Westmeath rally for draw with Hub’s McAnespies

By Pierce O’Reilly

In bone-chilling temperatures, New York’s Westmeath club rallied from a sluggish start to earn a 2-8 apiece draw with Aiden McAnespies at the Boston GAA grounds in Canton, Mass., at the weekend.

Westmeath, who have regrouped in the wake of the Kieran Ryan departure, are training hard and may yet prove to be the dark horses in the senior division.

Home side McAnespies, fresh from their exploits in New York the previous week, set the pace from the start in this eagerly fought friendly.

Westmeath looked lethargic in the opening quarter but rallied to play some constructive football. Though the Midlanders never led, they almost pulled off a late victory as a pile-driver of a shot crashed off the crossbar late in the game.

McAnespies’ Meath star, Nigel Regan, had the first point of the game after five minutes. Three minutes later, Eugene McKenna had the ball in the back of the Westmeath net. Westmeath were rocked by the early scores and when Richie Fleming and Regan added further points, it didn’t look good for the visitors. Westmeath, who were playing a short passing game, ended in cul de sacs on several occassions. The odd time they did get a chance at scoring it ended up in the hands of goalie Declan Traynor, who had an excellent game.

Matt Kilroy opened Westmeath’s account after 17 minutes. However, Martin Harvey, Regan and Fleming (2) pushed McAnespies further ahead with four well-taken points to leave the score 1-7 to 0-1 after 28 minutes.

Westmeath did get one lucky break before the half when New York all-star Kieran Walsh worked the ball up to Matt Kilroy, who found Brendan Tormey in front of goal. Tormey slide the ball to the back of the net.

Westmeath received a blow at the start of the second half. Nigel Regan of McAnespies took a pass from Richie Fleming and gave goalie Paddy Donaghy no chance for a 9 point lead, 2-7 to 1-1. Westmeath came back into the game with a goal by Matt Kilroy after 11 minutes. Barney Healy (1), Brian McCabe (2), and Kilroy (1) added points for the visitors, whose late rally almost stole the show.