Despite turning in two bitterly disappointing performances at GAA headquarters, 2006 was still laden with positives for a Westmeath team in heavy transition according to their highly-rated goalkeeper Gary Connaughton. It is somewhat unfortunate for Westmeath that, on the two occasions they played in Croke Park this year in front of the live TV cameras, they produced their poorest performances of an eventful six-match championship campaign. In their first outing of the year at GAA headquarters, they were beaten 0-15 to 0-11 by midland rivals Offaly in a truly forgettable affair. On their return to Croke Park in mid-August after a great run through the All-Ireland qualifiers, they offered only token resistance to a Dublin side that had won the Leinster championship in emphatic fashion. "We're not as bad as we looked in those two games," insists Westmeath goalkeeper Gary Connaughton. "The supporters who followed us throughout the year will back me up on that one. We had some great results in the qualifiers, but unfortunately when we got back to Croke Park to play Dublin, we didn't do ourselves justice. It was just one of those days when nothing went right for us." When the All-Ireland qualifiers were first introduced in 2001, Westmeath were the main beneficiaries and they made the most of their second chance again this year, beating London, Limerick, Sligo and Galway before succumbing to Dublin in their third All-Ireland final quarter-final appearance in six seasons. Earlier in the year, they achieved promotion back to Division 1 of the National League, so manager Tomas O Flatharta can feel satisfied with his first season at the helm. "We can take a lot of positives from the year. We went straight back up to Division 1 and reached the All-Ireland quarter-final. I'm sure a lot of counties would be happy to achieve what we did," the Tubberclair clubman says. "I thought we did very well in the circumstances. When Tomas came into the job, he was faced with a rebuilding job. The likes of Rory O'Connell, Martin Flanagan, Brian Morley and Paul Conway had retired and they had to be replaced. "He gave young lads like Brendan Nannery, David Duffy, Francis Boyle, Paul Bannon, John Connellan and James Durkan their chance and they let nobody down. These lads will get their first taste of Division 1 football next year and I've no doubt it will bring them on a good bit. They can only learn from playing against the best on a more regular basis." Westmeath appeared to be coasting to promotion from Division 2B of the National League after opening their campaign with four straight wins. But a shock defeat to a Sligo team that had lost their first four matches, followed by another loss to Cavan, looked to have ruined their chances of making an immediate return to the top flight. However, against all the odds, promotion was achieved after the Lake County ended Louth's unbeaten run in Drogheda and Waterford recorded a sensational victory over Cavan at Kingspan Breffni Park. Westmeath subsequently lost to Donegal by two points in the Division 2 semi-final, but their main objective had been achieved. "Getting promoted was a timely and unexpected boost for us," Connaghton acknowledges. Westmeath suffered a huge setback in the lead-up to their Leinster championship opener against Offaly when talisman Dessie Dolan was ruled out with a knee injury. The Garrycastle ace could only look on from the sideline as Offaly avenged their 2004 defeat in a game they never looked like losing. Offaly sprinted into a 0-9 to 0-3 interval lead and although Westmeath got to within three points of them in the closing stages, a late Niall McNamee point sealed a deserved victory for the Faithful County. "After finishing the league on a high, we should have been going into the Offaly game with a lot of confidence. But Dessie's injury was a huge blow. If he was playing, I'm sure it would have been a totally different game." Few would have given Westmeath much chance of making progress in the All-Ireland qualifiers, but after beating London in the first round, they gradually built up momentum. Gary recalls: "Tomas gave us two weeks off after the Offaly game to refresh ourselves. We were lucky to draw London because our confidence was very low at that time. After a shaky first half performance, we put up a good score in the second to run out easy winners. "But things still weren't quite right. Not long after the London game, we suffered a bad defeat to Roscommon in a challenge match and, in hindsight that was probably the best thing that could have happened to us. It was the wake-up call we needed." Despite Dessie Dolan's return to the starting line-up against Limerick - some six weeks ahead of schedule - Westmeath continued to stutter and looked doomed when trailing by seven points early in the second half. But following the dismissal of substitute James