Lack of punch up front a real concern for Weir

KEHOE CUP Meath struggled to contain fired-up neighbours. Now Carlow awaits

There wasn't a great deal of early season cheer for Meath at Dunganny last Sunday as they stumbled to defeat (0-16 to 1-21) inflicted by a clearly superior Westmeath side.

Now Nick Weir will be hoping to get back to winning ways when his side entertains Carlow at Kilmessan tomorrow, Sunday, 12.30 - but they will need to improve considerably on last week's display againist the Lake County.

Not too often fans get a chance to see an competitive inter-county game for free, but last Sunday at Dunganny was one of those occasions and the 300 in attendance witnessed a reasonably entertaining encounter, full of honest endeavour but peppered, as might be expected at this time of the year, with plenty of unforced errors.

This was a chance for regular members of both teams to add some fitness to the legs and for younger members of the panel to make an impression. Meath's man of the match was one of their regulars, Padraic O'Hanrahan. The Ratoath player was busy and influential throughout, his imprint on proceedings reflected in the way he scored 10 points, eight frees.

He also scored a beauty from a sideline cut. It's a real skill and O'Hanrahan did it with a certain nonchalance that was admirable. His running, vision and free-taking ability helped to keep Meath in this game when they might otherwise have trailed hopelessly behind.

A measure of the problems Meath faced in breaking down the strong Westmeath defence could be seen in the way only two of the six starting forwards got on the scoreboard - O'Hanrahan and Nicky Potterton, who was lively and enterprising from the start.

Potterton surely would have done a lot more damage if he had received more ball - and that was part of the problem for the home side. They couldn't get enough possession into their forwards.

They also were vulnerable in defence at times, none more so when they conceded the only goal of the game. Westmeath led 0-11 to 0-10 at the interval and just minutes into the second-half they launched an attack. Meath sought to clear. The ball was played back to goalkeeper Conor Ryan. As he attempted to get the sliotar away Westmeath's Niall O'Brien got a block in. The ball fell for full-forward Jack Gillen who shot to the net.

Gillen registered 1-6 while Ciaran Doyle was another who caused the home defence plenty of headaches. He finished with five points from play.

Manager Weir will surely be concerned with the lack of punch up front even when the experimental nature of the team is taken into consideration. Centre-half-back Michael Burke hit two booming points while the impressive Justin Coyne and midfielder Patrick Potterton also raised white flags.

Meath didn't create a clear-cut goal chance. The nearest they came to finding the net was when Nicky Potterton fired wide in the opening half. It was a half-chance.

Early season defeats might not mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things but Weir will want to get a victory in the bag. ASAP.

SCORERS

Westmeath - Jack Gillen 1-6 five frees; Ciaran Doyle 0-5; Niall O'Brien 0-3; Kevin Regan 0-2 one free; Shane Williams 0-2 one free; Eamonn Cunneen 0-1; Jack Galvin 0-1; Eoghan McCabe 0-1.

Meath - Padraic O'Hanrahan 0-10 eight fees, one sideline cut; Michael Burke 0-2; Nicholas Potterton 0-2; Patrick Potterton 0-1; Justin Coyne 0-1.

TEAMS

Westmeath - Noel Conaty; Johnny Bermingham, Tommy Doyle, Darragh Egerton; Conor Kane, Aaron Craig, Jack Galvin; Eamon Cunneen, Shane McGovern; Ciaran Doyle, Davy Gavin, Kevin Regan; Niall O'Brien, Jack Gillen, Eoin Keyes. Subs - Niall Mitchell for Keyes, Joseph Boyle for D Gavin both 40 mins, Morgan Gavigan for Gillen 51m, Conor Bracken for Conaty 52m, Tommy Gallagher for Craig, Shane Williams for Cunneen both 57m, Peadar Scally for T Doyle 59m, Eoghan Ahearne for C Doyle 60m, Owen McCabe for Kane 61m.

Meath - Conor Ryan; Killian Swaine, Shane Brennan, Brendan McKeon; Sean Geraghty, Michael Burke, Justin Coyne; Stephen Morris, Patrick Potterton; David Reilly, Padraic O Hanrahan, Callum O'Sullivan; Nicholas Potterton, Jack Walsh, Adam Gannon. Subs - Chris Reilly for Walsh half-time, Ciaran Lonergan for Swaine 47 mins, Damien Healy for P Potterton 54m, James McNally for Morris 58m, Cian Kelly for Coyne 61m, Gary Fleming for Burke 62m, Kevin Keena for O'Sullivan 64m, Adam O'Connor for Geraghty 70m.

Referee - Adam Keenan (Offaly).