Fourteen-man Cavan came from six points down to dramatically defeat Westmeath by 1-17 to 1-13 at Breffni Park.

Beaten by 13 points by Armagh last weekend, it looked grim for Mickey Graham’s men when they trailed by 1-11 to 0-8 13 minutes into the second half, an inspired cameo from visiting substitute Luke Loughlin (1-3) having staved off their first fightback of the night.

Adrift by 0-8 to 0-3 at the break, with John Heslin (four), Denis Corroon, Lorcan Dolan, Callum McCormack and Ronan O'Toole all on target for last year’s Division Three winners, Cavan – who’d had Paddy Meade sent off in the 25th minute - were level within seven minutes of the restart thanks to a scoring sequence starring James Smith, Stephen Murray, Thomas Galligan, goalkeeper Raymond Galligan and Padraig Faulkner.

When Loughlin netted with his first touch and followed up with a couple of points either side of one from Ray Connellan, it looked like Westmeath had steadied the ship. But back came Cavan again with a run of scores from Oisin Kiernan, Thomas Galligan, Gearoid Kiernan and Ciaran Brady.

Heslin’s point was cancelled out by Evan Doughty and Oisin Pierson made it a one-point game, Loughlin doubling the difference, making it 1-13 to 0-14, after the visitors had O’Toole (their third player to be black carded) sin-binned six minutes from the end.

Remarkably, Cavan then hit another purple patch, a decisive one this time, closing out the game with an unanswered 1-3, recently arrived substitute Christopher Conroy netting with his fist in the second minute of injury time after Raymond Galligan had equalised from a free seconds earlier, Ryan Connolly notching their 15th point and Man of the Match Brady (0-3) their last.

Crucially, visiting talisman Heslin was off the field when the match was won and lost as he was sent off on 70 minutes for two yellow-card offences inside as many minutes.

Cavan - R Galligan (0-2, 1f, 1'45); P Meade, P Faulkner (0-1), K Brady (0-1); G Smith, C Brady (0-3), O Kiernan (0-1); B Kelly, G McKiernan (0-1); S Smith, M Reilly, E Doughty (0-1); O Pierson (0-2, 1f), B Magee, J Smith (0-1). Subs: T Galligan (0-2) for B Kelly, S Murray (0-1) for S Smith, L Fortune for J Smith, R Connolly (0-1) for B Magee, C Conroy (1-0) for P Faulkner.

Westmeath - E Carberry; J Smith (0-1), R Wallace, B Sayeh; P Holloway, K Maguire, A McGivney; D Corroon, R Connellan (0-2); J Dolan, J Heslin (0-4f), D Lynch; C McCormack (0-1), R O’Toole (0-1), L Dolan (0-1). Subs: L Loughlin (1-3) for L Dolan, N Mulligan for P Holloway, J Halligan for C McCormack.

Referee - S Laverty.

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