Davitt, the Maroons suddenly came to life. They proceeded to score eight points without reply with the last two coming from defenders Donal O'Donoghue and Michael Ennis. It was easily the Lake County's best championship win since they beat Laois after a replay to capture their first Leinster title two years ago. A last-gasp Gary Dolan goal gave an improving Westmeath a controversial extra-time victory over Sligo in their next outing at Markievicz Park. Sligo finished the game with just 12 players, while Donal O'Donoghue also received his marching orders for the visitors. Despite the sweltering conditions, the game was played at a cracking pace and Sligo raced into a 0-4 to 0-0 lead after 16 minutes thanks to two points each from Mark Breheny and Sean Davey. Dessie Dolan eventually opened Westmeath's account in the 17th minute and followed it with a free from the left. Sligo goalkeeper Philip Greene then took centre stage by producing two brilliant saves from Denis Glennon and Dessie Dolan. At half-time, the Yeats County led by 0-6 to 0-4 but Westmeath started the second half in blistering fashion, shooting five points without reply in the first 12 minutes to open up a 0-9 to 0-6 lead. Sligo showed great character, however, to come back and level the match through points from Eamonn O'Hara, Davey, Kenneth Sweeney and Breheny. Dolan put Westmeath back in front from a free, only for McPartland to force extra-time with a superb equalizing point in the fourth minute of injury-time. Sligo's hopes suffered a major setback when O'Hara was wrongfully sent off in the first period of injury-time, but they still looked set to prevail when they went two points clear five minutes into the second period. However, Westmeath never gave up and Gary Dolan's late major gave them a dramatic 1-12 to 0-14 victory. The high point of Westmeath's year was undoubtedly their magnificent 1-8 to 0-10 defeat of Galway in Pearse Stadium. Tomas O Flatharta's charges went into the game as 4/1 outsiders, but displayed tremendous resolve, determination and ambition to pull off a major shock. Favoured by a gale force wind in the first half, the onus was on Westmeath to build up a decent interval lead but they were only two points in front, 0-6 to 0-4, facing into the second period. It seemed only a matter of time before Galway would take control, but the visitors dug deep and stretched their advantage to four points courtesy of efforts from the Dolan brothers, Dessie and Gary. Galway scored the next three points to reduce the deficit to the minimum, but then came the decisive score when Dessie set up Gary for the only goal. Galway threw everything at the midlanders after that, but couldn't get back on terms as heroic displays from Damien Healy, John Keane and substitute David O'Shaughnessy kept them at bay. "It was the best Westmeath win I was ever involved in," Connaughton says without any hesitation. "We were totally written off and all that the media seemed to be talking about was how Galway would do against Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-final. But we felt that Galway were there for the taking. They had lost the Connacht final to Mayo and we were convinced we could take them." Westmeath's championship adventure ended in front of 80,000 spectators - at least 60,000 of which were from Dublin - at a heaving Croke Park. Tomas O Flatharta's men never got to the pace of the game and their goose was well and truly cooked by half-time when they trailed by 0-2 to 1-7. "It was a horrible experience, we couldn't get into it. Maybe some of the younger lads were a bit overawed by the crowd - I don't know for sure. "We missed a few easy frees at the start and you could feel the confidence draining from us after that. Mossy Quinn then scored a lucky goal for Dublin (Westmeath corner back Francis Boyle slipped after the ball came back off the post) and they were out of sight before we knew it. "It was disappointing that we didn't give our supporters something to cheer about. But I know that most of them won't judge us on that one performance." The 27-year-old sand and gravel contractor is looking forward to the new season and the prospect of Westmeath building on this year's progress. "People will have to show patience with the younger players and the older guys will need to show leadership. "Our target for the year is to win another Leinster - the Leinster championship is wide open and we feel we have as good a chance as anyone of winning it. Dublin won Leinster very easily this year, but I think their main focus for next year will be to win the All-Ireland and the Leinster championship might not be their main priority. "Our other objective is to do well in the league. We'll be disappointed if we don't play better in Division 1 than we have done in recent years," he concludes. Tweet

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