Westmeath camogie received a major boost in O'Moore Park, Portlaoise on April 29 last when the county's junior team captured the National League Division 3 title at the expense of neighbours Meath. The Royals seemed poised for victory when they led by two points going into injury-time, but Westmeath then dramatically took the lead for only the second time when Raharney's Pamela Greville blasted a 20-metre free to roof of the net. There was still time for Meath to get back onto level terms but instead Westmeath went on to secure a 3-7 to 2-8 victory thanks a converted '45' from Dinah Loughlin in the third minute of injury-time. It was somewhat ironic that Westmeath should beat their neighbours in the final after conceding a walkover to the same opposition in the opening round of the competition two months earlier. It left Martin Williams' charges facing an uphill battle before they ever pucked a ball, but wins over Louth, Cavan and London, and a walkover from Tyrone, saw them qualify for the final where Meath, under the management of Brownstown's John Davis, would provide the opposition. Christine O'Brien opened the scoring for Meath, only for Joanne Walsh to level for Westmeath a short time later. After a long scoring lull, Dearbhla O'Carroll got the opening goal for Meath and they would have had a second in the 25th minute but for a fine save from Sandra Greville which denied Christine O'Brien. Following that let-off, the Lake County girls swept down the field and after Deirdre McInerney's initial shot was stopped, Elizabeth Hannon was on hand to bundle the ball into the net for the equalizing goal. Meath responded impressively, though, and points from Elizabeth Lynch and Jane Dolan gave them a 1-3 to 1-1 cushion at the short whistle. The Royals extended their lead to five points shortly after the restart thanks to efforts from Aileen Donnelly and Jane Dolan (two). Westmeath looked in trouble, but a timely point from Denise McGrath kept them in touch before Denise McGrath set up Joanne Walsh for her second goal midway through the half to reduce the deficit to two points, 1-7 to 2-2. Goalkeeper Sandra Greville once again came to Westmeath's rescue when she saved from Dearbhla O'Carroll before the Delvin duo of Denise McGrath and Niamh Barry both found the target to level proceedings. Westmeath then took the lead for the first time when a foul of Andrea Martin resulted in Dinah Loughlin dissecting the posts from 40 metres. But Meath eventually breached the Lake County defence for a second time in the 57th minute when Jane Dolan fielded a high delivery from Elizabeth Oaks before turning and sending a powerful shot past Sandra Greville to make it 2-7 to 2-5. Although Loughlin pointed a '45' to bring Westmeath to within a point again, Dolan quickly restored Meath's two-point advantage. However, Westmeath refused to accept defeat and when Pamela Greville was fouled 20 metres from goal, she picked herself up and rifled the free to the net to give Westmeath the lead at a crucial stage. Meath tried to mount an attack that might yield the equalizer, but Deirdre McInerney made a vital interception and Dinah Loughlin sealed the county's biggest camogie win yet from a late '45'. Afterwards, a delighted Westmeath captain Lorraine Leavy accepted the Sadhbh Ni Bhric Cup from camogie president Liz Howard and paid tribute to manager Martin Williams who, of course, was a member of Westmeath's Christy Ring Cup winning side in 2005, and his selectors. Lorraine also acknowledged the fine effort made by all of the players and she thanked the clubs in the county for their cooperation. It is a measure of the progress that has been made by Westmeath that they were able to follow up their victory over Monaghan in the inaugural Division 4 final in 2006 with a Division 3 title success last year. Will they be able to maintain their progress in Division 2 this year? Only time will tell. Westmeath also took part in the Leinster and All-Ireland junior championships in 2007. Offaly knocked them out of the Leinster championship with a 0-15 to 1-6 victory at Castletown-Geoghegan. In the All-Ireland junior championship, Westmeath were drawn in the same group as Meath, Cavan and Tyrone. After losing their opening game to Meath by 2-4 to 0-14, they defeated Cavan by 4-5 to 1-1 and received a walkover from Tyrone to qualify for the All-Ireland semi-final. The Lake County girls faced a fancied Laois side in Drumcullen, Co. Offaly and after falling 0-1 to 1-3 in arrears after 10 minutes, were always catch-up and were eventually beaten by 3-3 to 3-10 - a result which ended their hopes of Nancy Murray Cup glory for another year. The Westmeath team that triumphed in the National League Division 3 final was: Sandra Greville; Liz Shaw, Deirdre McInerney, Jacinta Goonery; Mary Clune, Catherine Glynn, Elaine Galvin; Andrea Martin, Lorraine Leavy; Joanne Walsh, Dinah Loughlin, Pamela Greville; Elizabeth Hannon, Karen Clune, Denise McGrath. Subs used: Elaine Finn and Niamh Barry. St. Munna's win in Dubai again St. Munna's, whose long reign as Westmeath senior camogie champions came to an end last year, made the perfect start to 2008 when they triumphed at the All-Stars Dubai Duty Free Gaelic Games Sevens for the second year in-a-row at the end of January. The tournament was hosted by the Dubai Celts GAA club at the Elite Arabian Polo Grounds, and with 40 football, hurling and camogie clubs from nine different countries taking part, it was the biggest international GAA seven-a-side competition ever staged anywhere in the world. The highlight of the event was the exhibition match between the All-Stars ladies football teams of 2006 and 2007. On the first day of the tournament, St. Munna's played two teams from London, the Ulster champions from Down and the Dubai Celts. After playing another team from London on the second day, they qualified for the Shield final which they ran out winners of. The St. Munna's players who travelled to the Middle-East were: Rhona Murtagh (captain), Yvette Cully, Annette Heffernan, Catherine Glynn, Aileen Lawlor, Deborah Corcoran, Mary Glynn, Mary Power and Caitriona Webb. The team returned home to a civic reception hosted by the St. Munna's club at the Cloughan Inn where they received a specially commissioned plaque in recognition of their achievement. Tweet

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