the game driving out of defence and linking well with midfield and attack.

A very honourable mention has to go to youngster Maebh Rouse who made her senior debut for the Offaly side and rarely put a foot wrong throughout the clash. 

Chloe Kelly  and Leanne Slevin were the pick from the home side however on a day when scores were paramount, Emma Hand gets the nod.

Showing well for the ball getting a crucial goal and couple of points, Hand really lead the Offaly attack and came to the fore late on when her side needed a score badly.

THE TEAMS

Offaly: Lauren Dunne (Rhode); Anna Grehan (Naomh Ciaran), Michelle Mann (Naomh Molaoise), Nicole Farrelly (Edenderry); Roisin Ennis (Naomh Ciaran), Emma Maher (Naomh Ciaran), Nicole Buckley (Naomh Ciaran); Ellee McEvoy capt (Naomh Ciaran), Marie Byrne (St Conleths); Claire O’Brien (Tullamore), Kiah Farrelly (Edenderry), Maebh Rouse (Tullamore); Ciara Walsh (Naomh Molaoise); Chloe Sheridan (Clara), Emma Hand (Ballinamere/Durrow). Subs: Fiona Dempsey (Naomh Molaoise) for O’Brien Halftime, Caoimhe Lynam for Sheridan (50).

Westmeath: Lauren McCormack (capt); Lara McCartan, Kelly Boyce Jordan, Laura Kiernan; Chloe Kelly, Lucy Power, Rachel Dillon; Vicky Carr, Tracey Dillon; Ashley Ruane, Leanne Slevin, Anna Jones; Karen Hegarty, Sarah Dillon, Fiona Coyle. Subs: Melek Fagan for Coyle (half time).

Referee – Finbarr Shanahan.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Leanne Slevin's 67th minute free to level the game was ultimately the moment of this clash.

VENUE WATCH

Playing a Leinster Championship match on Astro surface was far from ideal for anyone here. With the weather improving as the week moved on a grass pitch should really have been made available for this.

There was no scoreboard or clock on the grounds which was far from ideal and led to a lot of confusion throughout injury time especially

REFEREE WATCH

Finbarr Shanahan had a consistent game at the office with most calls balancing out in the end.

However he played close to seven minutes injury time in the second half which was possibly a couple of minutes more than should have been allocated, much to the frustration of the Offaly camp

WHAT'S NEXT

Westmeath meet Wicklow whilst Offaly travel to Wexford for Round 2 next Sunday 

THE SCORERS

Offaly: Emma Hand and Ellee McEvoy (2f) 1-3 each, Chloe Sheridan 0-2

Westmeath: Leanne Slevin (6f 0-7, Rachel Dillon 1-1, Vicky Carr, Chloe Kelly and Sarah Dillon 0-1 each.