Westmeath 2-22

Offaly 1-11

Forty years after they defeated Offaly in the last Leinster SHC meeting of the midland rivals, Westmeath repeated the feat with a sensational 14-point victory at TEG Cusack Park.

It was a dream start to the round-robin series for Michael Ryan's underdogs, who dominated throughout against their once mighty neighbours, whose fall from grace has been remarkable. Indeed, the margin of defeat for the Faithful could have been greater had Westmeath not been denied a goal when the sliothar appeared to cross the line and hit James Dempsey's hurley bag midway through the first half.

With Tommy Doyle outstanding at full back and Eoinie Price working his socks off around the middle, Westmeath set the tempo from the start. Liam Varley teed up Derek McNicholas for an early goal and points from Price, Niall O'Brien and Allan Devine had them 1-4 to 0-2 in front before the hurley bag incident.

Shane Kinsella got a point back for the visitors, but Westmeath remained in the driving seat as they grabbed five of the next six points. Shane Dooley landed two frees and impressive sub Cillian Kiely was also on the mark as Offaly reduced the deficit to five, 0-7 to 1-9, at half-time.

But it continued to be one-way traffic after the restart as the accurate O'Brien helped increase the hosts' advantage to 1-14 to 0-7. Joe Bergin had a point for Offaly, but they had no answer to the Lakemen who pushed further ahead with scores from Derek McNicholas, O'Brien and Price.

Offaly were given hope when Paddy Murphy netted from a breakdown with 17 minutes to go and Sean Ryan tagged on a quick point. But the result was never in doubt as the superb Price brought his tally to 1-5 with Westmeath's second goal two minutes from time.

Eamonn Kelly's men need to beat Carlow at home next weekend to stay in the championship, while Westmeath will travel to Tralee to face Kerry with a pep in their step.

Westmeath - P Maloney; S Power, T Doyle, T Gallagher; A Craig, A Clarke, G Greville; C Boyle (0-3), R Greville; A Devine (0-1), N O'Brien (0-7, 5f), E Price (1-5); L Varley (0-2), D McNicholas (1-2), D Egerton (0-1). Subs: D Clinton (0-1) for L Varley, N Mitchell for A Devine, B Murtagh for D Egerton, A McGrath for G Greville, J Galvin for C Boyle.

Offaly - J Dempsey; D Mooney, C McDonald, P Rigney; S Ryan (0-2), D Kelleher, P Camon; P Murphy (1-1), S Kinsella (0-2); C Egan, S Dooley (0-3f), J Mulrooney; K Connolly, J Bergin (0-1f), B Conneely. Subs: C Kiely (0-2) for J Mulrooney, S Cleary for B Conneely, P Guinan for S Dooley, D Shortt for D Kelleher, D King for K Connolly, K Connolly for S Ryan.

Referee - S Cleere.

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