Inter-county round-up: hurlers and footballers win by two-goal margins

On a breezy and greasy day, both Westmeath’s senior footballers and hurlers won by two-goal margins in their respective league matches this afternoon, with the hurlers getting their NHL Division 2A campaign off the ground with a 3-15 to 1-15 win over Kerry.

Jack Gillen found the net twice for Joe Fortune’s charges, and Clonkill’s Niall Mitchell contributed a third goal for the Lake County as they were rarely troubled by the Kingdom at TEG Cusack Park.

It was nip and tuck for the opening 20-odd minutes, before Mitchell’s goal put some daylight between the sides. A penalty from Gillen ensured that the hosts had a 2-6 to 0-6 lead at the break.

Gillen’s second goal on 39 minutes saw Westmeath pull away, and they led by 10 points at one stage (3-10 to 0-9) before a goal from Kerry’s Mikey Boyle reduced the visitors’ arrears.

Kerry got the gap down to four points at one stage, but the Maroons closed out the game on top with scores from Jack Galvin, Derek McNicholas, Gillen, Killian Doyle (a ’65’) and Kevin Regan.

Football: Loughlin and Martin goals secure the points

Meanwhile, the footballers made it two NFL Division 3 wins from two with a comprehensive victory over Laois at O’Moore Park.

Goals from Luke Loughlin and Kieran Martin contributed to a 2-11 to 0-11 victory over Westmeath’s fellow midlanders, to keep the Lake County’s promotion bid on track.

In contrast to the forgettable start against Wicklow last week, Westmeath got out of the traps early on with Loughlin’s goal after nine minutes, though Laois battled back to lead 0-6 to 1-2 at the short whistle.

Caulry’s Conor McCormack levelled matters three minutes after the restart, and the sides chipped away at each other from there, with Westmeath keeping their noses in front with points from John Heslin, Alex Gardiner (0-2 each), Ronan O’Toole, David Lynch, Loughlin giving them a 1-10 to 0-10 lead with ten minutes to go.

Three minutes into stoppage time, Martin’s goal came as the insurance score that sealed the points for Jack Cooney’s men.