Killian Doyle impressed for Westmeath. Photo by Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile
Joe McDonagh Cup
Westmeath 2-28 Kerry 1-14
By Paul Brennan at Austin Stack Park
The Westmeath hurlers will play Joe McDonagh Cup again next year after getting the required win they needed in Tralee, but the result relegates Kerry to the Christy Ring Cup, the first time the Kingdom will play in the third tier of the championship.
The demotion signals the end of Kerry’s 10 years in the McDonagh Cup, and there was a slight irony in the fact that it was the current manager, John ‘Tweek’ Griffin, who captained the county to Ring Cup success in 2015, the last time they played in that competition.
Westmeath’s McDonagh Cup campaign hadn’t been a whole lot better this year, and though they came to Tralee knowing a draw would keep them safe, they went about securing a 17-point win with an assured performance, with the excellent Killian Doyle leading the charge.
The Raharney man scored 15 points – six from play – while the Lake county underlined the win with goals from Niall O’Brien and David O’Reilly, one in either half.
The first goal came in the seventh minute, O’Brien collecting Peter Clarke’s measured delivery and smashing the ball past Louis Dee in goal to push the visitors 1-2 to 0-1 ahead, and Clarke, Kevin Regan and David Williams added points to make it 1-5 to 0-2.
Somewhat against the run of play, Kerry struck for a goal from Luke Rochford – after Shane Nolan had done well to create the chance – and then Killian Hayes’ point brought them to within two points, 1-5 to 1-3.
That was as good as it got for Kerry. Westmeath scored the next 10 points in a 16-minute spell to go 1-15 to 1-3 ahead, and though Padraig Boyle converted from play and from a free, the Kingdom looked all but beaten, 1-16 to 1-5 adrift at the break.
There looked little chance of Westmeath letting it slip from there, despite playing against the wind and under increasing rain, and when O’Reilly struck for a point and then a goal within 20 seconds of each other to make it 2-19 to 1-6 in the 41st minute, that was that.
It all petered out thereafter. Boyle converted a couple of more Kerry frees, and the Kingdom got four from play from their subs, while Doyle popped over another couple of Westmeath frees and O'Reilly brought his tally to a goal and six points for the game.
So it is Kerry who are relegated – their head-to-head loss to Down saves the Mourne men – while Westmeath live to fight another year in the Joe McDonagh Cup.
Scorers for Westmeath: K Doyle 0-15 (8fs, 1 ‘65’), D O’Reilly 1-6, N O’Brien 1-1, D Williams 0-2, P Clarke 0-2, M Cunningham 0-1, K Regan 0-1
Scorers for Kerry: P Boyle 0-6 (5fs), L Rochford 1-0, T Godley 0-2, K Goulding 0-1, K Hayes 0-1, N Mulcahy 0-1, S Nolan 0-1, S Foran 0-1, L Crowley 0-1
Westmeath: Ciarán O’Brien, Conor Gaffney, Tommy Doyle, Gary Greville, Eoin Keyes, Robbie Greville, David Hickey, Kevin Regan, Eamon Cunneen, David O’Reilly, David Williams, Mark Cunningham, Peter Clarke, Niall O’Brien, Killian Doyle.
Subs: Aaron Craig for D Hickey (50), Niall Mitchel for M Cunningham (57), Joseph Boyle for N O’Brien (63), Rory Keyes for E Keyes (63), Oisin Loughlin for C Gaffney (66)
Kerry: Louis Dee, Kyle O’Connor, Flor McCarthy, Dara Kearney, Darragh Shanahan, Kevin Goulding, Daithí Griffin, Paudie O’Connor, Killian Hayes, Tom Doyle, Luke Rochford, Daniel Casey, Niall Mulcahy, Padraig Boyle, Shane Nolan.
Subs: Luke Crowley for D Casey (ht), Seamie Foran for D Kearney (52), Tomás Godley for F McCarthy (57), Sean McGrath for L Rochford (57), Jeremy McKenna for D Shanahan (63).
Referee: Niall Malone (Clare).
