Kildare 1-16 Westmeath 1-3

Kildare and Westmeath played out a hard-fought Leinster football semi-final at O'Moore Park last night and although Kildare led 0-7 to 0-0 at the end of the opening quarter, Westmeath were thrown a lifeline when Jack Quinn poked the ball past the Kildare goalkeeper in the 17th minute and this was followed by points from Paddy Fagan and Darren Giles.

However, Kildare finished the half with points from Neil Flynn and Ben McCormack to lead 0-9 to 1-2 at the interval.

The second half was disappointing with Westmeath only managing a single point but their defence contained the Kildare forwards.

A late penalty converted by Neil Flynn gave the scoreboard a one-sided look and Kildare now await the winners of Dublin or Laois who play on Saturday next

KILDARE: D Campbell; E Bateman, D Maguire, P Mescal; R Houlihan, S Ryan, B Byrne; L Flynn, P Connell; C Hartley, B Kelly, C Kavanagh(0-3); B McCormack (0-4), C Healy (0-3), N Flynn (1-5). Subs: C McMonagle (0-1) for B Kelly (h-t), M Hyland for E Bateman (42 mins), R Feely for C Hartley (47 mins), J Flynn R Houlihan (58 mins), J Costelloe for B Byrne (58 mins) C Delahunty for B McCormack (60 mins). WESTMEATH: K Fagan; R Wallace, I Ilunga, L Sayeh; G Murray, A McCormack, D Conway; G Delaney, S Duncan; S Corcoran, R Hickey (0-1), T Watts; D Giles (0-1, J Quinn (1-0), P Fagan(0-1). Subs: A McGivney for R Wallace (18 mins), M Monaghan for D Giles (40 mins), R Cunningham for G Murray (48 mins), J Hannigan for S Corcoran (49 mins), N Mitchell for T Watts (51 mins), E McCormack for R Hickey (54 mins). Referee: Stephen Murphy (Louth).