February 15, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By John Markey
WESTPUT 1-14, WESTMEATH 2-6 With the Mourne County’s reemergence onto the Junior “A” footballing scene, a lot had been anticipated and expected. However, what transpired Sunday was far from what was anticipated and it was a much improved Westput outfit which duly prevailed at Gaelic Park in the Bronx.
Resembling a very ordinary side in their opening encounter with Rangers, which they lost resoundingly, Westput produced a significantly better outing with an impressive Danny Leavy registering a tally of 1-9. He scored five points without reply before the red and blacks figured out how to curtail his threat. However, by this stage the damage had been done.
Despite their offensive flurries, Down had allowed themselves to fall too far behind. Pauric Tunney, one of their most effective attackers, put the Mourne men ahead after 10 minutes by punching into the net. But Down’s failure to come to terms with Westput at midfield and attack left them very quickly in arrears. Four points separated the sides at the interval, with Westput in the ascendancy, 0-9 to 1-2.
Ten minutes into the second half, the Down men’s plight took a turn for the worse. Leavy was on hand to fire to the net when a Phil Connolly effort rebounded from the upright. Ginger O’Hare did respond with a Down goal, but their lack of penetration was clearly evident and Westput managed to record a comfortable victory in the end.
Neil McMahon, Peter McCormack, Sean Burke, John Higgins, Conor Muldoon and Danny Leavy were best for the victors. Gary Rooney, Martin McGwern, Colie Mathers, Colie Fearon, Gerard O’Hare and Pauric Tunney tried hard for Down.
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Westput scorers: D. Leavy (1-9), P. Connolly (0-3), G. Farrell (0-2).
Down: P. Tunney (1-1), G. O’Hare (1-0), A. Crommie (0-2), C. Mathers, S. Morgan and C. Fearon all (0-1).