Conor Cosgrove's injury-time free gave Garrycastle a sensational 1-8 to 0-10 victory over St Brigid's in Tullamore.

The Westmeath kingpins dominated the first half and Gary Dolan's 39th-minute goal had them in a seemingly-unassailable eight-point lead, 1-7 to 0-2. But St Brigid's reeled off the next eight points to draw level on the stroke of normal time only for Cosgrove to clinch it with a last-gasp pointed free from the hands.

Thus, Garrycastle are the first Westmeath club to win the Leinster club football championship. Next up for the new Leinster champions is an All-Ireland semi-final meeting with neighbours St Brigid's of Roscommon.

This win completes a remarkable journey for Anthony Cunningham's charges, who lost the 2009 provincial decider but made it a three-in-a-row in Westmeath before beating Longford Slashers and Athy to qualify for today's final. They went into the game as 9/4 outsiders and had to survive an inspired Brigid's comeback before stealing the silverware at the death.

With Dessie Dolan (0-4) in sublime form, the Westmeath representatives dominated the first half to take a commanding 0-6 to 0-1 advantage into the interval. Their much-vaunted opponents were all over the place during that half-hour, failing to rise to the occasion and also struggling to come to terms with Garrycastle's impressive tenacity.

Garrycastle went straight into the attack and the inimitable Dessie Dolan floated over the lead point with a free from the hands inside 40 seconds following s foul by Gavin Kane. Full forward Ken Darcy levelled matters within 90 seconds when he tapped over a simple free from in front of the posts, with Westmeath player Doran Harte very unfortunate to receive a yellow card from referee Syl Doyle for his innocuous foul on Paddy Andrews.

At the other end, Lake County legend Dolan restored Garrycastle's advantage with an excellent point from play. Karl Henson was the second 'Castle player to see yellow inside the opening six minutes and the sides each registered bad misses before Dolan collected a pass from the marauding Harte to effortlessly clip over his third point on eight minutes: 0-3 to 0-1.

Gary Dolan sent a shot narrowly wide for the midlanders and Cathal Mullen made a tidy fetch under a dangerous Andrews delivery from the right wing. Dessie Dolan was inches away from stretching the gap when his next shot failed to curl inside the post and Kane saw yellow for a trip before Dessie Dolan swivelled on a proverbial sixpence to slot his fourth score: 0-4 to 0-1 after 13 minutes. So far, it had been The Dessie Dolan Show.

The one-way traffic continued as Henson raided forward to make it a four-point game before the end of the first quarter. With Garycastle defending tenaciously and harrying as though their very lives depended on it, the Dublin kingpins were unable to get a foothold in the game.

The underdogs came close to registering a goal when Gary Dolan beat goalkeeper Shane Supple to the dropping ball but his flick flew outside the post. But the Garrycastle No.13 kept his composure to bang over the next point, making it 0-4 to 0-1 after 20 minutes. Corner back Tom McHugh was on the end of the next flowing Garycastle move but his rushed shot was off target.

Respective full forwards Paddy Mulvihill and Darcy then missed goal chances at either end; the former slipped after gathering possession superbly before the latter produced an air shot with the net momentarily gaping in front of him. That miss summed up the Navan Road outfit's unease in the opening period and this was further emphasised when Darcy nervously pulled a 28th-minute free to the left and wide.

But Darcy's perseverance resulted in a Seanie O'Donoghue (yellow) foul on Barry Cahill close to goal. Amazingly, the No.14 missed another sitter, hitting an upright, and was then booked for a needless late tackle as his frustration got the better of him. Garrycastle were arguably full value for their five-point interval cushion but it could have been closer had Darcy brought his shooting boots to O'Connor Park.

The gap was down to four when Paddy Andrews notched the first point of the second half in the 33rd minute. But that man Dessie Dolan responded with another sumptuous score on 35 minutes.

Brigid's corner forward Philly Ryan sent a shot across the face of goal and wide before - in the 39th minute - Garrycastle struck for the crucial breakthrough goal. James Duignan's shot dropped short but Gary Dolan reacted quickest to again beat Supple to the dropping ball, this time fisting a powerful shot under the crossbar to the back of the net.

Now trailing by eight points, the Castleknock / Blanchardstown men rallied with two points in as many minutes - the first from a Darcy (free), the second from John O'Loughlin - and Andrews' 46th-minute free closed the gap to five, 1-7 to 0-5. A minute later, Andrews was on target from play to make it 1-7 to 0-6. Andrews was single-handledly bringing the fight to Garrycastle and his third score in as many minutes - a lovely point from play - left just the goal between the teams with a full twelve minutes of play remaining: 1-7 to 0-7.

Astonishingly, centre forward Andrew collected a pass from Cahill to fist over another point on 49 minutes - his fourth in a row - and O'Loughlin's second point of the match made it a one-point game with nine minute of normal time to go. The Dublin champions had reeled off seven unanswered points in twelve minutes to turn an eight-point deficit into a one-point one.

Cahill drilled a 55th-minute shot wide as Brigid's struggled to complete the comeback and Darcy's forgettable day continued as he pulled a 59th-minute free wide from the sideline. But substitute Gavin McIntyre kicked the equalising point five seconds from the end of normal time.

There was a dramatic finale when Garrycastle were awarded a controversial late free, which substitute Conor Cosgrove kicked over the bar with his left foot to give them a stunning victory. The free had been awarded - from where the ball landed, close to the goals - for a late tackle as the midlanders were frantically clearing their lines. The allotted minute of injury time had already been played. No Westmeath man will complain about that.

Garrycastle - C Mullin; T McHugh, J Gaffey, M McCallon; K Henson (0-1), D Harte, E Mulvihill; S O'Donoghue, D O'Shaughnessy; J Duignan, G Dolan (1-1), R McGowan; P Mulvihill, J Dolan, D Dolan (0-5). Subs - A Fox for McHugh, A Browne for Duignan, C Cosgrove (0-1) for P Mulvihill, A Daly for McGowan.

St Brigid's - S Supple; G Norton, Martin Cahill, G Kane; A Daly, S Murray, D Plunkett; B Cahill, J O'Loughlin (0-2); C Mullins, P Andrews (0-5), K Kilmurray; P Ryan, K Darcy (0-2), Mark Cahill. Subs - G McIntyre (0-1) for Mark Cahill, L McCarthy for Ryan, O McCann for Mullins.

Ref - S Doyle (Wexford). Tweet

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