The tragic death of star corner back Darren Price completely overshadowed Westmeath's Leinster minor football championship campaign, which ended in an unlucky defeat to Dublin at the quarter-final stage. Prior to the commencement of the 2006 Leinster minor football championship, Westmeath were being spoken of as potential provincial winners. But their hopes of a first Leinster triumph since 2000 were dealt a crushing blow on the morning of Thursday, March 30 when one of the county's brightest prospects, Darren Price, tragically lost his life in a road traffic accident. While it will never be known if Westmeath would have gone on to taste Leinster success, there is little doubt that Darren's death left a deep scare on the psyche of his team-mates. Not only was Darren an inspirational player, he was a hugely popular member of the squad and those who had the pleasure of knowing this brilliant young sportsman are still struggling to come to terms with his tragic passing. "Darren was a cult hero among young people in our area. He had represented our club The Downs at senior level, as well as being a Westmeath minor player for two years in-a-row," said Westmeath GAA PRO and The Downs club official Patrick Doherty. Only five days before the tragedy, Darren had lined out at corner back in the facile Leinster minor championship win over Kilkenny at O'Moore Park. Westmeath regrouped to record another emphatic victory over Carlow before succumbing to a more economical and streetwise Dublin team in the quarter-final by 0-11 to 1-11. The year began with outgoing manager and former Railway Cup player Dermot Brady holding off the challenge of Des Doolin - who was under 16 manager in 2004 - to be reinstated for a second term. From an early stage, it became apparent that Brady had a strong panel of players at his disposal and this was underlined when they claimed the Leinster minor league 'B' title with a 1-8 to 2-4 defeat of Wicklow in the final at The Downs in early March. Westmeath looked to be coasting to an easy win when a goal from Athlone Community College star John Connellan helped them a 1-6 to 0-3 lead at the break. But Wicklow gained the upper hand in the second half and levelled proceedings, only for Niall Kilcoyne to fire over a late winner for the home side. For the first time ever, Westmeath were granted permission to compete in the round-robin section of the Leinster minor football championship. Having managed just one championship win since 2001, this development was welcomed by players and supporters alike as it would guarantee at least two games for the Lake County. However, the quality of opposition in the preliminary series was not what Westmeath had hoped for and thus, they went into the Dublin tie with no real advantage in terms of competitive matches played. Dermot Brady's charges opened their championship campaign with a 4-11 to 0-2 trouncing of Kilkenny at Portlaoise. Played in dreadful conditions, the game was over as a contest once Brendan Kelly crashed the ball to the Kilkenny net in the 16th minute to put clear daylight between the teams for the first time. While Kilkenny are not renowned for their footballing prowess, they were nonetheless expected to give Westmeath a better game of it, especially as they were able to call on players who were involved with the Good Counsel, New Ross team that lost the Leinster Colleges final to St. Pat's of Navan a few weeks earlier. However, they proved feeble opposition to a vastly superior Westmeath team who were out of sight at half-time thanks to goals from Alan Giles, Brendan Kelly and the Athlone pair, John Connellan and Alan Gaughan. As the rain poured down, it continued to be one-way traffic in the second half with Connellan accumulating a personal tally of 1-6. "A win is a win and that's my attitude and Kilkenny were an unknown quantity," Brady pointed out. "I was happy we won, even though it was a facile win in the end. I realise we kicked an awful lot of wides, but young lads tend to lose the run of themselves when they are so far ahead and end up having pot shots." In their first outing since the death of Darren Price - whose number 2 jersey was retired as a mark of respect - Westmeath maintained their impressive form with another landslide victory over a very poor Carlow side at Dr Cullen Park. The Lake County romped to a 5-17 to 0-5 triumph, despite being minus the services of star attacker Connellan, who was ruled out with a cheekbone injury. Westmeath were extremely wasteful in the first half, but still went into the break leading by 3-7 to 0-2. Conrad Reilly opened the scoring for the visitors in the fifth minute, and three minutes later, Brendan Kelly grabbed their first goal to put them firmly in the driving seat. In the 12th minute, Alan Giles - who proved a worthy replacement for Connellan - scored a second goal and Reilly added a third before half-time to leave all of 14 points between the sides. When Giles bagged his second goal midway through the second half, Westmeath were 4-12 to 0-3 in front. The visitors had substitute Jack Hogan dismissed within minutes of his introduction, but still finished the stronger with Shane Egan's late goal completing the rout. Afterwards, the Westmeath manager admitted that he had expected a tougher game from the Barrowsiders. "I thought Carlow would have put up a bigger test but we had the game killed off reasonably early and had we not kicked so many wides, it could have been a higher score," he said. The meeting with Dublin at Cusack Park on May 13 was always going to be the litmus test and unfortunately for Westmeath, they found the step-up in class too much as Dublin came away with a three-point victory. That said, Westmeath were by no means outplayed and had they taken their many scoring opportunities, they would have taken a major step towards a Leinster title. In particular, the failure to take any one of three goal chances proved costly, combined with the concession of a 24th minute goal from the penalty spot, which left the home side chasing the game for long periods. Having pegged back a three-point deficit by the 41st minute and another two-point deficit by the 49th minute, Westmeath fans sensed victory, but three unanswered points between the 51st and 57th minutes saw Dublin finish the stronger and left the Lake County to reflect on what might have been. Dermot Brady could not hide his disappointment after the final whistle: "We are gutted to have lost that game. To have one hand on it and not to grasp the chance is very difficult to accept. It's the young lads I feel sorry for after working so hard. "When we made mistakes, Dublin punished us and we failed to capitalize on their errors and punish them. We had great chances, there's no doubt about it. Brendan Kelly had a knock-down in the square and hit another one across the goals. That was a fantastic effort, but to win matches like that you have to put them away. "We weren't able to do that and Dublin were. It just wasn't to be. Some days they go in, some days they just don't," he pondered. Westmeath started well with Conor Lynam converting a difficult free. The impressive Paddy Andrews - brother of senior star Peadar - brought Dublin onto level terms before three unanswered points from Lynam, Conrad Reilly and Niall Kilcoyne left Westmeath in command at the end of the first quarter. Not to be outdone, the Dubs responded also with three points in four minutes. And thanks to Andrews' 24th minute penalty, they took a 1-5 to 0-6 advantage into the break. The home side introduced the injured John Connellan to the fray late in the first half and he was to the fore as they twice came from behind to restore parity in the second half. But late scores from Andrews, Paddy O'Connor and Barry O'Rourke saw the Metropolitans prevail and leave the home side heartbroken. The Westmeath team which lost to Dublin the Leinster MFC quarter-final was: Darren Quinn; Brendan Arrigho, Kieran Gavin, Tommy Warburton; Ronan Doyle, Fintan Reilly, Alan Gaughan; Mark Flanagan, Andrew Whitney; Eanna Doolin, Conrad Reilly, Niall Kilcoyne; Brendan Kelly, Alan Giles, Conor Lynam. Subs used: John Connellan, Niall Bannon, Darren Geerah and Shane Tone. Tweet

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