Westmeath 2-19

Carlow 2-17

Alan Devine and Brendan Murtagh goaled in either half as Westmeath withstood a late Carlow rally to make a winning start to their Leinster SHC round-robin campaign at a wet Cusack Park.

Michael Ryan's men were full value for their win as they prepare to welcome Antrim to Mullingar next Sunday for a top-of-the-table clash. They were the better team after playing against the breeze in the first half, but a late 1-1 salvo ensured the visitors of parity, 2-9 to 1-12, at the break.

However, with Derek McNicholas to the fore, the Lake County regained the initiative after the restart and never looked back after Murtagh scored a brilliant goal in the 50th minute.

Niall O'Brien gave the hosts an early lead, but that was quickly wiped out by points at the other end from Edward Coady and Marty Kavanagh. Eoinie Price levelled in the 10th minute and young Darragh Clinton edged Westmeath 0-5 to 0-4 ahead 10 minutes later.

But Carlow regained the lead in the 21st minute when Kavanagh capitalised on a poor puck-out by Peter Collins to rattle the net. Westmeath fought back to level through Murtagh and O'Brien before Devine raised their first green flag in the 24th minute.

Further scores from Devine, McNicholas and O'Brien extended the home side's lead to 1-12 to 1-8, but Seamus Murphy's injury-time goal and Kavanagh's follow-up point meant it was level pegging at the break.

It continued to be nip and tuck until Murtagh used his strength to fire home Westmeath's second goal. O'Brien and McNicholas added points to push the winners into a 2-18 to 2-13 lead as the Barrowsiders' late comeback fell short. 

Westmeath - P Collins; S Power, T Doyle, A McGrath; A Craig, A Clarke, G Greville; E Price (0-2), C Boyle; A Devine (1-3), D McNicholas (0-3), R Greville; N O'Brien (0-7, 3f), B Murtagh (1-2), D Clinton (0-2). Subs: S McGovern for P Collins, J Clarke for A McGrath, E Corrigan for D Clinton.

Carlow - K Kehoe; R Coady, J Rogers, A Corcoran; E Coady (0-1), D English, G Coady; D Byrne, C Wall (0-2); Sean Murphy (0-3), E Byrne, J M Nolan (0-1); J Kavanagh, M Kavanagh (1-7, 0-4f, 0-2'65), Seamus Murphy (1-2). Subs: P Coady (0-1) for J M Nolan, D O'Neill for C Wall.

Referee - J Keenan.

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