Galway 3-11 Westmeath 2-5
By Tommy
Devane in Clonberne
Galway
maintained their 100 per cent start to the season as goals from Roisin Leonard,
Tracey Leonard and Aoife Thompson gave them all three points in this Lidl
National Football league clash at Clonberne.
Manager
Tim Rabbitte saw his side dominate the majority of tussle, and with a trip to
face rivals Mayo up next the Tribesgirls will be keen to maintain this
whirlwind start to the season.
With
Roisin and Tracey Leonard hitting the net before the break Galway were in total
control as they held a 2-7 to 0-1 lead at half-time, but Westmeath improved
somewhat after the restart.
With 14
minutes remaining an Anna Jones goal gave Westmeath some solace, while Annie
Dolan added a second, but there was no beating Galway in this form.
Galway
only needed 14 seconds from the throw in to get on the scoreboard as a
devastating move involving Aine McDonagh and Louise Ward was calmly finished by
Roisin Leonard.
Westmeath
responded immediately with a Leanne Slevin free, but two points from Olivia
Divilly and one from Roisin Leonard had Galway in a commanding 1-3 to 0-1 lead
after ten minutes.
Despite
being reduced to 14 players when Aine McDonagh picked up a yellow card on 13
minutes, Galway pushed on with further scores from the ever-dangerous Roisin
Leonard and a free from Tracy Leonard to leave them leading 1-5 to 0-1 after 20
minutes.
A leg
injury for Roisin Leonard after 28 minutes only seemed to spur Galway on, and
her replacement Lucy Hannon combined with Sarah Conneally to set up Tracy
Leonard for Galway’s second goal just before the interval.
With
personnel changes for both sides during the interval it was Westmeath who
started the brighter with points from Lucy McCartan and Leanne Slevin. But
half-time substitute Aoife Thompson fired Galway’s third goal to put them 15
points clear.
Westmeath
then gave themselves a lifeline with two brilliantly taken goals in the space
of 60 seconds with Jones and Dolan on target, but two super saves by Galway
goalkeeper Roisin Ni Chonghaile denied Jess Hennessy and Jones, which stalled
their revival.
Scorers:
Galway: T Leonard 1-3 (1f), R Leonard 1-3, O Divilly
0-3, A Thompson 1-0, L Hannon 0-1, R Ni Fhlatharta 0-1.
Westmeath: A Jones 1-0, A Dolan 1-0, L
Slevin 0-2 (2f), L McCartan 0-1, J Maher 0-1, B McNamee 0-1 (1f).
Galway: R Ni Chonghaile; M Coyne, S
Lynch, F Cooney; S Molloy, L Ward, C Cooney; O Divilly, B Hannon; M Seoighe, T
Leonard (capt.), L Coen; A McDonagh, R Leonard, S Conneally. Subs: L Hannon for R Leonard, R Ni Fhlatharta for A McDonagh,
A Thompson for S Conneally, L Gannon for B Hannon, N Daly for S Molloy, A Coen
for L Ward, L Noone for T Leonard, G Conneally for M Seoighe, O Murphy for F
Cooney, C McCarthy for L Coen.
Westmeath: K Walsh; R Dillon, J Rogers, L Power; F Coyle, K McDermott, F Claffey (capt.); C Keeley, V Carr; L McCartan, L Slevin, J Maher; N Feery, A Jones, M.A. Foley. Subs: J Hennessy for K McDermott, A Dolan for C Keeley, L Brennan for V Carr, A Ruane for M Foley, E Kelly for R Dillon, B McNamee for L Slevin.
Tommy Devane reports..
