Kerry made it two wins from two in the Joe McDonagh Cup this afternoon by seeing off a disappointing Westmeath in Mullingar.
It finished 2-19 to 0-14 at TEG Cusack Park, where Shane Conway landed 1-12 for the winners over the 70 minutes against the 14-men hosts.
Brendan Murtagh’s frees and two points from Niall O’Brien, who would be red-carded in the second-half, had helped Westmeath to lead by 0-10 to 1-6 at the break after having played with the aid of a stiff breeze for the opening 35 minutes.
Conway’s goal 10 minutes in had helped the Kingdom to stay right in touch and after half-time they ruled the roost, outscoring their opponents by 1-13 to 0-4.
Sub Padraig Boyle fired over three points before Shane Nolan netted Fintan O’Connor’s side’s second goal in injury-time to help round off the 11-point win.
At Netwatch Cullen Park, Carlow and Antrim served up a cracker which saw the sides finish all square, 2-25 to 5-16.
Donal Nugent’s goal saved a draw at the death for the visitors after the Colm Bonnar’s men looked to have done enough for the victory.
Goals from Ciaran Clarke and Conor McCann helped the Saffrons carry a slender 2-10 to 0-15 lead at the halfway stage.
Carlow moved through the gears in the second-half however, with Eddie Byrne and John Michael Nolan netting their goals, and looked like claiming the win until Nugent’s late intervention.
Kerry - M Stackpoole; J Buckley, B Murphy, E Leen; T O’Connor, J Diggins, F Mackessy; P O’Connor, S Nolan (1-1); B Barrett, D Collins, C Harty (0-2); M Boyle, M O’Leary (0-1), S Conway (1-11, 0-7f). Subs: M Leane for B Barrett, P Boyle (0-3) for M O’Leary, M O’Connor (0-1) for P O’Connor, D Goggin for D Collins, T Casey for M Boyle.
Westmeath - E Skelly; D Egerton, T Doyle, C Shaw; A Craig, A Clarke, J Bermingham; R Greville (0-2), E Price; D Clinton (0-3), B Murtagh (0-4, 3f), C Boyle; N O’Brien (0-2), D McNicholas (0-1), S Williams. Subs: A Devine (0-2) for E Price, J Boyle for D McNicholas, N Mitchell for B Murtagh, C Doyle for D Clinton, A Cox for J Bermingham.
Referee - S Cleere.
**
Carlow - B Tracey; M Doyle, P Doyle, G Bennett; G Coady, D English, R Coady; J Kavanagh (0-4), P Coady; J M Nolan (1-1), D Byrne (0-1), E Byrne (1-2); M Kavanagh (0-7, 5f), K McDonald (0-2), T Joyce (0-2). Subs: J Nolan (0-1) for R Coady, C Nolan (0-5) for T Joyce, A Amond for P Coady, C Tracey for J Kavanagh.
Antrim - R Elliott; P Duffin, M Donnelly, S Rooney; G Walsh, P Burke (0-1), J Maskey; E Campbell, R McGarry; N McKenna (0-3), K Molloy (0-2), C Cunning (0-1); D McCloskey (0-1), C McCann (1-1), C Clarke (2-7, 1-0pen, 0-5f, 0-1'65). Subs: J McNaughton (1-0) for D McCloskey, D Nugent (1-0) for R McGarry, D McMullan for P Duffin, A O’Brien for G Walsh.
Referee - C McAllister.
TweetWhat a goal ! pic.twitter.com/TOZx2WxDKz
— Antrim GAA (@AontroimGAA) October 31, 2020