Stevie McDonnell was on fire as Armagh thumped Westmeath by 2-19 to 0-8 in Crossmaglen.

The mercurial full forward notched a magnificent 1-9 from open play as his side romped to a 17-point win against the hapless midlanders.

McDonnell's first-half masterclass (1-5) saw the winners lead by 1-9 to 0-5 at the short whistle.

There were two late changes to each side with Barry Shannon and Gareth Swift in for Armagh and Damien Healy and Ger Egan thrown into the Westmeath XV.

The irrepressible Steven McDonnell opened the scoring in the first minute; fisted to the net in the sixth minute; and quickly added his third strike of the afternoon to make it 1-2 to no score.

McDonnell brought his tally to 1-4 as his side led by 1-7 to 0-5. Aaron Kernan (2) and Tony Kernan were also on target for the Orchard County while Paul Greville (2), Denis Glennon (2) and David Duffy got the Westmeath scores.

McDonnell and Charlie Vernon got the last two points of the first half as Armagh led by seven.

Westmeath started the second half well but missed a few chances before Ryan Henderson popped one over for Armagh.

McDonnell swung over another point to bring his tally to 1-7 after Finian Moriarty had added the second Orchard goal on 52 minutes. Tweet

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