Last year's Westmeath minor football team was supposed to be the best the county has produced in many a long day, but despite scoring more times than Offaly in their Leinster championship quarter-final clash at Tullamore, a two-point defeat proved to be their lot. Here, we look back on a campaign that promised much but delivered little for John Fagan's charges. Not for the first time, O'Connor Park in Tullamore proved to be a graveyard for a highly-rated Westmeath minor football team last May when the concession of three first half goals ultimately put paid to the Lake County's 2008 Leinster championship hopes. While the Faithful County are always a dangerous proposition for Westmeath, it was widely expected that the visitors would come away with the win and progress to a provincial semi-final meeting with Wexford. However, the formbook went out the window as Offaly capitalized on Westmeath's defensive frailties to the maximum to secure a surprise 3-7 to 1-11 victory. "We were vulnerable in that we were favourites," said a crestfallen Westmeath manager John Fagan afterwards. "I think breaks were why we conceded the goals. We spoke to the players about this before the game and that the Offaly forward line lived off breaks and were opportunists, but we still lost the breaks and breaks were essentially the difference between winning and losing." He added: "We are extremely disappointed. We felt that if we played or had a bit of luck we would get there, but we only played in patches and we were unlucky with some opportunities - we had two balls off the post. "We were playing the better football in the first half and the goals were keeping Offaly in the game. If you concede three goals, it's usually hard to win." While it has been suggested that Westmeath may have underestimated Offaly and been looking further down the road, this was still a game the maroon and whites should have won. Backboned by members of Athlone Community College's Leinster championship winning side, they had opened their Leinster championship campaign with a decisive nine-point victory over Carlow at Dr Cullen Park. Offaly, by contrast, suffered a 10-point defeat to Wicklow at the same stage and were extremely lucky to overcome Carlow in the 'back door' series. Those results pointed to a Westmeath win, but once again the sight of the maroon jersey brought the best out of the Faithfuls and they made the favourites pay dearly for their defensive lapses and wastefulness in attack. Having guided the same players to a Fr. Manning Cup success at under 16 level in 2006, Tubberclair man John Fagan was duly installed as minor manager for 2008, and was assisted by selector Liam McDaniel (Kilbeggan Shamrocks), coach/selector Johnny Murray (The Downs) and coordinator Kieran Galvin (Castledaly). During previous stints as Westmeath minor and under 21 boss, Fagan suffered the heartbreak of losing Leinster finals to Meath and Offaly in 1992 and '95 respectively, and was hoping to go a step further in 2008. With no less than five local schools involved in the Leinster Colleges SF 'A' championship and Athlone Community College going to the All-Ireland semi-final, team management rarely had a full squad at their disposal in the lead-up to the Carlow game. Despite this, results in challenge matches were encouraging with five wins and two losses. The victories came at the expense of Louth, Meath, Armagh, Cork and Down, while Cavan and Galway were the only sides to get the better of John Fagan's charges. Two of the challenges - against Galway and Down - were played between the championship games against Carlow and Offaly. A week later than scheduled, the moment of truth finally arrived for Westmeath when they travelled to Dr Cullen Park to face Carlow in the first round of the Leinster championship. It was the third championship meeting of the counties in as many years at Carlow GAA headquarters with the two previous meetings throwing up contrasting results for the Lake County. After hammering Carlow by 5-17 to 0-5 in 2006, Westmeath crashed to a 0-13 to 2-13 defeat 12 months later to the same opposition, who went on to contest the Leinster final for the first time in their history. With that in mind, Westmeath weren't taking anything for granted and proceeded to dominate the first half, at the end of which they held a commanding 1-8 to 0-2 lead. Carlow showed a big improvement in the second half and with 14 minutes remaining, they had reduced the deficit to four points. But the introduction of Tommy Barry into defence and John Gilligan into the half forward line provided the visitors with a new lease of life in the final quarter and they pulled away for a 2-12 to 0-9 victory. "We expected Carlow to come at us in the second half which they did and they had us worried for a while," the Westmeath manager admitted. Westmeath settled quickly and were 1-2 to 0-0 ahead after 10 minutes thanks to a stunning goal from Conor Lynam. Carlow replied with two pointed frees from Niall Humphries before scores from Ian Coffey and Thomas McDaniel restored the visitors' five-point advantage. Westmeath were in no mood to take their foot off the pedal and should have had a second goal when Coffey saw his penalty rebound from the upright. Despite that miss, the Lake County side continued to dictate the pace and further scores from Kieran Martin, Ger Egan and James Dolan left them sitting pretty at the break. The home team rung the changes at half-time with both starting midfielders being replaced by Jimmy Whyte and Jeff Sutton, and it seemed to have the desired effect as they reeled off five points without reply to cut the deficit to four. But that was as close as they came as Westmeath upped the ante again in the final quarter. Top-scorer Ian Coffey got the next two points before putting the issue to rest with a second goal which made it comfortable for the visitors in the end. Westmeath supporters made the short trip to Tullamore in confident mood for the quarter-final clash with the Faithful County. Everything appeared to be going according to plan for the hotly-fancied visitors when they eased into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead after 10 minutes courtesy of scores from John Egan (two), Alan Fitzpatrick and Thomas McDaniel. But then, against the run of play, Rhode youngster Anton Sullivan blasted the opening goal to bring Offaly back onto level terms. Keith Lawlor availed of a poor clearance to give the home side the lead before a slick move involving Brian Geraghty, Noel Andrew Graham and Paddy Rigney ended with Lawlor racing through and sending his shot to the back of the Westmeath net. The visitors responded in the best possible fashion when Conor Lynam slotted home a penalty after Ian Coffey had been fouled, but then the same player inexcusably missed a 20-metre free. Athlone clubman John Egan was lively throughout and he equalized in the 25th minute. But Westmeath's shaky defence was breached once again when Paddy Rigney was allowed to fire home a third Offaly goal. Late in the half, Thomas McDaniel and Rigney exchanged points, leaving Offaly ahead by 3-3 to 1-6 at the break. Despite rearranging his side at half-time, Westmeath manager John Fagan saw his charges fall further in arrears when Offaly got the first two points of the second half. The Lake County rallied with three unanswered points but, worryingly, they continued to squander chances. A strangely subdued Ian Coffey had a great goal chance but blasted across the face of goal. It summed up Westmeath's day. Thomas McDaniel clawed back another point, only for Offaly - who had a 100 per cent conversion rate in the first half - to reply through Brian Connor. Westmeath substitute Kevin Mitchell and Anton Sullivan exchanged scores before Ian Coffey finally opened his account for a free to reduce the gap to two points once again. However, Offaly held firm and the dismissal of Alan Fitzpatrick in the closing stages only added to Westmeath's misery. The Westmeath team which lined out against Offaly in the Leinster minor football championship was: Joe McMahon; Ben Moran, Ciaran Sheridan, Shane Mulvihill; Declan Donohue, David Malynn, James Dolan; David Keenan, Ger Egan; Kieran Martin, Conor Lynam, John Egan; Ian Coffey, Alan Fitzpatrick, Thomas McDaniel. Subs used: Tommy Barry and Kevin Mitchell. Tweet

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