Published: Thursday, 14th January, 2010 12:00am

Cavan go down to Westmeath in challenge

Cavan defender John McCutcheon holds possession against Westmeath.

Cavan 0-14

Westmeath 3-10

A poor final 25 minutes, during which they were outscored by 3-5 to 0-4, saw an experimental Cavan side slip to defeat against Westmeath in a challenge match at Breffni Park last night (Wednesday).

In the first match to take place on the impressive new synthetic pitch, Cavan were the better side for most of the first two 25-minute 'thirds', with newcomer Gareth Smith, John McCutcheon and the excellent Raymond Galligan standing out.

Galligan was super in a target man role, while Sean Brady also tacked on a couple of good points. Mark McKeever looked sharp at wing-forward in a match which saw Cavan use 25 players, including three goalkeepers.

Points from the lively Conor Smith, Galligan and 'Nesty' Smith helped Cavan take control at 0-10 to 0-4 midway through the second period but an experimental Westmeath finished strongly, although they were flattered by a couple of soft goals in the dying minutes.

Manager Tom Carr will be pleased, however, with a useful work-out ahead of the visit of Donegal this Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, Cavan Under 21s face Leitrim in the Hastings Cup also on Saturday. The match is fixed for either Ballinamore (1pm throw-in) or Breffni Park (2pm) - fixture will be confirmed on Friday.

See next week's Anglo-Celt for full report, teams, scorers and photos.