Westmeath 2-13

Limerick 1-10

James Dolan and Joe Halligan scored goals either side of half-time as Westmeath chalked up their expected victory over Limerick at TEG Cusack Park.

Since losing to Laois in the Leinster SFC quarter-final, Jack Cooney's men have eased themselves back into the championship with home wins over Waterford and Limerick. Improvement will be needed, however, if they are to progress beyond Round 3 of the Qualifiers after a plucky Limerick side reeled off 1-2 without reply midway through the second half to trail by just four points. But they couldn't get any closer as Westmeath closed out the game with late points from John Heslin, who was once again a non-starter, and Ger Egan, who top-scored with 0-6.

Limerick didn't look like a team coming off the back of a heavy Munster SFC semi-final defeat to Cork as wing backs Gordon Brown and Iain Corbett gave them an early 0-2 to 0-1 lead. 

But with Egan to the fore, the Allianz League Division 3 champions responded to open up a 0-7 to 0-4 lead by the midway stage of the half. Jamie Lee kept the Treatymen in touch before the result was effectively decided in the run-up to half-time. Ronan O'Toole and Callum McCormack had points before Dolan broke forward to score a trademark goal which left Westmeath perched on a 1-9 to 0-5 interval lead. 

The second half started as it ended with Milltown's Joe Halligan firing home Westmeath's second goal inside 30 seconds after Egan, Tommy McDaniel and full back Ronan Wallace had been involved in the build-up.

Lee responded with a trio of frees, but with 20 minutes remaining, Westmeath were 2-11 to 0-8 to the good and coasting to victory.

However, there was still a kick left in Billy Lee's men who were handed a lifeline when Darragh Treacy scrambled to the net in the 54th minute before points from Seamus O'Carroll and goalkeeper Donal O'Sullivan (free) cut the gap to four, 1-10 to 2-11, with 10 minutes remaining.

But they wouldn't score again as Heslin ended an 18-minute scoring lull for the Lake County before Egan applied the coup de grace from a late free.

Westmeath - E Carberry; B Sayeh, R Wallace, K Maguire; K Daly, J Smith, J Dolan (1-0); D Corroon, K Martin (0-1); D Lynch, C McCormack (0-2), J Halligan (1-0); T McDaniel (0-1), G Egan (0-6, 4f), R O’Toole (0-2). Subs: J Heslin (0-1) for T McDaniel, S Duncan for K Daly, N O’Reilly for R O’Toole, N Mulligan for C McCormack, F Boyle for J Halligan.

Limerick - D O’Sullivan (0-1f); B Fanning, S O’Dea, C McSweeney; G Brown (0-1), I Corbett (0-1), C Fahy; D Treacy (1-0), T Childs; T McCarthy, M Fitzgibbon, J Naughton; P de Brun, S O’Carroll (0-1), J Lee (0-6, 5f). Subs: A Enright for P de Brun, S McSweeney for C McSweeney, P Nash for J Naughton, P Scanlon for J Lee, G Noonan for G Brown, T Griffin for S O’Carroll.

Referee - J Molloy.

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