Kerry 0-20 Westmeath 2-12
Kerry pulled off a fully merited round-robin Leinster hurling championship victory against Westmeath in miserable conditions in Mullingar on Sunday afternoon.
Wind-assisted, the men from the Kingdom raced into a three-point lead with just two minutes on the clock. Playing the better hurling against their off-colour hosts, they were 0-8 to 0-3 ahead by the time influential Westmeath forward Niall O’Brien was sent off on the quarter-hour mark.
He walked after picking up his second yellow card, much to the dismay of the player himself and the home fans.
The Kerry full forward line of Padraig and Mikey Boyle, and Shane Nolan were causing the Lake County rearguard plenty of trouble and, while never looking likely to score a goal, Fintan O’Connor’s troops were full value for their interval lead of 0-12 to 0-5.
A converted ‘65’ from Allan Devine and a monster free by Killian Doyle reduced the deficit to five points within three minutes of the resumption.
However, Kerry outscored their opponents by six points to two over the ensuing 15 minutes. Four of their points came from Nolan (including three frees), while Mikey Boyle rounded off a great move with his third point from play and Michael O’Leary opened his account in style, despite being pressurised.
Westmeath got a lifeline in the 54th minute when their most potent attacking threat, Niall Mitchell, scored a fine individual goal. With three minutes of normal time remaining Kerry were six points to the good (0-20 to 1-11), before Killian Doyle rifled home a penalty for Michael Ryan’s charges.
From here Westmeath went all out attack, but despite their best efforts all they could muster was a consolation point from Robbie Greville.
Kerry also finished the game with 14 men, with midfielder Jack Goulding picking up his second yellow card in the 69th minute.
Remarkably, the results after two series of games mean that all four teams in the round robin section remain in contention for the two quarter-final places on offer.
KERRY: M Stackpoole; J Buckley, R Horgan, S Weir; J O'Connor (0-1), D Dineen, T Murnane; J Goulding (0-1), P O'Connor (0-1); J Conway (0-2), M O'Leary (0-1), B O'Leary; P Boyle (0-3), M Boyle (0-4), S Nolan (0-7, one '65', four frees). Subs: J Griffin for M O'Leary (64), M O'Connor for P Boyle (68), K Carmody for B O'Leary (74).
WESTMEATH: P Maloney; C Shaw, T Doyle, T Gallagher; G Greville, P Greville, A Clarke; C Boyle, J Boyle; A Devine (0-8, one '65', six frees), K Doyle (1-2, 1-0 pen, one free, one '65'), R Greville (0-2); N O'Brien, N Mitchell (1-0), D Egerton. Subs: J Galvin for J Boyle (ht), D McNicholas for Egerton (ht), A Cox for G Greville (44).
Referee: P O’Dwyer (Carlow)
Laois 3-25 Meath 2-13 Paddy Purcell was the match winner as Laois put one foot in the Leinster championship quarter-final thanks to a comprehensive win over Meath in Navan.
Purcell struck 3-5 in the opening half as Laois ended Meath’s long unbeaten streak. The Royal County had won their last 12 games in the Christy Ring Cup, National League and Leinster championship but they were no match for a Laois side inspired by Purcell’s heroics.
The midfielder was in inspirational form in the first half, as the visitors built up a 3-13 to 0-7 lead at the break.
Meath actually started brightly, with points from Stephen Clynch and Sean Quigley, but Laois edged ahead as Purcell and his Rathdowney-Errill club-mate Ross King raised white flags.
Clynch and Mark O’Sullivan responded to nudge Meath ahead again but Laois soon took over. Purcell got his first goal when he got on the end of a long sideline cut from Cha Dwyer, and Laois went on to hit the next four points to go eight clear.
Adam Gannon stopped the rot briefly for Meath with a point but Purcell then hit two goals in quick succession. The first came when he emerged from a ruck on the Meath 20-metre line and he manufactured space for himself before smashing to the net.
Minutes later Purcell had his third - this time showing blistering pace to take a pass off Neil Foyle and fire past Shane McGann again.
King, Purcell and Sean Downey added points as Laois headed for the dressing rooms at half time with a 15-point lead.
Meath introduced Neill Heffernan and Kevin Keena at the break in an attempt to shake things up. And they rallied briefly. Heffernan helped make a goal for Meath as his powerful shot was saved by Enda Rowland with Stephen Clynch on hand to shoot the rebound to the net.
King and Foyle hit back for Laois but Meath got a second goal when Joe Keena scored with 15 minutes remaining.
But that was as good as it got for Meath and they were reduced to 14 when Keith Keoghan got his marching orders for picking up a second yellow.
Laois substitutes Aidan Corby and Aaron Dunphy got in on the scoring for Laois and Enda Rowland then pulled off a penalty save against his opposite number Shane McGann in the dying minutes.
LAOIS: E Rowland; C Healy, L Bergin, D Palmer; C Collier, M Whelan, L Cleere; R King (0-11, 7f), P Purcell (3-6); S Downey (0-1), C Dwyer, S Maher; W Dunphy (0-1), N Foyle (0-2), P Whelan. Subs: B Conroy (0-1) for Healy (12), A Dunphy (0-1) for P Whelan (44), A Corby (0-2) for Foyle (59), E Killeen for Dwyer (60), S Bergin for Maher (67)
MEATH: S McGann; S Whitty, S Geraghty, C Reilly; S Brennan (0-1), D Kelly, K Keoghan (0-1); A Forde (0-1), J Keena (1-0); S Quigley (0-1), S Clynch (1-6, 0-5f), J Kelly; G McGowan, M O'Sullivan (0-1), A Gannon (0-1). Subs: K Keena for Quigley (ht), N Heffernan (0-1) for McGowan (ht), C McCabe for Kelly (59), D Reilly for O'Sullivan (65)
Referee: J Keenan (Wicklow).
