Daniel Flynn among the goals as Kildare beat Westmeath

Kildare 2-9 Westmeath 0-11

Two outstanding goals by Daniel Flynn and Cian O'Donoghue when playing into a strong wind in the first half ultimately proved decisive for Kildare as they emerged from difficult conditions in Mullingar on Sunday afternoon with a brace of hard-earned Division 3 league points.

Wind-assisted Westmeath edged the first quarter by 0-4 to 0-3. Six of the seven points came from frees, with John Heslin in superb form from long-range placed balls for the home team.

In the 20th minute, Daniel Flynn brought the large Kildare contingent in the 3,000 crowd to their feet with a tremendous individual goal, after soloing over half the length of the pitch.

Westmeath nudged in front with three unanswered points but substitute Cian O'Donoghue found the net in the 27th minute, after playing a one-two with the influential Niall Kelly, to put Cian O'Neill's charges into a lead they would never relinquish. Kildare led by 2-6 to 0-8 at the break.

Westmeath spurned a number of good chances to reduce the deficit in a scrappy opening to the second half. Another Heslin free kept Tom Cribbin’s men in touch with the first score of the half in the 46th minute.

Scores proved hard to come by at both ends but fine points from Cathal McNally and Paul Cribbin in the 49th and 53rd minutes respectively left Westmeath trying for goals which never looked likely to come.

Eoghan O’Flaherty was black-carded on the hour mark, while nine players were yellow-carded (six Kildare, three Westmeath) in what was never a remotely dirty contest.

KILDARE: M Donnellan; O Lyons, P Kelly, C Fitzpatrick; J Byrne, F Conway, D Hyland; Daryl Flynn, Daniel Flynn (1-0); A Tyrrell (0-3, three frees), E O'Flaherty, P Cribbin (0-1); N Flynn, N Kelly (0-3), C McNally (0-2). Subs: C O'Donoghue (1-0) for Fitzpatrick (14), E O'Connor for Daryl Flynn (h-t), P O'Neill for Tyrrell (55), E Callaghan for O'Flaherty (BC, 61), M Sherry for N Flynn (64).

WESTMEATH: D Quinn; J Gonoud, K Maguire, D Lynch; J Dolan, P Holloway, A Stone; D Corroon, S Flanagan; K Martin (0-3, three frees), P Sharry, G Egan (0-1); C McCormack (0-1), S Dempsey, J Heslin (0-6, six frees). Subs: J Egan for Dempsey (h-t), R Connellan for Flanagan (h-t), D Daly for McCormack (62), K Daly for Stone (70).

Referee: N Mooney (Cavan).