Kehoe Cup final: Westmeath storm back to win on penalties
January 19, 2019
Antrim's Ciaran Clarke in action against Westmeath's Conor Shaw. ©INPHO/Presseye/Dylan McIlwaine.
Westmeath 2-20
Antrim 1-23
(Westmeath win 3-0 on penalties)
A great weekend for Westmeath GAA got even better when their senior hurlers beat Antrim in a novel penalty shootout at Abbotstown to claim the Kehoe Cup.
Joe Quaid's charges looked to be down and out when they trailed by five points with three minutes of normal time remaining, but a 72nd minute Allan Devine goal, which was sandwiched between points from Darragh Clinton and Killian Doyle, sent the final to penalties. James McNaughton missed the first for Antrim and Westmeath never looked back after that as successful efforts from Niall Mitchell, Devine and Doyle secured the county's second piece of silverware in less than 24 hours after the footballers landed the O'Byrne Cup at the nearby Parnell Park last night.
2019 Kehoe Cup Champions!!!!
— westmeathgaaofficial (@westmeath_gaa) January 19, 2019
Tommy Doyle raises the cup as we go joint-top of the roll of honour with Meath on 8 victories after our 1st title since 2010 was secured with a penalty shoot-out (3-0) win over Antrim.
What a weekend for Westmeath GAA!!!!#iarmhiabu#westmeathgaa pic.twitter.com/f27eshfPbY
The winners got off to a flying start and led by 0-4 to 0-0 after just three minutes thanks to points from Devine and Doyle (three). But Neal Peden's men hit back with scores from Kevin Rice, Keelan Molloy, sub Owen O'Neill and full back John Dillon to take a 0-11 to 0-9 lead into the break.
The Lake County regained the lead when Allan Devine netted his first goal in the 53rd minute to make it 1-16 to 0-17, only for Nigel Elliot to immediately raise a green flag at the other end.
When James McNaughton split the posts to leave Antrim 1-22 to 1-17 clear, they had one hand on the cup, but a never-say-die Westmeath had other ideas and stormed back to give themselves an early-season boost.
Westmeath - P Carroll; J Gilligan, T Doyle, N McKenna; J Bermingham, A Craig, G Greville; R Greville, S Power (0-1); S Clavin, C Shaw, A Devine (2-3); K Doyle (0-4), N Mitchell (0-5f), D Clinton (0-5). Subs: S McGovern (0-1) for S Power, A Clarke for C Shaw, J Galvin (0-1) for N McKenna, P Greville for J Gilligan, D O’Reilly for S Clavin, P Reilly for A Craig, K Regan for J Bermingham, E Corrigan for N Mitchell, R Gillen for G Greville.
Antrim - R Elliott; S Rooney, J Dillon (0-1), P Duffin; R Molloy, C McHugh, M Donnelly; C McCann (0-1), K Rice (0-2); N Elliott (1-3), J McNaughton (0-9, 6f), N McKeague; J O’Connell, K Molloy (0-4), C Clarke (0-1). Subs: E O’Neill (0-2) for C Clarke, D McKinley for J O’Connell, C Boyd for K Rice, S Duffin for N McKeague, C Patterson for R Molloy.
Referee - R Fitzsimons.
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