Westmeath 2-8 DIT 0-12:The adage that goals win games rang true in Cusack Park, Mullingar, yesterday as Westmeath were two-point winners over a DIT side in a lively O'Byrne Cup first round clash.

Two lightning strikes from Mark Gorman and Dermot Bannon inside 90 seconds early in the opening half proved decisive, and the Dublin-based students were left to rue a number of missed chances.

Indeed the students had the better of the early exchanges as Westmeath took their time to settle. In reality DIT could have been six points up inside 10 minutes with Dublin senior Mark Vaughan unlucky to see his effort cannon back off an upright.

Late on in the half Vaughan was denied by Derek Heavin when he really should have found the net.

At the break, the home side held a 2-4 to 0-7 lead and it certainly did not look to be enough.

However, the defence tightened up on the change of ends and the students could never get on level terms.

Both Ross Glavin and Aidan Kilcoyne were introduced in the second half and made an impact, with the latter firing over a point to leave just one between the sides entering the final five minutes.

Westmeath sealed their date in the second round against Dublin on Sunday next when new boy Michael Greene pointed three minutes into stoppage time.

WESTMEATH:G Connaughton; TJ Gonoud, K Gavin, J Keane; T Warburton, D Heavin, A Whitney; N Kilmartin, P Leavy; A Clinton, T Cleary (0-5), M Gorman (1-0); M Greene (0-2), A Mangan (0-1), D Bannon (1-0). Subs:P Sheridan for Warburton, K Scally for Mangan, D Dolan for Leavy, B Kelly for Gorman, A Browne for Kilmartin.

DIT:E Sommerville; L Fleming, M Whelan, E Naughton; D McGuinness, D Reilly, D Graham; J Coughlan, J Donegan (0-1); D Munnelly (0-2), K McMenamin (0-3), B Ennis; M Vaughan (0-3), S Ryan (0-1), C Ward (0-1). Subs: A Kilcoyne (0-1)for Munnelly, R Cleere for Fleming, R Glavin for J Donegan, D Hughes for B Ennis, B O'Loughlin for McMenamin.

Referee: S McCormack(Meath).