The moment dessie dolans right foot broke down

The Leinster SFC quarter-final between Meath and Westmeath in 2003 will live long in the memory for one reason and one reason only - DESSIE DOLAN’S MISSED FREE.
Trailing by 0-8 to 1-10 at half-time and after almost single-handedly clawing Westmeath back into contention Dolan had the chance to do something that no other Westmeath man had ever done before - kicking the winning point against Meath in a championship match.
However, as if to put the icing on the most remarkable game, Dolan somehow missed his 20-metre free from directly in front of the posts and let Meath off the hook with a 2-13 to 2-13 draw.
“It would have been the first time we had beaten Meath in the championship. It looked like it was going to be my best championship game, ever. The free was so close, it was just a routine kick for me, but I was probably over-cautious taking the kick, it was such an important kick,” Dolan told The Sunday Game a year later
“I decided to kick it a bit harder, but by kicking it a bit harder I lost my routine. I was full sure I was going to get it. Some people say it is inches in Gaelic, but I think it is millimetres.”
Dolan was the games outstanding player and it was cruel luck on such a magnificent stalwart for Westmeath. Only two minutes before that ill-fated injury-time miss Dolan had converted a most wonderful sideline kick to bring Westmeath level.
So surely with almost 72 minutes on the clock and after referee Mick Curley gave a ‘soft’ free against Hank Traynor Dolan couldn’t miss in front of the posts, but as Cormac Sullivan, Tommy O’Connor and Anthony Moyles danced in front of him Dolan screwed the kick off his right boot and wide.
An enraged Rory O’Connell tried to confront Curley after the final whistle, adamant that Dolan surely couldn’t have missed from such close range, but he had and to add insult to their injury Westmeath were hammered 0-5 to 1-11 in Portlaoise six days later.
It is a day Westmeath will never forget. They looked well out of the running trailing by five points at the break thanks to Hank Traynor’s rare goal, but that wasn’t the end of the tale as the second-half enthralled a nation with a sending off, a glut of bookings, two woeful goalkeeping errors, exhibitions of highfielding, a brilliant goal from Graham Geraghty and the two contrasting moments from Dolan.
With Darren Fay out of the fray since the 22nd minute due to injury Dolan’s goal, which put Westmeath ahead for the first time in the game, came in the 49th minute.
Martin Flanagan dropped a ball into the square. Sullivan, who only moments before denied JP Casey brilliantly, fumbled and Dolan palmed the ball into the net.
No sooner had Meath regrouped than Westmeath found the net again. Sullivan initially parried Gary Dolan’s drive, but the ball rebounded out to Shane Colleary, whose weak shot past through the legs of both Sullivan and Nigel Nestor and trickled into the net.
There was 20 minutes remaining and Westmeath finally looked like they were freeing themselves from the shackles of history. However Meath refused to lie down and after not having scored for 20 minutes, Geraghty’s 64th minute goal saw them hit the front.
The final five minutes were frentic, although the only score was Dolan’s side-line ball two minutes from the end. And then the miss that sums up the history between these two counties.
Meath - C Sullivan; M O’Reilly, D Fay, N McKeigue, P Reynolds, H Traynor (1-1), T O’Connor; C McCarthy, T Giles (0-3 frees); E Kelly (0-1), G Geraghty (1-0), N Nestor, D Regan (0-4, 3 frees), D Crimmins (0-2), S McKeigue (0-2) Subs. A Moyles for Fay 23 mins, D Curtis for Nestor 56m, C Murphy for Kelly 57m.
Westmeath - A Lennon; P Rouse, D Gavin, F Murray; B Morley, D Healy, D Heavin; R O’Connell, M Flanagan; F Wilson, S Colleary (1-2), J Fallon (0-4 two frees); JP Casey, G Dolan, D Dolan (1-7 four frees, one sideline). Subs - P Conway for Wilson half-time, A Mangan for Casey 63 mins, D O’Shaughnessy for Colleary 65m.
Referee - Mick Curley (Galway)


WATCH DESSIE’S MISSED POINT HERE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwyn__J4t0w