Lake find their mojo as Cavan lick their sores
KIERAN MARTIN put his personal grief to one side to propel Westmeath to the inaugural Tailteann Cup title.
Sub Martin’s stunning 67th minute solo goal was the difference as the Lake County came from behind to pinch the silverware.
Jack Cooney’s side trailed tournament favourites Cavan by three points approaching the hour mark but reeled off 1-4 without response to enter the history books.
They were aided by the 58th minute dismissal of Cavan midfielder All-star Thomas Galligan.
Boss Cooney said: “Kieran has trained phenomenally well over the last number of weeks. Kieran lost a good friend last week in Maryland, Eoin Farrell.
“I think things like that tighten a group and we went out and trained for Kieran that night. He was phenomenal in training that night and you could see he brought that spirit with him onto the pitch today.”
Westmeath fell three points behind approaching the final quarter.
They’d led 1-8 to 0-9 at half-time and pushed the gap out to three points early in the second-half.
But Cavan took over then and outscored Westmeath by 1-4 to 0-1 between the 39th and 56th minutes.
Defender Padraig Faulkner bundled in the Cavan goal in the 53rd minute after James Smith’s high ball into the danger area wasn’t cleared.
Gerard Smith and Paddy Lynch then added points to open up a 1-13 to 1-10 lead for the 2020 Ulster champions.
This season’s Ulster semi-finalists looked primed to kick on and seal a landmark win - but caved in badly.
Galligan’s exit was a big turning point and Westmeath made their extra numbers count.
Sam Mccartan and O’toole drilled three points between them to tie it up at 1-13 apiece before Martin took off and nailed that crucial goal. WESTMEATH: J Daly; J Gonoud, J Smith, K Maguire; R Wallace (0-1), D Lynch, J Dolan; R Connellan, S Duncan; S Mccartan (0-3, 1 45), R O’toole (0-5), J Lynam; L Loughlin (0-2), J Heslin (0-3 2f), L Dolan (1-0). Subs: G Egan for Lynam 58, K Martin (1-0) for L Dolan 60, A Gardiner for Loughlin 70. CAVAN: R Galligan; N Carolan, K Brady, P Faulkner (1-0); J Mcloughlin (0-1), C Moynagh, C Brady; T Galligan, K Clarke; O Kiernan (0-1), G Mckiernan (0-3, 1f), G Smith (0-3); J Smith (0-1), P Lynch (0-3), C Madden. Subs: S Smith (0-1) for Madden h/t, M Reilly for C Brady 51, L Fortune for Moynagh 66, C O’reilly for K Brady 71, C Madden for Clarke 71. REF: B Cassidy (Derry).