Down 0-10 Westmeath 0-9
A superb point from a free (following a great mark) by sub Jerome Johnston deep into added-time gave 14-man Down full points in a very tight game against Westmeath in Newry on Saturday night.
A foul on Tommy McDaniel on the quarter-hour mark gave Westmeath a penalty, but Rory Burns got down well to save Ger Egan’s spot kick. Nine minutes later, Down were reduced to 14 men when Pat Havern picked up a straight red card. Westmeath went on to lead by 0-5 to 0-4 at half-time.
A wasteful Westmeath side had ample possession to pull away in the second half but Down always managed to stay in touch, with Ryan Johnston regularly catching the eye in attack. It looked like a draw would be the outcome until Jerome Johnston, only on the pitch for seven minutes at the time, kicked a wonderful score to send the home fans into raptures.
DOWN: R Burns; D O'Hagan, R Wells, G Collins; S Fegen, C Flanagan, J Flynn; C Mooney, C Poland (0-1); C Francis, P Devlin, K McKernan (0-1); R Johnston (0-3), P Havern, D O'Hare (0-4, three frees).
Subs: D Guinness for Francis (35 mins), C Harrison for Devlin (half-time), C McGrady for Flynn (half-time), C Maginn for Fegan (half-time), J Johnston (0-1, free) for Harrison (65 mins).
WESTMEATH: E Carberry; K Daly, R Wallace, B Sayeh (0-1); F Boyle, J Gonoud, J Dolan (0-1); D Corroon, N Mulligan; R O'Toole (0-1), L Loughlin (0-1), G Egan (0-3, three frees); K Martin, T McDaniel, S Duncan (0-2).
Subs: C McCormack for McDaniel (half-time), F Coyne for Duncan (54 mins), D Lynch for Boyle (65 mins), J Halligan for Corroon (70 + 2 mins).
Referee: D Gough (Meath).
