Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Round Robin

Westmeath 1-18 Kerry 1-13

By Paul Brennan at Austin Stack Park, Tralee

Kerry were brought back to earth with a comprehensive five-point defeat to Westmeath in Tralee which means they must go to Offaly in two weeks and not be beaten if they are to advance further in the Leinster Championship.

Improvement was needed on last week’s historic win over Carlow, but Kerry simply couldn’t raise their game enough to compete with a Westmeath team hurling with great skill and confidence.

The visitors showed that their comprehensive 14-point win over Offaly a week earlier was no flash in the pan result as they came to Tralee and gave Kerry a hurling lesson on a wet pitch.

Having been four points down at half time, Westmeath outscored Kerry  1-11 to 0-5 in the second half, with Derek McNicholas’ 46th minute goal being the pivotal score.

That gave Westmeath the lead for the first time since they opened the scoring in the second minute, and they never looked back against a Kerry team devoid of energy and ideas for most of this contest.

The first half was a curious affair with Westmeath playing the better hurling, but Kerry still enjoyed a four-point lead at the interval, somewhat against the run of play.

With Cormac Boyle, Robbie Greville, and Niall O’Brien lending pace and creativity up front Westmeath impressed, but they couldn’t quite convert that dominance into a lead on the scoreboard.

Eoin Price got Westmeath off the mark in the second minute, but Kerry responded with two Shane Nolan converted frees and a John Egan score to nudge ahead.

Liam Varley got Westmeath’s second point after 10 minutes, but Kerry, a little against the run of play, engineered a goal. Michael O’Leary did the spade work to get the ball to Mikey Boyle, who scooped it to the net past a flat-footed Westmeath defence.

Kerry’s doggedness deserved that much, but Westmeath were simply hurling better and points from McNicholas, Alan Devine, Niall O’Brien, and Cormac Boyle brought Westmeath back level, 0-6 to 1-3, by the 19th minute.

Unanswered Westmeath points from Eoin Price, Niall O’Brien, and Cormac Boyle (2) levelled it, 1-8 to 0-11, by the 41st minute, but then McNicholas took Aaron Craig’s long delivery and drove his shot low past Aidan McCabe.

The goal put Westmeath two ahead but their confidence was rising and they saw out the game easy enough, with the ever influential McNicholas scoring two more from play and Tommy Doyle giving a masterclass at full back.

Kerry’s woes were compounded by a 75th minute red card for Mikey Boyle for an off the ball incident, and his loss could be costly against Offaly in a fortnight.

Scorers for Westmeath: D McNicholas 1-3, N O’Brien 0-5 (4fs), C Boyle 0-3, E Price 0-2, A Devine 0-1, R Greville 0-1, L Varley 0-1, A Clarke 0-1, B Murtagh 0-1.

Scorers for Kerry: S Nolan 0-4 (4fs), M Boyle 1-1, J Goulding 0-2, P Lucid 0-2(2fs), B O’Leary 0-2, J Egan 0-1, B Barrett 0-1.

Westmeath: P Maloney; S Power, T Doyle, T Gallagher; A Craig, G Greville, A Clark;, C Boyle, E Price; A Devine, D McNicholas, R Greville; L Varley, D Egerton, N O’Brien. Subs: N Mitchell for Gallagher (25), B Murtagh for Egerton (59), D Clinton for Price (70), C Shaw for Power (70), A McGrath for McNicholas (70).

Kerry: A McCabe; B Murphy, P Kelly, K Carmody; J Diggins, D Dineen, T Murnane; J Griffin, D Collins; B O’Leary, M O’Leary, S Nolan; J Goulding, M Boyle, J Egan. Subs: P Lucid for Nolan (HT), J Conway for M O’Leary (46), T Casey for J Griffin (55), B Barrett for Goulding (60), J Buckley for Collins (65).

Referee: John Keenan (Wicklow).