Westmeath 0 - 5 Dragoons (202321625)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 7000 had shown up at Westmeath Stadium for the match. Stefans Poruks was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Vecih Tören and Herbert Bröckhl. Westmeath started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. The following players took the field: Carruthers - O'Kennedy, Clancy, Maguire, O'Sullivan - O'Sullivan, Russ, MacGee, O'Hara - Treacy, O'Keeffe.

Dragoons had chosen a strategic 5-4-1 formation. Starters: MacGowan - Middelraad, Cortejana, Heaney, Pena, Kruit - O'Donovan, MacDowell, Pentjärv, Wegener - Ribet.

Dragoons clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. With 4 minutes played, seemingly due to lack of experience, F. Cortejana needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. Dragoons took the lead 9 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. J. O'Donovan was the scorer. The referee showed Dragoons's J. Kruit the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. An indecisive keeper looked on as a free kick by Dragoons's J. O'Donovan put the visitors up 0 - 2 after 28 minutes. Dragoons's C. Heaney left the field after 39 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was A. Esteves. The Dragoons captaincy was handed to F. MacGowan. Some fine movement on the left led to a Dragoons goal after 41 minutes, making it 0 - 3. F. Cortejana was noted down as the scorer. The players of Dragoons now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave J. O'Keeffe from Westmeath a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 43 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! 0 - 3 was the halftime score. Dragoons enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 79 percent of possession.

Dragoons's V. Pentjärv made it through the home team's defence on the right hand side 53 minutes into the match. After rounding the keeper, he only had to place the ball in the unguarded goal when a defender slid in and cleared the ball off the line. An amazing free kick flew past the home keeper 58 minutes into the match, putting Dragoons ahead 0 - 4. J. O'Donovan was the scorer. That made three goals for J. O'Donovan and he was marked down for the hat trick. Dragoons will have to do without M. Wegener for a time, due to a bad foot injury at the 67 minute mark. He was substituted by J. Zdziarski. F. Middelraad came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over S. Carruthers but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. After 77 minutes Westmeath's J. Maguire limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. Dragoons mounted an inspired counterattack down the right wing after 78 minutes, but R. MacDowell was unable to convert from short range. After 84 minutes, Dragoons's V. Pentjärv burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 5. Dragoons enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 82 percent of possession.

Most important Westmeath player was R. Treacy. B. O'Sullivan turned in a dismal performance, however. Dragoons's top performer was clearly J. O'Donovan. On the other hand, F. Cortejana's play was disheartening. The match ends 0 - 5.