NFL 2: Donegal step it up
February 07, 2010Westmeath led by 0-6 to 0-5 at the break, having dominated most of the first half before the Tir Chonaill men finally woke up late in the second quarter.
The midlanders hit the first three points courtesy of Dennis Glennon (2) either side of an effort from Gavin Hoey.
Donegal were all over the place as the hosts moved ahead by 0-5 to no score.
Full forward Glennon (3) was the dominant figure for the Lake County, who were totally rampant. Paul Greville got the other Westmeath point while Michael Murphy claimed the visitors' opening score at the midway point in the first half.
Donegal stirred and had points from Adrian Hanlon, substitute Conal Dunne and Colm McFadden (free) before Glennon and McFadden swapped points to leave just a point in it at the turnaround.
Two minutes after the restart captain Kevin Cassidy hit a Donegal goal to turn the game around. Having trailed by 0-5 to no score at one stage, John Joe Doherty's men now led by 1-5 to 0-7 after 43 minutes.
Murphy and McFadden (frees) made it better for the Ulster county and they led by 1-9 to 0-7 as Westmeath struggled to cope with the loss through injury of their talisman Glennon (who came back on later and struck his fifth point).
Donegal finished strongly and McFadden got six points in total as they won by seven.
Donegal - P Durcan; J Keeney, N McGee, P McDaid; O Waide, F McGlynn, K Cassidy (1-0) ; F McNulty, N Gallagher; K Lacy, D Walsh (0-1) , L McLoone; A Hanlon (0-2), C McFadden (0-6, 3f), M Murphy (0-3, 2f, 1 '45). Subs: C Dunne (0-1) for McDaid, S Griffen for McLoone, A Thompson for Waide, B Monaghan for McNulty.
Westmeath - G Connaughton; D Healy, M Ennis, J Gaffey; G Egan, D O'Donoghue, D Harte; D Duffy, S Bracken; T Warburton, P Greville (0-2, 2f) , J Smyth; G Hoey (0-1), D Glennon (0-5, 1f) , C Lynam. Subs: A Finnan for Warburton, P Bannon for Glennon, W Murtagh for Gaffey, R Doolin (0-1) for Bracken, D Glennon for Hoey.
Ref: C Reilly (Meath). Tweet
