Kerry 2-15
Westmeath 0-13
KERRY CAME ALIVE in the second-half at Cusack Park to secure their third win on the trot and keep alive their Allianz Football League title hopes.
Eamon Fitzmaurice’s visitors were well held by hosts Westmeath early on in Mullingar and actually trailed by a point after 40 minutes. But 1-9 in the last half hour that included a strong performance from All-Star James O’Donoghue and a Paul Geaney goal sealed a comfortable eight-point win.
The victory means Westmeath are relegated to Division with six defeats from six. They harboured outside hopes of surviving if they’d won their last two games. They started brightly in front of 2,700, keeping pace with Kerry and remaining tied at half-time.
Westmeath’s full-back line did a good job initially on shackling danger duo O’Donoghue and and Stephen O’Brien. Kerry only had one chance at goal though they did take it when Kieran O’Leary fisted in after great work by O’Brien from a quick free.
Bryan Sheehan followed up on that 23rd minute goal with his second converted 45 metre free for Kerry. But three points from Denis Glennon who fronted up a dynamic Westmeath attack left the scores tied at half-time, 0-9 to 1-6.
It all went downhill from there though as Westmeath slipped badly off the pace in the second-half. Callum McCormack did give them a brief lead after the restart but 1-4 without reply from Kerry put them 2-10 to 0-10 ahead and in the clear.
O’Donoghue came strongly into the game, scoring four second-half points and playing in Geaney for their 45th minute goal after Westmeath had failed to clear their lines. Westmeath briefly rallied with points from Ray Connellan and Paul Sharry but Kerry closed it out easily with scores from O’Brien and sub David Moran.
Kerry scorers: Paul Geaney 1-4 (0-2f), James O’Donoghue 0-5 (0-3f), Kieran O’Leary 1-0, Bryan Sheehan 0-2 (0-2 45), Peter Crowley, Stephen O’Brien, Donnchadh Walsh and David Moran (0-1 45) 0-1 each.
Westmeath scorers: Denis Glennon and Callum McCormack 0-3 each, Kieran Martin and Ger Egan (0-2f) and Ray Connellan (0-2f) 0-2 each, Paul Sharry 0-1 (0-1 45).
KERRY: Brian Kelly; Paul Murphy, Mark Griffin, Shane Enright; Peter Crowley, Fionn Fitzgerald, Marc O Se; Johnny Buckley, David Moran; Jonathan Lyne, Bryan Sheehan, Kieran O’Leary; Stephen O’Brien, Paul Geaney, James O’Donoghue.
Subs.: Donnchadh Walsh for Lyne (31), Daithi Casey for Sheehan (h/t), Darran O’Sullivan for O’Leary (50), Anthony Maher for Buckley (50), J Sherwood for O Se (60), Aidan O’Mahony for Crowley (63).
WESTMEATH: Stephen Gallagher; Kevin Maguire, Kieran Gavin, Steven Gilmore; Damian Dolan, Paul Sharry, Doran Harte; David Duffy, Ray Connellan; Kieran Martin, Ger Egan, Callum McCormack; James Dolan, Denis Glennon, Dessie Dolan.
Subs.: John Egan for Damian Dolan (48), David McCormack for Martin (57), Alan Giles for Glennon (57), Ronan Foley for Harte (60), Killian Daly for Duffy (70).
Referee: Anthony Nolan (Wicklow).