Leinster SHC Round Robin

KERRY 0-20 WESTMEATH 2-12

By Kevin Egan at TEG Cusack Park

The final day of the Leinster round robin series in a fortnight looks set to be a tense afternoon of action with all four counties still very much in contention for a place in the quarter finals of the Leinster SHC in advance of crucial fixtures in Mullingar and Tralee.

A narrow win for Kerry at TEG Cusack Park today will give Fintan O’Connor’s charges some momentum as they prepare to host Laois, however the small margin of defeat means that Westmeath’s scoring difference may yet be the trump card that gives them the edge in the race for knockout hurling.

After this afternoon’s defeat, Westmeath manager Michael Ryan spoke of the importance of the basics of hurling, including discipline. That was certainly a key factor in their defeat as the midlanders were reduced to fourteen men within a quarter of an hour of the start, following Niall O’Brien’s dismissal for a second bookable offence.

Already Ryan had set his team up with just two men in the inside forward line and with Darragh Egerton operating as a third midfielder, and once they lost one of their most dangerous forwards, they looked really toothless up front.

In contrast, Kerry were very sharp in the opening stages, rattling off seven points in the opening ten minutes.

The Ballyduff due of Mikey and Pádraig Boyle caused the Westmeath full back line plenty of problems, while Jack Goulding and Paudie O’Connor hoovered up breaks at midfield and showed real intelligence in their deliveries into the attack, angling good diagonal balls away from the Westmeath defenders and setting up a series of chances.

An 0-12 to 0-5 interval lead was a fair reflection of Kerry’s dominance in the opening half but once Westmeath turned around with the wind at their backs, they were much improved. They remained highly dependent on placed balls, scoring just 1-3 from play all afternoon, but once Niall Mitchell rattled the net with an excellent low finish across the body of Kerry goalkeeper Martin Stackpoole, the stage was set for a late surge from the home side, who won all three games at the same stage of this competition last year.

Instead Kerry settled again with points from Goulding and Mikey Boyle, though the nervousness in their play was evident from the way in which they dropped back and invited Westmeath onto the attack.

Another fine catch from Mitchell resulted in a goal chance for Killian Doyle after 67 minutes and while the young Raharney hurler failed to find the target, he was being held back while striking and so was handed another chance from a penalty. His strike was inch perfect, low into the bottom corner of the Kerry net, and set up the chance for a late smash and grab win for Westmeath.

It wasn’t to happen however, even after Goulding was also sent off for a second yellow card infringement, as Kerry conceded just one more point and held on to record their first ever Leinster championship victory away from home.

**Scorers for Kerry: **S Nolan 0-7 (0-4f, 0-1 ’65), M Boyle 0-4, P Boyle 0-3, J Conway 0-2, J O’Connor, P O’Connor, M O’Leary & J Goulding 0-1 each.

**Scorers for Westmeath: **A Devine 0-8 (0-6f, 0-1 ’65), K Doyle 1-2 (1-0 pen, 0-1f, 0-1 ’65), N Mitchell 1-0, R Greville 0-2.

**WESTMEATH: **P Maloney; C Shaw, T Doyle, T Gallagher; G Greville, P Greville, A Clarke; C Boyle, J Boyle; A Devine, K Doyle, R Greville; N O’Brien, N Mitchell, D Egerton. **Subs: **J Galvin for J Boyle (HT), D McNicholas for Egerton (HT), A Cox for G Greville (43)

KERRY: M Stackpoole; J Buckley, R Horgan, S Weir; J O’Connor, D Dineen, T Murnane; J Goulding, P O’Connor; J Conway, M O’Leary, B O’Leary; P Boyle, M Boyle, S Nolan. Subs: J Griffin for M O’Leary (64), M O’Connor for P Boyle (67), K Carmody for B O’Leary (70+3)

Referee: Paud O’Dwyer (Carlow)