Kerry 2-10
Westmeath 1-12

Westmeath came tantalisingly close to causing a massive upset against an out-of-sorts Kerry at Cusack Park.

When David Glennon slotted home a penalty to give the Lake County a 1-9 to 1-3 lead four minutes into the second half, one of the biggest shocks in GAA history looked to be on the cards. But in fairness to Kerry - who were 1/20 with some bookmakers - they hit back with a goal from substitute Darran O'Sullivan and outscored the hosts by 0-7 to 0-3 thereafter to secure their place in tomorrow morning's All-Ireland qualifier third round draw by the skin of their teeth.

Jack O'Connor and his players will be mightily relieved to be still in the championship after a lacklustre first half display in which they scored just one point from play and registered seven wides. Their first goal came from a Bryan Sheehan penalty after the hosts had stormed into an early 0-4 to 0-1 lead.


Trailing by 1-3 to 0-8 at the break, the situation became serious for the Kingdom when Denis Glennon extended the Lake County's lead on the resumption before his younger brother David beat Brendan Kealy from the penalty spot to put six points between the sides.

But O'Sullivan's 43rd minute goal was just the tonic the raging-hot favourites needed, and they pushed on from there to win by the minimum.

Lining out in his new position of full forward, Colm Cooper opened the scoring after only 40 seconds from a free for the visitors. But a Kieran Martin effort from play settled Westmeath who went on to add three more points from play per Ger Egan, Denis Corroon and Ronan Foley to establish an early three-point advantage. The latter two were late additions to Pat Flanagan's line-up, replacing Callum McCormack and Daniel McDermott respectively.

Despite looking out of sorts, Kerry got themselves back on level terms in the 11th minute when Kieran Donaghy was awarded a penalty and Bryan Sheehan duly sent Darren Quinn the wrong way. But the underdogs refused to be ruffled, replying with their fifth point from play from Paul Sharry. A John Heslin free extended their lead to 0-6 to 1-1 before Sheehan sent over Kerry's second point from a free to narrow the gap.

Continuing to play with greater intensity and urgency, the Lake County tagged on two more points from Heslin and Martin (free), with Cooper replying with Kerry's first from play in the 31st minute to leave the home side two points clear at the break and on course for a major upset.

The home supporters were in full voice when Michael Ennis was taken down for a penalty and full forward Glennon made no mistake to leave the Kingdom with a mountain to climb. But with an unthinkable defeat looming, Darran O'Sullivan - who had replaced Donnchadh Walsh at half-time - crashed an unstoppable shot past Darren Quinn to cut the gap to three, 2-3 to 1-9.

With Paul Galvin now very much to the fore, the Kingdom rallied with points from James O'Donoghue (two), Galvin and Bryan Sheehan to level proceedings after 52 minutes, 2-7 to 1-10, with Heslin registering Westmeath's sole reply.

Cooper then kicked Kerry in front, but back came Heslin with an equaliser. Sheehan edged the visitors ahead again from a 67th minute and they doubled their lead before Heslin left the minimum in it again from another placed ball in the first minute of injury-time.

But there was heartbreak for the home side when the final whistle sounded from Brendan Kealy's resultant kick-out.

Kerry - B Kealy; M O Se, A O'Mahony, K Young; T O Se, E Brosnan, B McGuire; A Maher, B Sheehan (1-3); P Galvin (0-2), Declan O'Sullivan, D Walsh; J O'Donoghue (0-2), C Cooper (0-3), K Donaghy. Subs: Darran O'Sullivan (1-0) for Walsh, K O'Leary for O'Donoghue, P Curtin for Darran O'Sullivan, J Buckley for Donaghy.

Westmeath - D Quinn; J Gaffey, K Maguire, M McCallon; P Sharry (0-1), D Harte, M Ennis; J Heslin (0-5), P Bannon; G Egan (0-1), David Glennon (1-0), K Martin (0-2); D Corroon (0-1), Denis Glennon (0-1), R Foley (0-1). Subs: B Moran for David Glennon, D Gavin for Corroon, D McDermott for Foley, C McCormack for Bannon.

Referee - M Higgins (Fermanagh). Tweet

Most Read Stories