Gillen and Regan impressive as Westmeath land Kehoe Cup

Kehoe Cup senior hurling final: Westmeath 1-14, Carlow 0-12

Westmeath have won the Kehoe Cup Leinster senior hurling tournament for a record ninth time with a businesslike victory over a fancied Carlow side at Netwatch Cullen Park this afternoon.

Cullion forward Jack Gillen, who has had an impressive debut tournament for Joe Fortune’s charges, finished the game with 1-5, while his fellow clubman Kevin Regan also impressed with three points.

The win means that Westmeath have moved ahead of Meath at the summit of the Kehoe Cup roll of honour. The Lake County also won the tournament in 1978, 1983, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2009, 2010 and 2019.

Westmeath led by 0-7 to 0-4 at the short whistle, getting the better of play despite playing into the teeth of a breeze. Gillen head four points in the first moiety, while Raharney’s Ciaran Doyle was also among the scorers.

Marquee Westmeath forward Killian Doyle came on as a sub at half-time and had an immediate impact, bisecting the posts before teeing up an onrushing Gillen, who was impeded en route to goal. Gillen smashed the resultant penalty to the bottom left corner of the Carlow net.

Joey Boyle and Regan both added superb braces in the second half as Westmeath maintained on top against the Barrowsiders throughout.

While surely happy with the early-season silverware, Joe Fortune’s troops won’t be getting too excited as their attention switches to the NHL Division 2A opener against Kerry next weekend.

Westmeath scorers: Jack Gillen 1-5 (1-0 pen, 3f, 1 ’65’), Kevin Regan 0-3, Killian Doyle and Joey Boyle 0-2 each, Shane McGovern and Ciaran Doyle 0-1 each.