Westmeath 0-13

Offaly 0-12

A storming second quarter, during which they racked up five priceless points in succession, proved the difference as Westmeath held off a strong-finishing Offaly at Cusack Park, Mullingar.

Before 8,123 fans, there was drama at the death as the Faithful came roaring back into the game after being down by six, 0-9 to 0-3, at the break.

Pat Flanagan's Offaly didn't open their account until the 17th minute, by which point they were 0-4 to 0-0 down after Dennis Corroon opened the scoring for Westmeath and John Heslin added three more points (one free).

Nigel Dunne finally got the visitors off the mark with a free and Bernard Allen quickly added one from play but points from John Connellan and Paul Sharry had Tom Cribbin's charges in front by double scores, 0-6 to 0-3, by the 29th minute.

And better was to follow before the break as Connellan, Sharry (with a sweetly-struck 45) and another Heslin free left six between them at the interval.

Offaly would win the second-half by five points but in the end it wasn't enough as Westmeath weathered the storm.

Dunne slotted a free to get the scoreboard ticking over again on the restart and further scores from Johnny Maloney and Peter Cunningham had cut the gap to three by the 48th minute.

Connellan settled Westmeath down but his point was cancelled out by Niall McNamee and when Offaly's best forward Dunne added two frees, suddenly it was a one-point game with 15 minutes left - and all the momentum was with the away side.

That man Heslin hit back before Dunne (free) responded as the nip and tuck nature of proceeedings continued. Kieran Martin and Dunne traded scores as the tension was ratcheted up in the dying seconds.

Westmeath's James Dolan put some daylight between them with a vital point and although Cunningham clawed one back, it was too little, too late as Westmeath held on to advance to a semi-final meeting with Kildare on June 26th.

Westmeath - D Quinn; K Daly, F Boyle, J Gonoud; J Dolan (0-1), A Stone, K Maguire; D Corroon (0-1), G Egan; D Lynch, J Connellan (0-3), C McCormack; P Sharry (0-2, 1'45), K Martin (0-1), J Heslin (0-5, 2f). Subs: J Egan for D Lynch, B Sayeh for C McCormack, D Daly for J Egan, P Fagan for K Daly, L Dolan for J Connellan.

Offaly - A Mulhall; S Pender, E Rigney, B Darby; N Darby, P Cunningham (0-2), J O'Connor; E Carroll, N Smith; G Guilfoyle (0-1), N Dunne (0-6, 5f), M Brazil; B Allen (0-1), N McNamee (0-1), J Moloney (0-1). Subs: A Sullivan for G Guilfoyle (BC), N Bracken for M Brazil, S Doyle for B Allen, C Donohue for N Dunne (BC).

Referee - P O'Sullivan.

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