Division 3 promotion to come down to final day as Westmeath are held by Mourne men
March 17, 2024
Ceilum Doherty of Down with Luke Loughlin of Westmeath ©INPHO/James Lawlor
Ryan McEvoy’s late point saw Down deny Westmeath in this afternoon top of the table clash in Division 3 as it finished 0-13 to 1-10 at TEG Cusack Park.
The result means that both teams will need to take a point from next week’s final round of games in order to ensure themselves promotion, with a win for Clare over Down seeing the Banner men go up instead of their opponents on the day.
Today’s encounter in Mullingar saw the Mourne edging a 0-4 to 0-3 lead at the halfway stage thanks to Pat Havern’s point and he’d send over another four minutes into the restart.
Robbie Forde’s free narrowed the deficit down to the minimum before a Daniel Guinness goal looked to give the visitors the first read foothold.
Dessie Dolan’s charges responded superbly, with Forde (free), Luke Loughlin (free) and Kieran Martin all shooting points and they’d get it back level via Ray Connellan with 13 minutes to go.
Odhran Murdock and Ryan Johnston put Down back ahead by two ahead of their Leinster counterparts landing the next three points via Loughlin (2) and Forde (free) to leave themselves on the cusp of promotion before McEvoy’s late intervention denied them.
TweetDivision Three of Football League goes down to the final day.
— Will O'Callaghan (@willocallaghan) March 17, 2024
A draw for Westmeath at Sligo would see them promoted, Down up if they avoid defeat to Clare.
Offaly will stay up if they avoid defeat to already relegated Limerick.
