Longford 0-9
Westmeath 0-8

Barry McKeon's late point handed Longford victory in tonight's Leinster U21FC first round replay at Lakepoint Park, Mullingar.

The midfielder, who is in his third year as a county U21, pounced on a loose pass to send over a booming kick with two minutes remaining and earn Jack Sheedy's side a quarter-final meeting with Laois in Portlaoise next week. However, the real hero for Longford was classy full forward Robbie Smyth who accounted for all but three of their scores, with four of his six points coming from frees.

Conditions were atrocious for this replay which Longford just about deserved to win. However, the decision by referee Fergal Barry to overrule his umpires on the advice of one of his linesmen and award a James McGivney point in the 40th minute was hugely contentious, and was what ultimately separated the sides.

The Kildare match official further enraged the drenched home support by blowing his full time whistle dead on the 60 minutes as Westmeath came in search of an equaliser.

But Paul Bealin's men will know their performance wasn't good enough and that they would have lost by a bigger margin had Longford not racked up 13 wides, eight of which came in the second half when they had the driving wind and rain to their backs.

Ray Connellan, who was one of four changes to the Westmeath team from the drawn encounter, opened the scoring from a free inside the first minute. Robbie Smyth cancelled it from a free three minutes later before a long scoring lull ensued as both sides struggled to come to terms with the awful conditions.

Eventually, Westmeath wing back Jack Donoghue registered the game's third point in the 17th minute. Centre forward Rory Connor equalised with the best score of the half in the 20th minute, only for midfielder Dean McNicholas to fire over an immediate reply for the hosts.

Connellan's second pointed free, which was awarded for a foul on Seanie Daly, doubled the Lake County's lead, but they couldn't pull away from a hard-working Longford side as Smyth left the minimum in it again from another placed ball.

A Shane Dempsey free in the 29th minute restored Westmeath's two-point advantage, 0-5 to 0-3. The margin would have been five at half-time but for a brilliant injury-time save from Garret Higgins which denied McNicholas a goal after Ger Leech had teed up the midfielder.

Smyth cut the gap to the minimum with his first point from play two minutes after the restart. Ray Connellan set up Lorcan Dolan for a Westmeath point, only for Smyth to grab another great point from play and then tie up the scoring at 0-6 apiece from a free after Stephen McLoughlin had been fouled.

Longford were on top at this stage and they took the lead for the first time when McGivney's point was awarded after being previously waved wide.
Impressive Westmeath substitute Eoin Monaghan equalised again on the three-quarter hour mark before Smyth edged the visitors back in front from another free in the 50th minute.

Monaghan again brought the sides level with five minutes remaining and it looked like extra-time would be needed for the second week in-a-row before McKeon stepped up to give Longford - who had lost all three of their Hastings Cup games - their first win of 2014.

Scorers - Longford: Robbie Smyth 0-6 (0-4 frees), Rory Connor, James McGivney and Barry McKeon 0-1 each. Westmeath: Ray Connellan 0-2 (frees), Eoin Monaghan 0-2, Shane Dempsey 0-1 (free), Lorcan Dolan 0-1, Dean McNicholas 0-1, Jack Donoghue 0-1.

Longford: Garret Higgins; Cian Farrelly, Andrew Farrell, Anthony McBrien; Shane Clarke, Stephen McLoughlin, Conor Shields; Barry McKeon, James McGivney; Emmet Noonan, Rory Connor, Patrick Kiernan; Andrew Dalton, Robbie Smyth, Liam Connerton. Subs: Ross McNerney for Connerton (52 min), Daniel Mimnagh for Kiernan (55 min).

Westmeath: Michael McMahon; John Rock, Killian Daly, Jack Donoghue; David Lynch, Paddy Holloway, David Whelan; Dean McNicholas, David McCormack; Seanie Daly, Ger Leech, Alan Coffey; Ray Connellan, Lorcan Dolan, Shane Dempsey. Subs: Eoin Monaghan for McNicholas (35 min), Martin Rock for Leech (55 min).

Referee: Fergal Barry (Kildare). Tweet

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