Offaly And Westmeath Suffer Agonising Defeats In Championship Openers

They both went down by a goal to Longford and Down.

It was a case of so close yet so far for both Offaly and Westmeath in their opening games in the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship. 

Offaly came out the wrong side of a high scoring encounter with Down, 3-14 to 2-14. 

Grainne Egan and Mairead Daly with the faithful goals. 

They had enjoyed a one point lead at half-time. 

They'll now have a week off before playing Louth on July 25th and will be hoping the wee county can overcome Down next weekend to be in with a shot of progression. 

Offaly scorers:

Mairead Daly 1-3, Grainne Egan 1-1, Roisin Egan 0-5, Amy Gavin-Mangan/Marie Byrne both 0-2, Aoife Carey 0-1. 

Elsewhere extra-time was needed to separate Westmeath and Longford. 

The game was deadlocked 2-10 to 3-7 after normal time with Sarah Dillion bagging both goals for Westmeath. 

It was a great comeback from Sean Finnegan's side after they trailed by six with 51 minutes on the clock. 

The extra-time proved a step too far for the lake county as they only managed a solitary point through midfielder Vicky Carr. 

Longford only registered four scores themselves but it was enough to run out 3-11 to 2-11 winners. 

Westmeath now face another defeated team Sligo next weekend knowing only victory will be good enough to keep their hopes of a second Intermediate Championship final in succession alive. 

Westmeath scorers:

Sarah Dillion 2-3, Anna Jones 0-6, Johanna Maher/Vicky Carr both 0-1.

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