Westmeath 3-18

Offaly 0-14

Killian Doyle was on fire as Westmeath heaped more misery on the Offaly hurlers with an emphatic Joe McDonagh Cup victory at TEG Cusack Park.

In what was their first competitive outing since winning the Allianz League Division 2A title in March, Joe Quaid's charges were full value for their 13-point win which effectively ends Offaly's hopes of making a return to the Leinster SHC in 2020 and leaves them facing a battle to avoid relegation to the Christy Ring Cup with two rounds remaining against Kerry and Antrim.

A black day for the once-mighty Faithful County was completed when Niall Houlihan received a straight red card in injury-time for a dangerous high challenge on Niall Mitchell.

Westmeath, who registered 16 wides compared to visitors' six, led by 1-13 to 0-5 at the break with Doyle accounting for 1-10 of their tally. Offaly resumed with four quick points, but the game was ended as a contest in the 45th minute when Joey Boyle scored a superb solo goal to make it 2-13 to 0-9 in the Lake County's favour.

Derek McNicholas added a third major a short time later as Westmeath maintained their unbeaten record in 2019 without hardly breaking sweat.

The outstanding Doyle finished with 1-12 to his credit, with 1-6 of that coming from play. Joe Bergin posted 0-9 at the other end, but an outclassed Offaly could only manage five points from play over the 70 minutes.

Bergin gave them an early lead from a '65', but that was as good as it got as Westmeath took complete control after twins Ciaran and Killian Doyle combined for the latter to rifle home the opening goal in the 12th minute.

Offaly looked capable of putting a dismal first half behind them when they grabbed the first four points of the second half, but the momentum swung back in the Lake County's favour when Boyle and McNicholas netted in the 45th and 52nd minutes.

It was the perfect start to the campaign for Westmeath who will surely receive a much sterner test from Kerry when they visit Mullingar next Saturday.

Westmeath - C Lynch; D Egerton, T Doyle, G Greville; A Craig, A Clarke (0-1), P Greville; S Clavin, C Boyle; J Boyle (1-1), K Doyle (1-12, 0-6f), R Greville; N Mitchell, D McNicholas (1-3, 0-1f), C Doyle. Subs: A Devine for C Boyle, D Clinton (0-1) for C Doyle, C Shaw for A Craig, D Reilly for K Doyle, S Power for R Greville.

Offaly - E Cahill; D O'Toole Greene, D Shortt, B Conneely; C Gath, P Camon, N Houlihan; K Dunne (0-1), M Egan (0-1); S Dolan, S Dooley (0-1f), C Egan; C Mahon, J Bergin (0-9, 6f, 1'65), O Kelly. Subs: C Kiely (0-1) for S Dolan, D Egan for C Gath, S Kinsella (0-1) for C Mahon, C Langton for J Bergin, J Bergin for C Langton, T Spain for P Camon, K Connolly for S Dooley.

Referee - J Murphy.

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